QC Open Forum: MormonBoyz Banned From The Utah Pride Parade?

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Pride festivities are approaching all over the country and one of the distinctive trademarks of these events is the inclusion of everything that is related to the gay culture and certainly the porn industry has always been at the heart of these events, not only for the publicity but because traditionally they have been strong supporters since the early days. And let’s face it, the expressions of gay sexuality in all its forms out in the open is an important topic to discuss. But it saddens us to report that one studio is facing an unexpected turn of events.

MormonBoyz (a gay porn site that caters too a very specific niche that highlights a religious aspect as a fetish) has been warned that their participation in the Utah Pride Festival is not welcomed. In a short, but rather harsh, letter the organizers told Legrand and his partner (the owners of MormonBoyz) that they don’t feel “comfortable” with such a “specific type of business” as vendor and/or parade entrants at this year’s event because “We do have to be aware of the community that we live in.” and that “specific business does not represent a part of that community.”

You could argue that this incident could be attributed to an excess of political correction and it could be expected from other parties but this is coming directly from the organizers of a gay event that should represent the spirit of inclusion of all the gay community in Utah. Isn’t it puzzling they way in which they are conducting this? Have we reached a point where porn shaming is okay in the gay community? Should entrants only be allowed to participate the aspects of gay culture that make them feel “comfortable”? Founders of MormonBoyz have replied to the organizers (full transcript of the letter after the jump) but at this point it is uncertain if the decision will be reversed.

QC readers, do you think that porn studios, namely MormonBoyz or any other, should be excluded from Pride events? Join the discussion after the jump and don’t forget to vote in our poll!

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h/t:
TheSword

Dear Utah Pride Committee and Board Members of the Utah Pride Center,

I write to you with a heavy heart – and, I have to say, a good deal of anger. On April 7, 2016, several days after approving our application to participate in Utah Pride, we received a shocking email from the Pride Center Board not only revoking our approval to participate in Utah Pride but rejecting us a part of the LGBT community itself.

“We unanimously agreed that the specific type of business that you run is not something we feel comfortable having in the Utah Pride Parade or as a vendor at the festival. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. We do have to be aware of the community that we live in and that we are a part of. We feel that your specific business does not represent a part of that community,” read the hurtful and dismissive email we received from the Utah Pride Center.

I beg to differ. My husband and I ARE a part of the Utah LGBT community. The Utah Pride Center claims to represent ALL elements of Utah’s LGBT community. Yet, with this action, you are acting as agents of the LDS church – enforcing a sex-negative, hypocritical and, frankly, homophobic view of what it is to be gay and Mormon.

Unfortunately, you are continuing a long tradition of oppressing the sex-positive and sexually expressive members of our community. The “Dykes on Bikes” were pushed to the back of the parade and told to be more “feminine.” Proud leather men were asked to less visible and pretend they were someone they are not. Drag queens and effeminate men were told to “straighten up” and not embarrass the white heteronormative men who have traditionally dominated our community’s leadership. Now the same is being done to us. This is nothing less than censorship and self-hatred.

My husband and I identify as Utah men born and raised in the Mormon faith. We ARE a part of the Utah Secular Mormon LGBT community – a strong, vibrant, sex-positive part of that community. We will not be shamed into hiding our sexuality to appease the more assimilationist elements of our community who kowtow to the sexually repressive and homophobic demands of the LDS church.

My husband and I are no longer practicing members of the LDS church – a church that officially condemns our marriage as immoral and our sexual identity as perverse – but we are gay Mormons and remain proud of who we are.

With our businesses, MormonBoyz.com, MormonGirlz.com and MormonsSecret.com, we embrace our gay Mormon identity and history. And we are not alone. We have thousands of customers who reside in Utah and other states with large Mormon populations – and hundreds of thousands of fans.

To say we are not part of the Utah LGBT community is ridiculous on its face.

Let us be clear, we are not asking Utah Pride to endorse our company. We are merely seeking to be one of the hundreds of vendors and community members who have a booth at the festival and/or a presence in the parade.

It is very common for porn companies and adult businesses to be represented at Pride parades in cities around the country — and rightly so! Affirming the sexual desires and behavior of LGBT people is a large part of what Pride has always been about. From the CockyBoys.com involvement in New York City’s Pride to Men.com in Atlanta to NextDoor Studios in Los Angeles to Falcon Studios in Chicago, and the examples go on and on. What could possibly be a better example of Salt Lake City’s gay pride than a gay-owned and operated business called MormonBoyz.com? Our community is mature enough to be exposed to cleancut Mormon missionaries representing a Mormon-themed adult business. They do not need a censor to protect them.

So is Salt Lake a big, diverse, inclusive city, or is it a backwards little town controlled by a local church?

Obviously, our participation would NOT mean the public would be confronted with videos of men having sex with men projected onto screens during the event. But just like the leather guys are able to participate without being nude or having public sex, we would, of course, have no problem abiding by the festival’s rules of civility. Our sexy Mormon missionary boys just want to dance, ride bicycles in the parade, and represent Mormonboyz to their fans.

We are a fun, sexy and satirical company that not only celebrates the inherent homoeroticism of the Mormon missionary experience, but also satirizes the hypocrisy and repression of the LDS church – perhaps the most powerful and aggressive opponent of LGBT equality in America today. Historically the various iterations of the Utah LGBT Center have done many great things for our community. But, shockingly, with this action you are siding with that oppressor, acting as their Uncle Tom, doing their bidding, enforcing their repressive, homophobic, and transphobic views of our community.

We can only hope that your revocation of our approved application and your dismissal of us as a part of the LGBT community was a momentary lapse of judgment. I am certain that a large majority of the LGBT community, both in Utah and across the globe, will be as outraged and saddened as we are by the actions of the Center’s Board of Directors. You are acting as an arm of the LDS church, not as a sex-positive, affirming agent of change fighting for our full acceptance in the face of the sex-negative, non-affirming homophobia emanating from that church.

We hope you will reconsider. We would love to play an active and positive role at Utah Pride, celebrating our gay sexuality, not sanitizing it or hiding it in shame.

Sincerely,

LeGrand & Paul
Owners and Creative Directors
MormonBoyz.com


Head over to MormonBoyz to find more handsome boys selected by The Order.

Apr 13, 2016 By G. 7 Comments

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