Mormon Beefcake
No, you didn’t read that wrong. In yet another example of how crazy the Mormon Church is, creating a Mormon beefcake calendar seems to have gotten his creator denied a diploma from BYU and ex-communicated. The calendar’s creator says this is “injustice and intolerance.”
First, the goods:
- Photo gallery: the guys
- Meet the Missionaries (in the 2010 calendar)
- Preview the 2010 edition
- Get the calendar
- Photos of the shoots (via the LA Times)
Here’s the backstory, courtesy of Jezebel: Chad Hardy decided to create the calendar “to challenge people’s assumptions about Mormons and show they are capable both of sex appeal and laughing at themselves.” He found the guys in all the usual good Mormon places (dances, church), and even on MySpace. The good Mormon guys got so into the idea they started asking to be included. Case in point: The LA Times says one was “a 23-year-old BYU student, heard about the calendar from friends in Virginia. While working for the College Republican National Committee in Ohio last fall, he e-mailed pictures to Hardy.”
Well, according to the church, it’s just not okay. After all, it’s ”contrary to the value of living a chaste and virtuous life.” And the church used the full force of its authority to punish him. They denied him a diploma from BYU and ex-communicated him. The LA Times suggests this may have been due to “support for a gay marriage ban in California, others complained that the calendar was damaging the image of the faith.” Hardy tells Newsweek it was done “to scare the flock away from expressing their sexuality and disobeying their edicts.” To read more about Hardy’s take on it, visit his site and read his take in his own words.
And yes, Hardy knows there’s a gay subtext there. He told Newsweek “the 2008 and 2009 editions feature two openly gay men” and that “this is the tamest beefcake calendar a gay man could ever own.” Hardy’s even taken a stand against Prop 8, going so far as to donate to No on 8, again proving not all Mormons are agents of intolerance. Sadly, some folks in the gay community have suggest a boycott of Hardy and his calendar; Hardy says that’s intolerance, and he’s right. He says: “Not all Mormons hate gays.” Well said.
Gallery of the guys, after jump…
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