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Leading A Triple Life - former gay military officer apparently also starred in pornographic films - includes related article on effect of story on gay military personnel
Advocate, The, Feb 16, 1999 by John Erich
An officer in the Marines, a gay man, and a porn star--the three faces of Rich Merritt
He was a compelling symbol of the effects of the Pentagon's repressive policy toward gay service personnel. "R.," a marine identified only by his initial in a June 28 cover stow in The New York Times Magazine, gave a personal account of the toll the enforced closet takes. When R. stepped forward after his retirement and came out in the January 19 issue of The Advocate, a face finally emerged from the shadows: Capt. Rich Merritt, a 12-year veteran of the corps.
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But Merritt's stow of fear and hiding was not entirely complete. In addition to his secret life as a gay man in the Marines, Merritt had yet another, more surprising secret, one he concealed from the press. Under the screen name Danny Orlis, he also starred in no fewer than five gay porn videos while on active duty in the mid 1990s.
Merritt does not acknowledge or confirm that he and Danny Orlis are one and the same. "It's something I'd rather not discuss," he says. However, several people who worked with Orlis confirm that he is indeed Merritt. In addition, The Advocate has acquired a copy of a standard release form for video work signed by Merritt as well as a copy of his driver's license given to an adult-video production company as proof of age.
While not disavowing the evidence, Merritt argues that the revelation poses dangers to the status of gay service personnel. "I'm not sure why you'd want to run it," he says. "If it's true, I'm not sure how anyone gains from it.... Readers may find it sensationalistic, and it may sell more magazines, but to the cause in general it does nothing but harm."
Yet in coming forward to seek publicity, Merritt invited press scrutiny. The New York Times, The Advocate, and, subsequently, the Los Angeles Times recounted his story with only partial knowledge of the facts. The latest revelation only serves to underscore that even the most ideal symbol can in fact be flawed by behavior that does not meet the military's code of conduct. And Merritt's story now looks like a far more complex tale of one man's inability to respond in a unified way to the conflicting pressures of sexuality and duty in his life.
It was to further the cause of gay service personnel that Merritt volunteered himself to the media in the first place. By detailing the psychological agony that gay personnel endure, The New York Times Magazine article, titled "The Shadow Life of a Gay Marine," provided a devastating portrait of the horrors of "don't ask, don't tell." In the piece Merritt was quoted as saying, "I'm fed up with having to hide."
However, apparently unbeknownst to the Times, Merritt was, at least in one sense, far from hidden. He was a featured performer in several widely available films released by the gay adult-video production company All Worlds Video, including Bad Moon Rising, Bullseye, and Reflections in the Wild. All Worlds, based in San Diego, is just down the freeway from Camp Pendleton, where Merritt was stationed.
Michelle Benecke, co-executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a Washington, D.C.-based group that provides counsel to military personnel targeted under "don't ask, don't tell," says the group was also unaware of Merritt's past. Merritt came to the attention of The New York Times indirectly through SLDN.
"Rich was not an SLDN client, so there was no reason for us to be aware of it," Benecke says. However, she emphasizes that the basic facts of The New York Times Magazine stow remain unchanged. "The stow was about the terror and panic that service members experience because of 'don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue,'" she says. "That situation unfortunately is as true today as when the article was printed. That kind of fear remains a constant fact of service members' daily lives, then as now."
Merritt, who received an honorable discharge on October 1, said in his coming-out interview that he received little flak from his commanders after The New York Times Magazine stow appeared, although they apparently suspected he was R. However, in general, advocates for gay service personnel prefer the least amount of scrutiny on these troops. Not only does press attention catch the eye of investigators itching to throw gay personnel out of the services, but it can also unleash a wider investigation--a witch-hunt--that can harm gay and lesbian personnel unconnected to the original story.
Merritt isn't volunteering how he became involved in porn films, but two aspects of his work stand out as unusual. First, while many young soldiers satisfy their curiosity about the industry by appearing in one film and earning a few hundred dollars, Merritt stuck with it for several months, working for different companies and forging something of a career in the business. Second, those involved have historically been enlisted men, not officers.
"I know of no other officer who ever voluntarily appeared in such things while on active duty," says Rolf Hardesty, who wrote a two-part series on the military image in gay porn for Manshots magazine in the early 1990s. "There's no mistaking the guy, with that telltale tattoo. He's there, and he's there voluntarily as an active-duty marine, and there's something quite historic about that." Hardesty contacted The Advocate with information about Merritt's porn past after reading the former marine's coming-out interview.
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