You Might Like
Fetishizing Gay Mormons Will Not Be Allowed At This Year’s Utah Pride Festival, Organizers Say
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
You Might Like
