Rich Merritt was born in 1967 in Greenville, South Carolina. In 1973, his parents enrolled him at Bob Jones Elementary School, the educational “Fortress of Fundamentalism.” Merritt finished Bob Jones Elementary and went on to Bob Jones High School and Bob Jones University but was expelled before he got his university degree. After he got a degree from Clemson University, Merritt joined the United States Marine Corps, where he rose to the rank of captain. Unbeknownst to his superiors, Captain Merritt, by this time an active gay man, supplemented his income for a while by appearing in male adult films under the name of “Danny Orlis” (which Merritt stole from the hero of a series of Christian boys’ books). In 1998, Merritt caused a sensation when he came out in a New York Times Magazine cover story about gay Marines. Even worse (for Merritt), The Advocate dug up Merritt’s porn past and exposed it. Having left the Marines (with an honorable discharge), Merritt’s life took a wrong turn as he descended into a tailspin of circuit parties, drugs and alcohol, only to eventually recover and begin a new career as a lawyer - and as the author of his published memoirs.

Such is the gist of Secrets of a Gay Marine Porn Star, a memoir by Rich Merritt. Of course no paragraph could adequately tell Rich Merritt’s eventful life story; though Merritt does overdo it a bit by extending it to almost 500 pages. But while Merritt’s Secrets might get ponderous towards the end, on the whole his is a captivating story. He who began as the Southern Christian version of “the best little boy in the world” ended up as every fundie’s nightmare: a gay man, who served in the U.S. military while living a life of drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, prostitution and pornography. If this is not enough to give Jerry Falwell a heart attack, I don’t know what is.

Lesbian and gay activists were also disappointed by Merritt’s spotty past. While they were initially delighted by the revelation that a decorated captain in the United States Marine Corps was secretly a gay man, they weren’t too happy when they learned that their model Marine had once turned tricks or had sex in front of a camera. That The Advocate made a big issue out Merritt’s “youthful indiscretions” is hypocritical, since The Advocate owes its financial solvency to gay porn and its subsidiaries (e.g. Men magazine). Merritt didn’t help matters much by neglecting to tell the Times reporter about his peccadillos. More recently, Rich Merritt, Esq. lost his job in a prestigious Atlanta law firm, not because he is gay but because he wrote a book (this one) that detailed his sordid past.

Merritt survived his Atlanta law firm experience, just as he survived every other incident in his storied past. Merritt spent the last few months promoting Secrets of a Gay Marine Porn Star, as well as maintaining his Web site (richmerritt.com). Though Rich Merritt is not everyone’s idea of a role model, his is a story that’s worth reading, if only to keep from making some of the mistakes that he made. Admire him or not, Merritt can tell a good story; and Secrets of a Gay Marine Porn Star is the most interesting gay memoir that I have read since Alan Helms’s Young Man from the Provinces. Not yet 40 years of age, Merritt still has years of experience and achievements ahead of him. Perhaps he will write about them some day.

IS IT A CHOICE?: Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions About Gay and Lesbian People by Eric Marcus; 3rd Edition; HarperSan Francisco; 258 pages; $14.95. When I compiled a Holiday Gift Guide this past holiday season, I neglected to recommend this book, which would have made an ideal gift for the heterosexual person in your life. Is It a Choice? answers some of the most frequently asked questions that straight but curious people ask about their lesbian or gay relatives or friends. For example, here is Eric Marcus’s answer to the title question (Is It a Choice?):

“We all make choices about how we conduct our lives. But there are fundamental aspects of ourselves about which we don’t get a choice - eye color, fingerprints, and left- or right-handedness, for example. We also don’t get a choice about our feelings of sexual attraction. I didn’t choose my same-gender feelings of sexual attraction any more than my brother and sister chose their opposite-gender feelings of sexual attraction.”

The first (1993) edition of Is It a Choice? sold more than 75,000 copies and was translated into Spanish, Hebrew, Polish, Thai, and Japanese. For this third edition Marcus revised the text from beginning to end, bringing old questions up to date and adding some new questions. There is also a Bibliography and list of Resources, for those readers who want to learn more.

Jesse Monteagudo is a freelance writer and gay book lover who lives in South Florida with his life partner and many books. You may reach him at jessemonteagudo@aol.com.