Everything old is new again. I kid; Landon Conrad isn’t that old. But the former Falcon Exclusive (he originally signed with them in 2009) has been resigned “for the remainder of his adult gay erotica career”. Only what would have once simply made him “Falcon Exclusive Landon Conrad” now makes him a “Falcon Studios Group A-Team Exclusive” (which, combined with the red white and blue logo treatment feels a little jingoistic for my tastes, but I swear I’m not complaining.

Judging from the two pictures that Falcon sent out, he’s looking in top form:

From the press release:

San Francisco (August 12, 2015) – Falcon Studios Group, America’s Gay Porn Company and World’s largest producer of all-male adult erotica, announced today that it has negotiated an exclusive agreement with multiple-award-winning superstar and current XBIZ Gay Performer of the Year, Landon Conrad to appear exclusively in Falcon Studios Group features for the remainder of his adult gay erotica career. Conrad returns to his first exclusive home and becomes a member of the Falcon Studios Group A-Team.

Slated to shoot Falcon, Raging Stallion and Hot House features exclusivly starting in the coming months, Conrad is a stunningly gorgeous blond-haired, blue eyed, sexy stud hailing from Utah. He rejoins the ranks of Falcon Studios Group exclusive performers with nearly 70 scenes shot for the gay porn giant – more than any active performer filming today. He was named the first Falcon Studios Man of the Year in 2011, and he’s received multiple Grabby and Cybersocket Awards throughout the years.

With a huge dick that’s won trophies of its own, a tight muscled body and a charismatic face, Landon has been featured in hundreds of magazines, blogs and on countless box covers. He ranks as one of the most popular Falcon Studios stars ever, and most recently he’s appeared in Falcon’s ‘Intensity, Part 2’, Hard Friction releases ‘Cockquest’ and ‘Balls Deep’ and Raging Stallion titles ‘Auto Erotic, Part 1’ and ‘Cock Fight!’, from which he was voted ‘Cock Fight!’ champion by fans.

“I am really excited to be back where it all started, with my porn family at Falcon Studios Group. My career skyrocketed from here, and I am so thankful to everyone who was a part of it and grateful that they asked me back as an A-Team Exclusive,” stated Conrad. “Falcon is my home, and I can’t wait to work with many of the new A-Team Exclusives.”

More Falcon Exclusive Landon Conrad:

Check Out Landon On FalconStudios.com
Watch Landon on NakedSword

I guess this really goes without saying, but don’t get a tattoo if you’re drunk. According to U.K. tabloid Mirror, a 34-year-old British man got a tattoo of a penis on his thigh while drunk, and it caused his wife to kick him out. And it’s a damn ugly tattoo to boot.

A husband has been kicked out by his wife after getting a comedy penis tattoo stretching halfway down his leg.

Stuart Valentino, 34, got the X-rated inking on his thigh as a drunken joke but the prank backfired horribly.

Wife Samantha, 35, decided she could take no more after it meant the family had to scrap a holiday and swimming trips with three-year-old daughter Ayla.

Stuart, from Southsea, Hampshire, said: “My wife hates it. In retrospect, I’m not surprised, it really is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.

“After I did it, my wife woke up in the morning screaming, because there was this massive penis poking out of the duvet. And the tattoo on my leg.

“It caused no end of rows, and she’s now kicked me out of home. I deserve it, I suppose.”

Sam – mother to kids Callum, 16, Luke, 12, and Lana, 11 – from a previous relationship – ended their marriage last month, after almost seven solid months of rowing.

Stuart added: “We argued non-stop. It would cost nearly £1,000 to remove, something that could have been spent on a family holiday.

“Finally last month, Samantha announced she couldn’t take it any longer, and left me.

“I had no idea that a joke could ruin my life. I’m devastated I’ve lost my family, and frustrated with myself. I can’t blame anyone else.

“I have a constant reminder poking out of my shorts every day of how stupid I’ve been.”

(via Mirror.co.uk)

Federal agents raided the NYC offices of escort site Rentboy.com, arresting the CEO Jeffrey Hurant and six other employees on suspicion of “conspiring to promote prostitution under the guise of offering ‘companionship’ from its escorts” according to officials.

Rentboy is one of the largest of a number of gay high-profile online escort sites, having been in business since 1997 and boasting 10,500 members worldwide according to their website. Since 2006, they’ve hosted the Hookie Awards and also throw a notorious “sex cabaret and dance party” known as the Hustlaball in New York, Vegas, and Berlin.

The site is “a global criminal enterprise” according to Glenn Sorge, Acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigation. NYPD Commissioner William Bratton called the site “a racket” in a release announcing the charges earlier this morning. The site is currently off-line.

According to NBC New York, Feds seized more than $1.4 million from six bank accounts in connection with the probe. In addition to CEO Hurant, Michael Sean Belman, Clint Calero, Edward Lorenz Estanol, Shane Lukas, Diana Milagros Mattos, and Marco Soto Decker were the other employees arrested. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Prosecutors said the site has 2,500 subscribers and generated over $10 million in revenue between 2010 and 2015.

Footage of agents removing several boxes from Rentboy’s Union Square, NY, office was released this morning as well:
(video via PIX11)

Should escorts/masseuses who’ve used the site be concerned? This remains unclear. We’ll be posting more details as they become available. If you hear anything, please let us know.

If only they could their powers for good instead of evil. Yes, Mike Weinstein of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), I am calling you out. Rather than embracing PrEP and what it means to the mind, body and spirit to our community, they have shameless poured millions of dollars into a misinformation campaign based on fear and slut shaming – with the porn community especially in their cross hairs.

At our sister publication, The Sword, they wrote how the proposed regulations would go far beyond mandating condoms (Measure B) and actually require safety goggles for performers.

On the surface, ‘Measure B’ doesn’t seem unreasonable however NakedSword CEO Tim Valenti has thoughtfully explained that just like the tip of an iceberg, it’s what you don’t see that is the most dangerous.

“These are regulations designed for medical settings, and are unworkable on an adult film set — or even a Hollywood film set.” ~ Free Speech Coalition (FSC) Executive Director Diane Duke.

The FSC is the trade association for the adult entertainment industry. They have just issued an alert that the AHF is upping their “Big Brother’ gambit: they now want the health screening centers to turn over the testing records of adult performers.

“Earlier this week, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) served several testing centers with subpoenas, asking them to turn over confidential patient privacy data as part of their lawsuit on Measure B.

“These subpoenas are unconscionable, indecent and offensive. Performers deserve better than to have would be ‘porn czar’ Michael Weinstein peaking through their blinds and snooping through their private medical records. We call on Michael Weinstein to call off this noxious campaign, and for the board of AIDS Healthcare Foundation to #RemoveWeinstein”

What the AHF is more likely to accomplish is make not just adult performers, but our community in general, less likely to get tested for fear of being exposed. Back in the day, we used to call finding out your status responsible.

From 2013, adult performers James Deen and Wicked Pictures contract star Jessica Drake show L.A. voters what Measure B is really all about – including gloves, goggles, dental dams – which would be required for adult film production.

(h/t Joe.My.God)

For More About the Important Work of the FSC
Visit the FSC website

Jeffrey Hurant CEO Rentboy.com. Photo credit Kevin Hagen for The New York Times

According to a 22-page complaint filed by Susan Ruiz, a Special Agent with the Department of Homeland Security (click here for a .pdf of the full filing), this morning’s raid on the Rentboy.com were because the site was conspiring to use “interstate commerce with intent to promote, manage, establish, carry on and facilitate the promotion, management, establishment, and carrying on of … prostitution and promotion of prostitution …”

According to the New York Times, who published the above photo of CEO Jeffrey Hurant, the seven current or former Rentboy.com employees arrested earlier today have all been released on bonds ranging from $50,000 to $350,000. (The Times also included a quote from gay porn star Ryan Raz’s profile).

The complaint alleges that, despite many disclaimers suggesting otherwise, the site “is designed primarily for the advertisement of sexual services” and they make money “through payments from escorts for advertisements on the site.”

Photo credit Reuters/Brendan McDermid

Buzzfeed reported on the raid, adding that, “The government is also attempting to restrain the site’s domain name and seize more than $1.4 million of “alleged criminal proceeds.” The growing list of mainstream news outlets to pick up the story include The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Newsweek, The Washington Post, and The Daily Beast.

Hurant issued a statement saying the following:

“I don’t think that we do anything to promote prostitution. I think we do good things for good people, and we bring good people together.”

Rentboy CEO Jeffrey Hurant. Photo via Facebook

In a post for The Stranger, Dan Savage argues that the site might actually be helping reduce violence against sex workers:

“… You know what pimps are, right? They’re those violent and exploitative monsters that anti-sex-work activists and law enforcement officials insist they’re trying to protect sex workers from. So the anti-sex-work logic goes like this: Pimps are terrible! Sites like Rentboy.com put pimps out of business! We have to shut down those sites!”

Yesterday was quite a day. First there was there was the raid on the Rentboy offices by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, followed by the headlines splashed across the media. Seven people, including Rentboy CEO Jeffrey Hurant have all been released on bonds ranging from $50,000 to $350,000. Working on their defense has already begun.

NY1 caught up with Hurant following his release among with and Anthony Rico, an attorney for one of the defendants, and filed this report:

 
“They’re very serious charges, but the case involves First Amendment issues and the use of technology and as a society catching up with the technology, and we see that at play in this case,” ~Anthony Rico.

Rentboy has retained the services of leading industry attributes Lawrence Walters and Gill Sperlein. Speaking to Xbiz, while Walters acknowledged their ability to comment remains restricted, he told the publication:

“I can say that the charges come as a complete surprise to the company, but we have seen state and federal authorities seeking to impose increasing blame on advertising networks, which play a passive role in the advertising process. Until additional information is made available about the basis for the charges, we will be unable to comment further.” ~Lawrence Walters

Please check back for further updates as we are continuing to work on this developing story. If you hear anything, please let us know.

(h/t NY1 and Xbiz)

Follow The Rentboy Story At GayPornBlog
DEVELOPING: RENTBOY.COM CEO ARRESTED, OFFICES RAIDED
UPDATE: Rentboy Raid Gets National Headlines, Concern From Escorts

From Xbiz:

Lawrence Walters, an industry attorney who represents RentBoy.com along with attorney Gill Sperlein, told XBIZ today that the fallout over the raid, arrests and seizure of the website has been unrelenting, particularly after an article on the topic was published in The New York Times.

Walters said that an even more important issue is raised by this prosecution — the threat to online innovation and freedom of expression.

“The actions of DHS have left the company and Mr. Hurant with no ability to fund a defense, or pay for basic living expenses,” Walters said. “The government has destroyed an entire online business that had operated in the open for 15-plus years with no warning.

Walters said a legal defense fund had been launched for Rentboy and its CEO, Jeff Hurant, at RentBoyFund.org

The feds did not barge into my bedroom with a writ of coitus interuptus and forcibly separate me and my partner. But they might as well have. And not just to me, but between every gay man from every other. It’s not just an attack on Rentboy for what they did. It’s not just an attack on the gay community for what we do. It’s an attack on all of us for who we are. That is why the Rentboy raid feels so bad.

Two women kicking it turns on many straight men. For this banal reason, lesbians have gotten a bit of a pass in the sexual depravity department. Gay men have never gotten such a pass. Many other biblical and social “abominations” have likewise dissipated over time. But the scourge on being a gay man has always stuck. We always get called out for “our sin.” By comparing their piety to our “depravity,” our accusers cling to their illusion of being more holy than they actually are. That is why gay men will always be the red meat entree on the buffet table of self-righteous carnivores.

The pink triangle is both a literal and figurative brandishment of gay men. Historically and geographically, it has and does convey different things. To varying degrees, this still means that as gay men, we could experience the legal denial of anything. That we were/are not worthy of all things afforded with a defacto heterosexual birthright: employment, children, spouses, housing, medical care, legal rights, civil rights, and in some countries, life itself.

If we are damned for being gay, then being gay we will be. We empower ourselves with the one thing the outside world cannot deny us: expressing our sexuality.

Capturing the imagery of that expression is an integral part of the role pornography has played in gay culture. As Mike Stable discussed in the Huffington Post and explored in his movie “Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story,”

… creating imagery that would make gay men feel proud of their sexuality. For tens of thousands of closeted customers in small towns across the country, those Falcon films were the “It Gets Better” videos of their day.

Gay porn allows gay sexuality to be celebrated when almost everything else seeks to demonize it.

We would still be gay men without gay porn.

Celibate gay men are still gay men.

Who we love is what defines us us gay.

But we would not be gay men if we can not experience gay sex as a celebration of our identity.

No wonder the calls to limit sexual encounters in the early days of AIDS crisis were so difficult for many to accept.

No wonder “safe sex” felt to so many like a direct encroachment on the free expression of gay sexuality.

No wonder the Rentboy raid feels so bad.

Unlike baseless fear or real disease, Rentboy was neither predator nor predatory.

This wasn’t just between New York State and the Rentboy Seven. This wasn’t just about the Department of Homeland Security and Jeffrey Hurant. This wasn’t about human trafficking. This wasn’t about the exploitation of minors.

The New York Times is calling it, “an indictment of gay men as being sexually promiscuous.”

I am calling it something else.

The Rentboy raid is an intrusive federal cock block on the untethered expression of sexuality between consensual gay men.

In his 1975 book The Homosexual Matrix, Kinsey protégé C.A. Tripp put the “hyper-sexuality of the gay community” in context. He explained the reality is not hedonism, but a show of empowerment in the one area we did have control: our sexuality. And now, they are coming for that too. Again.

I was beginning to think that as the collective “we” of community, country, county, state, district and nation, that we had moved past that.

Last Monday was a reminder of how far we still have to go.

And that’s why the Rentboy raid feels so bad.

Empower Yourself
[Explore the Rentboy Coverage at GayPornBlog]
[More About Rentboy at “The Sword”]

The Free Speech Coalition (FSC), the trade organization for the adult entertainment industry in the United States is the front line of defense in the the many battles we face.

Today, they weigh in on Rentboy raid with a profound and sobering conclusion:

“Every time the government successfully silences one of us, it is easier for them to silence the next.”

Diane Duke, CEO of the Free Speech Coalition, today released the following in reaction to the raid on Rentboy.com last week:

Last week, the offices of Rentboy.com, the online escort advertising directory, were raided in New York by the Department of Homeland Security. Its staff of seven, from the CEO to the social media manager were arrested, some in their own homes. Their bank accounts were frozen. Their website was seized. A business that provided an advertising platform for thousands of escorts’ livelihoods was eliminated overnight. This was not only a violation of the free speech rights for site owner Jeffrey Hurant, but also for those men who advertised on the site.

Unfortunately, we in the adult industry have plenty of experience with these raids. From our inception as a legal business in the late 60s, adult film makers and workers have been surveilled, censored, raided and harassed by law enforcement units from vice squads to the FBI. In the past few years, adult performers, producers and service providers have protested as their bank accounts were shut down, their health records subpoenaed and their right-to-work violated by misguided moralists. No matter what the tactic, the goal is the same – push us into the shadows and silence our voices.

Our industry is diverse; many of us have different needs and concerns. Time after time, this has been used to divide us; performers against providers, producers against performers, straight against gay. However, it is clear that if we do not unify in the face of these assaults, the industry we have all worked so hard to build will crumble. Instead, our differences should be our strength – our unity in the face of censorship, our secret to survival. At times like these, it is more important than ever that we amplify each others voices and come to each others defenses, even when it means a risks to ourselves.

Jeffrey Hurant was not a member of the Free Speech Coalition. However, we stand in solidarity with anyone who find themselves targets of government censorship. With his assets seized, Jeffrey is incapable of mounting even a basic a legal defense.

We ask that our industry support Jeffrey and his staff by donating to this fund. And should pleas to justice and empathy not be enough, remember this: Every time the government successfully silences one of us, it is easier for them to silence the next.

You can read more about Jeffrey’s case and donate at RentBoyFund.org.

Empower Yourself
[Visit the FSC Website]
[Explore the Rentboy Coverage at GayPornBlog]
[More About Rentboy at “The Sword”]

Lambda Legal, Transgender Law Center, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLADD), National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the National Center for Transgender Equality issued a joint statement of support for the Amnesty International’s resolution supporting the human rights for sex workers on August 20, 2015.

Four days later was the raid on Rentboy and the seizing of the website. The push back against the onerous timing and targeting of the raid have been sharp. It fed off the existing calls for the decriminalization of sex work and amplified them. It prompted The Daily Beast to ask Will the RentBoy.com Bust Be the ‘Stonewall’ of Sex Work? For now, we can only hope.

The five LGBT rights groups came out in support of the Amnesty resolution in recognition of the unique role sex work has in our community. 40% of homeless youth are LGBT. Sex for survival – trading a tryst for a meal or a bed for the night – is sometimes the only option they have on any given day. This makes them particularity vulnerable to exploitation since they have no legal recourse of their own.

Trans women report securing traditional employment is exponentially more difficult and at times, impossible. 1% of cisgender women enage in sex work compared to 11% of Trans women.

Too often, criminalization hurts the ostensible victims of the sex industry: vulnerable, poor, exploited people, disproportionately women (both cisgender and transgender). ~The Daily Beast

Criminalization means sex workers are needlessly handicapped negotiating their own limits and boundaries. They can not call the cops on the client who refuses to wear a condom. Or pulls a gun. Or makes other demands the worker is not comfortable with … or safe around. It limits sex workers access to medical care and law enforcement. This artifical underworld fosters money laundering, human trafficking, the drug trade and exploitation.

18 trans women have been murdered this year. Trans women are sent to men’s prisons. They do even worse there then in “polite” society. LGBT people in general, and especially those of color, are more likely to be profiled as sex workers and prosecuted as such whether they are or not. Once that happens, and it does, the LGBT community is particularly vulnerable inside the penal system. It’s cyclical and its vicious.

“Decriminalization of sex work does not mean the total absence of any regulation of sex work. Rather, it means that any regulation must be focused on respecting and protecting sex workers’ human rights.” ~Think Progress

Whether by choice or circumstances, some people engage in sex work. Whether by choice or circumstances, some people hire in sex workers. The goal of decriminalization is simple: to remove the illegality from sex work arranged between two consenting adults.

People become and people hire sex workers for many reasons. Not everyone falls in love and lives happily ever after regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation. Since no website seizure is going to end to world’s oldest profession, it’s long past the time that society should recognize that and treat it as one.

Empower Yourself
[Learn About the Rentboy Defense Fun at Xbiz]
[The Lambda Legal Statement on Sex Workers]
[Explore the Rentboy Coverage at GayPornBlog]
[More About Rentboy at “The Sword”]

There are two videos in particular context on how the decriminalization of sex work specifically affects the LGBT community.

The first is from Matt Baume, who takes a look from a societal point of view:

The second one shows the rarely seen, and very human story behind sex work. Here, escort and porn star Rob Yaeger shows how sex work enabl;es him to care for his disabled partner if 14 years.

Most people employed in sex work are not criminals. It is time they stop being treated as such.

Empower Yourself
[Learn About the Rentboy Defense Fun at Xbiz]
[The Lambda Legal Statement on Sex Workers]
[Explore the Rentboy Coverage at GayPornBlog]
[More About Rentboy at “The Sword”]

Hell’s Kitchen nightclub Space Ibiza is owned by identical twins Daniel and Derek Kock. They are happily not relations to the bigoted brothers David and Charles Kock, pronouncing their surname “cook.” They are also pronouncing the Rentboy raid as bat-shittery. Last Friday, they held a fundraiser for Rentboy CEO Jeffrey Hurant.

From Page Six:

Hell’s Kitchen nightclub Space Ibiza is having an unusual fundraiser Friday night — for Jeffrey Hurant, the CEO of rentboy.com, who was arrested last week when his site’s Union Square headquarters was raided.

Jeffrey Hurant, CEO Rentboy

Rentboy allegedly offered 10,500 male “escorts” to 2,500 paid subscribers, according to feds, who called it the “largest online male escort service.”

Hurant, who denies the charges, was busted with six others.

Space Ibiza said Friday’s proceeds will go to Hurant’s defense fund.

Hosts include Brandon Voss, Michael “Formika” Jones and others.

Gay activists have blasted the arrests as “harassment” against the gay community.

Hurant’s facing up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

(h/t Page Six)

You can learn more about the Rentboy Legal Defense Fund here.

Empower Yourself
[Read The Free Speech Coalition Statement on Rentboy]
[Explore the Rentboy Coverage at GayPornBlog]
[More About Rentboy at “The Sword”]

Kim Davis has become the “Sweet Cakes” of country clerks. Melissa and Aaron Klein became the poster children for the nefarious gay agenda after refusing to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple because it was “against their deeply held religious beliefs.”

Melissa & Aaron Klein of “Sweet Cakes by Melissa”

Meanwhile in the Hamlet of Kentucky, four times married Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis has refused to issue marriage licensees to gay couples. Davis insists that issuing such a salience would be a “searing act of validation” that would “forever echo in her conscience.” Overruled by every court, Davis’ appeal to the Supreme Court was denied – and not just by Justice Kagan, by the entire court.

Davis and the entire staff of the Rowan County Clerk have just been ordered to appear in Federal court by U.S. District Judge David Bunnig.

Would Davis really rather go to jail then do her job as prescribed by law?

Will she be goaded into continuing to refuse and become the uwitting “gotcha moment” the religious-rights crowd has been pandering for?

LGBTQnation has the latest:

A county clerk in Kentucky who has invoked “God’s authority” and is defying the U.S. Supreme Court by refusing to license same-sex marriage has been summoned along with her entire staff to explain to a federal judge why she should not face stiff fines or jail time.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning moved swiftly Tuesday after a lesbian couple asked him to find Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis in contempt. Davis told several couples and a crowd of supporters and protesters that her religious beliefs prevent her from sanctioning gay marriage, and then retreated again, closing her office door and blinds to the raucous scene outside.

“Since Defendant Davis continues to collect compensation from the Commonwealth for duties she fails to perform,” they asked Bunning to “impose financial penalties sufficiently serious and increasingly onerous” to compel her immediate compliance without delay.

Rowan County Attorney Cecil Watkins says the federal court alerted him that a hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday in Ashland.

As an elected official, Davis can’t be fired; her impeachment would have to wait until the Legislature’s regular session next year or a costly special session.

Davis rejected David Moore and David Ermold’s license request for a fourth time, and then told them to leave.

“We’re not leaving until we have a license,” Ermold said as reporters and cameras surrounded them.

(h/t LGBTQnation)

The Rentboy raid and renewed urgency in decriminalizing sex work have been hot topics here lately. Tomorrow in NYC, those topics converge in a rally planned at noon.

From the Facebook event page:

LGBT and Civil Liberties Advocates Denounce Arrests of Rentboy.com Staff, Call for Dropping Charges and Decriminalization of Sex Work

RALLY Thurs., Sept. 3rd, Noon, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn

LGBT activists, civil rights organizations, the HookUp Collaborative and supporters will hold a demonstration this Thursday, Sept. 3rd, at Noon at the U.S. Eastern District Courthouse in downtown Brooklyn to demand that the U.S. Attorney stop the prosecution of Rentboy.com and drop all charges after the raid on them by Homeland Security.

We are outraged at this latest example of the abuse and selective prosecution of sex workers. We are sick and tired of this misuse of government time and money to persecute members of the sex industry. This unrelenting harassment and persecution endangers the health and safety of these workers and their clients, and disproportionately targets the poor and people of color.
We demand an end to this system of criminalization.

WHAT: Demonstration to protest Rentboy.com prosecutions and criminalization of sex work

WHEN: Thursday, September 3, 2015 at 12 noon

WHERE: United States Court for the Eastern District, 225 Cadman Plaza East (on Cadman Plaza Park near corner of Tillary Street; take A or C to High Street or 2 or 3 to Clark St. in Brooklyn Heights). See map here

CONTACT: Bill Dobbs at 917-822-5422 (c); 212-966-1091; duchamp@mindspring.com

HASHTAG: #HolandSecurityRally

Empower Yourself
[Learn About the Rentboy Defense Fun at Xbiz]
[Explore the Rentboy Coverage at GayPornBlog]
[More About Rentboy at “The Sword”]