Christian college suspends student for gay-porn roles
Philly man says he needed cash for tuition
GROVE CITY, Pa. - A student who appeared in pornographic videos using a pseudonym is appealing his suspension from a Christian college in western Pennsylvania, saying that the off-campus job wasn't the business of school officials.
John Gechter, 22, of Philadelphia said that he needed the income from his roles in gay porn to pay for school, but was suspended for a year from Grove City College, pending his appeal, after a student saw him in a video posted online.
"I absolutely believe this college violated my rights," Gechter told The Allied News of Grove City. "They [suspended] me based on my occupation. I was not doing anything illegal."
College spokeswoman Amy Clingensmith said that Gechter was suspended because he "exhibited behavior contrary to the values" of the college.
"He also indicated he chose to participate in this behavior knowing it was incongruent with the policies, mission and values of Grove City College," Clingensmith said.
Gechter told the newspaper that he has been in about 15 gay porn scenes in the last two years using the screen name "Vincent DeSalvo." In doing the work, he said, he flew to Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and other places on the weekends.
Gechter, a senior majoring in molecular biology, said that he started doing gay porn after he was referred to the industry through a modeling agency late in his sophomore year.
Another student recognized Gechter and copied and pasted some images of him in an e-mail that was sent to some friends April 23. By the next morning, most of the student body and the school admininstration had seen or knew about the e-mail, Gechter said.
Gechter contacted the American Civil Liberties Union and the Pittsburgh Delta Foundation, a gay advocacy group. Delta's president, Gary Van Horn Jr., sent a letter to the school saying that Gechter's gay-porn work doesn't affect the school because he acted under a pseudonym.
Gechter said that he hasn't attended classes in two weeks since appealing the suspension, saying that he's afraid of reprisals from students.
But Clingensmith said that Gechter has been seen eating in the cafeteria and working out in the gym among other students. *