When LeGrand Wolf, owner of the new gay Mormon-themed porn site MormonBoyz, applied to be a vendor at the Utah Pride Festival earlier this month, he thought it would be the perfect way to launch his new website. Organizers, however, felt differently.
Two days after applying to be a vendor, Wolf got a confirmation from the organization saying everything was good. But five days after that, he received an email saying the organization had changed its mind and that the board “unanimously agreed [the website] is not something we feel comfortable having,” adding that the website is not representative of Utah’s gay community.
Related: There Are No Gay Mormons, Says Mormon Official
Now, Wolf is speaking out, calling the organization’s move “ridiculous and offensive.”
“We were interested in coming in wearing suit and tie, with missionary name badges, fully clothed, not gyrating in our underwear on a flatbed truck to music and simulating sex,” he recently told CityWeekly. “I don’t know what anyone is so terrified of; no one was asking for an endorsement. How could it be any more perfect for the Utah Pride celebration?”
Others have accused the festival of censorship, a claim executive director of the Utah Pride Center, Carol Gnade, refutes.
“The issue is not about censorship of what they do,” Gnade explained. “It’s the appropriateness of it, and the kind of celebration that we have for our community, and the fact that we have such a broad spectrum of ages.”
She added that Wolf’s initial request was approved by accident by a new hire and was immediately denied as soon as they realized their mistake.
“It came in electronically, and when that person realized that it was not appropriate for the place and the event, they denied it,” she said.
Related: “God” Purchases Two “God Loves Gays” Billboards in Utah For Pride Month
But Wolf isn’t buying it.
“Other adult companies like CockyBoys in New York City and Men.com in Atlanta and others are recruited by the Pride groups to come in,” he argued. “In L.A., they actually have the ‘Erotic City’ a zoned-off section where minors can’t come in.”
To which Gnade fired back by pointing out that “LeGrand Wolf” isn’t even the man’s real name. It’s a pseudonym, and he refuses to disclose his actual identity, which has added to the organization’s trepidation.
“LeGrand Wolf isn’t a person,” she noted. “That disturbs me, that we don’t know who these people are and where they come from.”
Wolf responded by saying the moniker is his “porn name,” noting that “in the adult industry, everyone [takes on] the name that they produce by.” Real names, he says, is “a liability” not to mention “kind of a faux pas.”
Gnade insists that MormonBoyz will not be included in this year’s Utah Pride Festival–no ifs, ands or buts.
“We are firm in our decision,” she said, adding that the festival “remains the biggest festival in Salt Lake City, and is the great celebration of how far we’ve come in GLBTQIA rights.”
Related: Gay Mormon Man Married To A Woman Compares Gay Sex To Donuts
zaneymcbanes
I can see why being in such a Mormon heavy population they wouldn’t want something that crazies could take pictures of and be like “See! See! Now we’re being persecuted!”
DCguy
So in other words, they are bowing to pressure from the LDS church.
Look, if you’re going to do what an anti-gay organization tells you to do, just cancel “Pride” or at least be honest enough to change the name to “Shame”.
redcarpet30
If it’s a family friendly pride then they have every right to say no. If they allow other porn sites then they are hypocrits. Lots of smaller and more conservative towns have family friendly pride, nothing wrong with that as long as they are upfront. If you want jockstraps and porn then you’ll have to go to SF, LA, Seattle, New York etc.
redcarpet30
@DCguy: you don’t know that. Lots of towns don’t allow nudity, porn, kink, or anything that would be in appropriate for kids. They could have the same policy. If they are indeed singling out this particular site then yes they are assholes.
DCguy
@redcarpet30:
The thing is, it is the statewide Pride, not some small town gathering. Last year they said they had 35,000 attendees. And this guy is saying that they are showing up in the missionary uniform, shirts and ties, not g-strings, so it still seems like they are catering to the LDS church.
I could be wrong, but it is seeming that way.
Justen
““We are firm in our decision,” she said, adding that the festival “remains the biggest festival in Salt Lake City, and is the great celebration of how far we’ve come in GLBTQIA rights.””
We’ve come far enough to censor each other, de-sex ourselves, and slut shame. Yay!
Wooly
Good for then; no great loss. The vender just sounds weird.
Nahald
So the Mormons put pressure on the organizer to drop the vendor. Of course they did because they deny that there is any such thing as as a gay Mormon or ex-Mormon.
Bob LaBlah
I never could picture Utah as allowing gay men to walk down the blvd wearing nothing else but a g-string or jockstrap like they do in NYC. As a matter of during the days of their popularity I couldn’t see .25 cent porn arcades being legal in any part of Utah. I doubt if even Wally and the Beave would be allowed there were they real people.
Hussain-TheCanadian
Damn…that thumbnail picture though…got me with the click bait Queerty!!
Curtispsf
@Bob LaBlah: What? Wally and the Beave were NOT real people? Then who did I jerk off to every time I watched “Leave It To Beaver”?
Xzamilio
A Utah Pride Festival? I’ve been to Utah before… everything about it makes my penis shrivel up.
Hussain-TheCanadian
@Xzamilio: LOOOOL You are ruining my vacation plans!!
Las Vegas it is then.
Xzamilio
@Hussain-TheCanadian: It’s not a horrible place and there are some great things to do there and the scenery is amazing, but the nightlife wasn’t all that much… everything closes way too early and the Mormon influence is really strong there. Then again, that was like 7 years ago and I’m not a club person anymore, so who knows?
robho3
That Mormon underwear is hot! Sorry I just had to say it.
Hussain-TheCanadian
@Xzamilio: Yeah I’ve never been to Utah and some of my friends have gone and said that its really serene over there, and the people are nice – I’m sure the Mormon influence will be strong, here in my province they have a Mormon Temple and they let us tour parts of it – very interesting to say the least.
I’m not a club person either; I like sight seeing, and love to see the cultural and historical heritage sites. Alot of the Mormon architecture is also based on old Masonic lodge symbols, rituals, and Icons – It’s all very interesting.
I hope I don’t get bored!!! I love Vegas
Kangol
@Hussain-TheCanadian: Las Vegas is full of excitement and all kinds of people of all races, backgrounds, etc.
Utah outside of Salt Lake City is physically beautiful but mostly very wholesome-looking white people. So take your pick.
captainburrito
@Nahald: I think it is probably self-censorship more than anything else. They don’t want to ruffle feathers as they probably have an uneasy truce with the mormon establishment and they managed to come out with some limited discrimination protection laws for gays last year. For a quasi theocratic state that is already head and shoulders above those other states which are rapidly passing laws to limit gay rights and pre-empt any protections.
etseq
New site Queerty? You have reported on mormonboyz.com several times over the years! However, who is this Legrand guy – the owner was a “Paul Jackson” who was supposedly a married mormon in good standing who seduced all these young innocent mormons. Something isn’t adding up…http://www.queerty.com/porn-video-uncovers-mitt-romneys-secret-mormon-gay-sex-past-20121005
http://www.queerty.com/have-you-subscribed-to-the-new-amateur-mormon-porn-site-20100326
Bob LaBlah
@Curtispsf: My lord the censors are out in full force. But hopefully this one will get thru.
Tell me, which one were you fantasizing about? Wally did have a cute, bouncy looking butt. As for the Beave………………? Do you remember the rumor about little Eddie Haskel was John Holmes? A lot of gays sure as hell believed it.
martinbakman
I’m shocked………shocked I tell you, they expect gay men might likely wear underwear in a gay pride parade. Where would they get such an idea (tongue in cheek)?
JAW
Pride is a Celebration… not a mocking.
Salt Lake City, Home to the LDS Church has a Lesbian Mayor… They are not as bad as folks are making them out
I do not get the whole Mormon magic underwear thing… but if that is what they believe… then so be it. Mocking it has NO place at a Pride CELEBRATION.
DCguy
@JAW:
Are you kidding? The history of Pride was a celebration and a big middle finger to the bigots.
GayEGO
“There are no gay Mormons”? Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. What an idiot, 9 out of 10 gays arrested in Boise, Idaho in 1955 were gay Mormons. I am gay, but I left the Mormon church in 1959 as I disagreed with many of their teachings such as – “If you are not a Mormon you will not go to the highest kingdom of heaven, the Celestial Kingdom. Perhaps you will go to the Telestial Kingdom or the Terrestrial Kingdom. I found there are too many great people out there who are not Mormons, so the Mormon church is teaching the wrong message about loving and inclusiveness.
BigWill
“…[we were not going to be] gyrating in our underwear on a flatbed truck to music and simulating sex…”
Just looked at Google images, and there are photos of the Utah Gay Pride parade with guys in Speedos dancing, the usual stuff…I think that’s what the Legrand guy was referring to, the hypocrisy. But if the organizers don’t want a porn company as part of the event, that’s their business. Anyone who has a Mormon fetish surely already knows about the site.*
In the interest of full disclosure: I don’t harbor that particular fetish, but I saw a picture or a clip from that site, and there was one dude, a very handsome silver-haired man, who more than caught my attention. (Might’ve been Elder Lee, idk for sure.) I just like hot guys.
BigWill
I didn’t make my point very clearly. I don’t know if it’s hypocrisy or not; guys dancing around on flatbed trucks wearing next to nothing isn’t the same thing as pornography. Although to be clear, I have no problem with either.
Bob LaBlah
@GayEGO: I remember the look on my dads face when he told us the story of a relative who read a passage from the bible that said blacks were once white. It, the Book of Mormon, teaches that a tribe insulted god and for punishment their hair was turned coarse, their lips grew bigger and their skin dark. We all turned and looked at him and thought he might be drunk but we knew he wasn’t. Later on I found out that story is true. They preach such garbage to their flocks and those flocks actually believe it.
When I lived in NYC I used to see a lot of them (missionaries) walking around, riding bicycles, on the subway and such and simply thought how disgustingly vile their religious beliefs really are. Here all this time I was taught the climate of Africa had a lot to do with how they look but oh no, I was DEAD wrong according to their (the morons) teachings. That too has a lot to do with why I am an atheist.
Captain Obvious
@Bob LaBlah: Someone should tell him that over 75% of the global population is “non-white”, Africa is the birthplace of humanity, and that “blacks” are the only people who come in all colors found in humans on the planet.
stranded
I’ll be the first to admit, i’m a bit of a prude and i think it’s a good idea to have LGBTQ events that don’t have porn companies involved. I love porn…LOVE porn, but sometimes i want to go to events that don’t have anything to do with sex. My fear is that even without porn, the event will still allow nearly naked participants around, and if that’s true, then they’re stance makes no sense. If it’s a family friendly event, with “pc” “vanilla” people then that would be cool.
Bob LaBlah
@Captain Obvious: From my original comment: ” I remember the look on my dads face when he told us the story of a relative who read a passage from the bible that said blacks were once white.”
The look on my dads face was a look of disbelief that ANYONE would be stupid enough to believe that shit. Those were his exact words and my mom would try to break the damn glass in the front door when she slammed it in the face of those Jehovah’s Witness people. If she saw them coming she would tie down the dog and put him in the front yard if time permitted.
Dad is gone now but that faction of his family was one he NEVER spoke highly of and when he did it was always in disgust. Even though we went to church (I was beaten if I tried to run away and might get beaten again once we got home if I didn’t sing and smile while there) we were the heathens of the family in their eyesight.