Stonewall Review: August 2008

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Stonewall Democrats chair has been hiding porn activities

Stephen Driscoll, one of the two co-chairs of the National Stonewall Democrats, is a producer, director, and occasional star of adult films, and he has concealed his adult film activities from political colleagues for years, the Stonewall Review has determined. Driscoll is also a Hillary Clinton delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

Driscoll, of Massachusetts, is the owner of BG East Studios, which produces wrestling-themed gay adult films. Driscoll casts, produces, and directs BG East films, and he occasionally stars in them as well, under the nom-de-porn of Kid Leopard. Such activities can be legal, constitutionally protected expression as long as they otherwise do not violate laws such as those regarding age of consent.

The National Stonewall Democrats (NSD) bills itself as America's only grassroots Democratic lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender organization. NSD's other co-chair is Laurie McBride of Sacramento. The National Stonewall Democrats is not affiliated with the Stonewall Review, which is an independent blog.

Driscoll has for years concealed the existence of his adult film activities from political colleagues, presenting himself instead as a "sports promoter" or as a "pro-wrestling promoter". After NSD co-chair Rick Trombly of New Hampshire resigned suddenly in 2004 after admitting substantial temperament and performance shortcomings, Driscoll sent an e-mail message to NSD board members declaring his candidacy for the vacated position. In the April 27, 2004 message, which was provided to us by current and former NSD board members, the only reference that Driscoll made to his business activities was to state that "I promote professional wrestling". In a later message, dated May 13, 2004, he stated that he is "Owner, NewProWrestling, Inc." Driscoll made no mention of BG East or of the specific nature of BG East's activities in either message. He was elected co-chair of the National Stonewall Democrats on May 15, 2004, two days after he sent the second e-mail message.

Current and former NSD board members say that they had no knowledge of Driscoll's adult film business until contacted by the Stonewall Review. "He told us he was a wrestling promoter -- that's all I ever knew," one long-serving board member wrote to us.

BG East films are not merely "erotic;" they are XXX porn, displaying ample amounts of body fluids. Visitors to BG East's web site must certify that they are 18 or older to gain entrance to the site's contents. In one BG East film, X Fights 3, Driscoll/Kid Leopard ejaculates twice. In X Fights 4, he achieves the same result all over his wrestling opponent. In X Fights 6, he achieves the same result. Driscoll refers to himself in the latter film's promotional material on BG East's web site as the film's "stud-star."

NSD insiders say that they are upset by the nature of Driscoll's porn activities in light of his public profile as a head of the organization ("Let's face it, there's a considerable ick factor involved," wrote one), but they are especially upset by the fact that he concealed his activities from them. "The fact that he concealed something from us is proof of the fact that he had something to conceal," wrote one former board member. A current, long-serving board member wrote, "Since he hid information from us, that means he didn't trust us enough to make the best decision on behalf of our members when we voted to replace Rick [Trombly]. How can we ever trust him again?"

Kid Leopard maintains a Yahoo! profile at http://profiles.yahoo.com/kidleopard . Under "Real Name," he lists "Stephen." Under "Location," he lists "Boston, Mass/Fort Lauderdale, Fl;" Driscoll has homes in both communities. Under "Occupation," he lists "wrestling promoter/politician," and under "Hobbies," he lists "wrestling, politics, super heroes." Under "Links," he has links to both NewProWrestling at www.newprowrestling.com and to BG East at www.bgeast.com . He also lists his BG East profile at http://www.bgeast.com/gallery/gallery_KL.php .

In light of the appearance of Driscoll's having obtained his positions under false pretenses, his status as a Clinton delegate and his status as NSD's co-chair and as a board member are not clear. The Democratic National Convention credentials committee has already approved delegate credentials, and it is not clear if the Clinton campaign would try to remove him at this late date. But one current NSD board member asked hypothetically, "If Joe Solmonese of HRC [the Human Rights Campaign] or Andy Tobias of the Democratic National Committee were found to be making and appearing in porn flicks on the side, would they retain their positions?" Other questions that have arisen are: Which NSD board members knew about Driscoll's background and yet kept quiet; and was Driscoll compromised as a consequence?

The National Stonewall Democrats for years has had difficulty attracting and retaining qualified board members and staff. When Trombly resigned mid-term in 2004, he admitted in an e-mail message to board members to being "strident" in dealings with them as well as to failing to get anyone in authority in the Kerry presidential campaign to return his phone calls in his capacity as NSD co-chair. McBride's predecessor, Julian Potter, also resigned mid-term later that same year following criticism for her chronic failure to protect staff from micromanagement by a handful of board members and to prevent a staff revolving door. Potter submitted her resignation to the board of directors the same night that then-executive director Dave Noble submitted his after Noble had been on the job for only eighteen months. NSD had four executive directors during the four years that Potter was on the board and seven executive directors since its first was appointed eight years ago in 2000.

In what is in retrospect one of the most surreal stories of the 2004 campaign, a clueless Driscoll was spotlighted in a Nation article by Matt Taibbi about Wesley Clark's shaky presidential campaign. Taibbi went undercover as a Clark volunteer and presented himself to appalled Clark staffers as an adult film director. In his account of his experience with Driscoll and then as a putative porn impressario, Taibbi is obviously unaware of the closeness of the two subjects:

At one of the Clark meet-ups in Boston, at a bar near Faneuil Hall, we volunteers were addressed by a man who was introduced as the highest-ranking Massachusetts politician to have endorsed the Clark campaign--a member of the state Democratic committee named Steve Driscoll. Here is how Driscoll opened his remarks:

"The thing is," he said, "being electable means having certain qualities. And unfortunately, many of those qualities are superficial qualities." He paused. "General Clark has depth, but he also has those surface qualities. He appeals to people who don't have time to think about the depth part."

Jesus, I thought. They're just coming right out and saying it.

For the two weeks or so that I had been a volunteer, I had tried, unsuccessfully, to get a rise out of my fellow Clark supporters. Just to see how they would react, I had introduced myself at the first meet-up as an adult-film director named Rondell Abrams. Massachusetts campaign staff member Dave Rubin, a skittish young Brandeis grad, gritted his teeth when I told him I'd just finished making Asian Ass Vixens 6.

"I also did the East St. Louis Street Hookers series," I said.

He nodded. "Well, uh, we're glad to have you."

A 42-second PG-rated clip of one of Kid Leopard's X-rated videos is available on YouTube. The clip itself is tame; the entire video, available for sale on BG East's web site, involves eruptions that are NSFW.