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Command investigates cpl. linked to gay porn

Marine Corps Mobilization Command in Kansas City, Mo., is investigating an Individual Ready Reserve corporal who admitted earlier this month to appearing in numerous gay porn films during the early 1990s, according to a command spokesman.

After he was publicly outed by a gay blogger — who recognized him in a photo taken at a right-wing political conference in Washington, D.C., in early March — Cpl. Matthew Sanchez admitted to performing in such films as “Man to Men” and “Jawbreaker” before joining the Corps in 2003.

“It’s something that was a part of my life, but it’s in my past,” he said.

MobCom deputy commander Col. Stephen Brown appointed an officer to investigate whether any articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice had been broken and set an April 2 deadline for the officer’s report, said command spokesman Shane Darbonne.

Homosexual sex is punishable under the UCMJ article that forbids “sodomy.”

Reservists who appear in pornographic movies, even when not in a drilling status, “are subject to administrative separation with an other-than-honorable discharge,” according to the Marine Corps’ Separation and Retirement Manual.

Sanchez said the scenes he filmed during the early ’90s have been re-used in numerous movies, which is why he has gay porn industry film credits as late as 2006.

But regardless of when Sanchez filmed his scenes, section 654 of U.S. Code Title 10 states, “The presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.”

Sanchez’s command could potentially find him guilty of fraudulent enlistment if it determines that a failure to disclose his gay porn past in the recruiting office represents “a deliberate material misrepresentation, including the omission of facts which, if known at the time, would have precluded the eligibility for enlistment,” according to the Separation and Retirement Manual.

If MobCom officials decide Sanchez enlisted fraudulently, he would not be entitled to a hearing to plead his case before separation, said Marine Forces Reserve spokesman Capt. Tyson Dunkelberger.

Sanchez said the Marine Corps will “do what they have to do.”

“Anyone who’s been in a situation like this knows that it’s out of their hands,” he said. “The biggest thing is owning up to it and moving on.”

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