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Matthew Sanchez (born 1 December 1970) is an American military reservist, student and conservative political activist who briefly attacted national attention when he was exposed as a former performer in gay pornographic videos and was accused of prostitution and financial improprieties. The U.S. Marine Corps launched an investigation of the pornography and financial allegations in March 2007. Sanchez acknowledged the video appearances, denied the financial allegations, and gave conflicting statements about the prostitution reports.

Early Background
Sanchez, who describes himself as being of Puerto Rican heritage, was born and raised in San Jose, California, graduating from Independence High School in 1988. After high school, he traveled to Europe, where he taught English at academias, an informal language center for students. He lived in Quebec in the 1990s, appearing in porn videos both there and in Los Angeles, after which he moved to Germany.

USMC Reserve Enlistment, Inactivation
According to the Marine Corps Times, Sanchez joined the Marine Corps Reserve in May 2003 on an eight-year contract, and was trained as a refrigeration mechanic. In June 2005, on account of an undisclosed medical condition, Sanchez was transferred to the USMC’s Individual Ready Reserve ("IRR"), a pool of inactive reservists whose sole obligation to the military is to keep their service informed of changes of address. Sanchez has disputed the newspaper's account, claiming that his reserve status is not inactive and that his enlistment contract was not for eight years.

Columbia University Controversies
Sanchez entered New York University in 2004, and in 2005 transferred to Columbia University’s School of General Studies. In 2005 and 2006, he became known for his complaints about "the odd disconnect between Columbia University, an elite institution of higher learning, and the Marine Corps, an elite branch of the military.

Sanchez’s criticism of Columbia began with an incident of what Sanchez claimed was harrassment by campus socialists in the fall of 2005. According to Sanchez, members of the International Socialist Organization called him a "baby killer" and a "stupid minority" for his affiliation with the Marine Corps. Members of the socialist group denied Sanchez’s version of events. When Columbia’s administration declined to punish the students who Sanchez claimed had harrassed him, he took his case to the blogosphere and the op-ed pages of several newspapers. He repeated his version of the clash with the socialist group and denounced Columbia for "hypocrisy on inclusiveness" for not upholding his complaint.

Additionally, Sanchez and others in the student group MilVets, an organization for Columbia’s on-campus veterans, accused Columbia of lacking regard for veterans on the campus. In February 2006, the university reworded its non-discrimination policy to include "military status" as a group to be protected from harassment. Sanchez claimed credit for forcing a change in Columbia’s policy toward veterans, but the university’s administration claimed that it was merely a "semantic clarification," as the words "military status" replaced "disabled or Vietnam era veteran" in the university’s policy.

Fox News, CPAC and the Emergence of Sanchez’s Past
Sanchez’s campaign against Columbia’s administration led to multiple appearances on conservative Fox News programs during 2006. His activities attracted support among conservatives; on March 2, 2007, he was given a "Jeanne Kirkpatrick Academic Freedom Award" by the Conservative Political Action Conference. On the day he accepted the CPAC award, Ann Coulter, a right-wing commentator, drew applause at the same meeting when she used the word "faggot" in reference to former Sen. John Edwards, a Democratic candidate for president.

In the ensuing uproar, a handful of gay blogs reported Sanchez's gay porn appearances and alleged prostitution, and expressed outrage at Sanchez for accepting an award from conservatives who had applauded Coulter’s use of an anti-gay slur. Within days, the story had been featured on Countdown, a liberal news commentary program broadcast by MSNBC.

Gay porn appearances
As of June 2007 Sanchez has appeared in 38 gay porn videos under the names "Rod Majors" and "Pierre LaBranche." An undetermined number of Sanchez's videos consist of compilations of previously recorded material. Sanchez has given conflicting answers when asked how many original videos he appeared in.

Original productions include Call of the Wild (1992) and Montreal Men (1992) as "Pierre LaBranche," and Idol Country (1994), Man to Men (1995), Jawbreaker (1995), and Tijuana Toilet Tramps (1994), as "Rod Majors." Original videos were issued by Catalina Video, Bijou Video, Falcon Entertainment, and others. Compilations include Touched by an Anal (1997), Buttcrack Mountain (1999), and Mansex Meltdown (2006).

Prostitution Allegations
On March 8, 2007, Sanchez wrote an article for Salon.com in which he took note of reports "claiming that I too had advertised my services as a male escort." He wrote of the prostitution allegation: "I won't deny it, or that I acted in several adult movies 15 years ago under names like Pierre LaBranche and Rod Majors." The following day, Alan Colmes, a liberal Fox News commentator, twice asked Sanchez whether he had worked as a male prostitute. Sanchez answered "Yes" to both questions.

Colmes confronted Sanchez with an allegation that he had run thinly-disguised prostitution ads in The New York Blade, a gay newspaper, under the name, "No Regrets Massage." Sanchez denied a "No Regrets Massage" connection, but acknowledged working as a masseur and advertising in gay publications. He claimed to be a licensed massage therapist, but the registry of licensed massage therapists in New York, where he resides, shows no record of his holding a massage license there.

Sanchez later claimed that his admissions of prostitution had been misconstrued by Colmes and fabricated by Salon.com. He also denied accusations by gay bloggers that he had registered and operated a website, Excellent Top.com, which offered an escort’s services for $250 an hour for "out calls" and $200 an hour for "in calls." The site owner's address is the same as Sanchez's address.

Recent activities
In March 2007, Sanchez claimed to have been made a partner in an unnamed marketing firm. In May and June 2007, his personal website featured audio and video clips that Sanchez claimed to have recorded while traveling as an embedded free-lance journalist with U.S. military forces in Iraq.