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Why Rentboy Is Selling Everything From Their Gay Male Escort Offices

Following the government's seizure of Rentboy's assets, the gay male escorting website is liquidating their offices to support their legal defense.
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It was raining outside the offices of Rentboy on Wednesday. After being raided in August by both Homeland Security and the NYPD, seven employees of the male escorting website were charged with promoting prostitution across state lines. In an effort to raise money for their legal defense fund Rentboy is selling off the contents of their office; I had read about it on Craigslist.

They buzzed me in and I climbed three flights of stairs before arriving at a narrow office with one long wall of exposed brick and hardwood floors. Framed photographs and wide banners of glossy, muscular men hung from the ceiling and lined the room. Their text was printed in various languages. One of the banners first premiered at an event in Madrid, another in Berlin, before shuttling around the world. A young man in a tight polo arranged Rentboy magazines, t-shirts, and bracelets on a tempered glass desk. Cardboard boxes were filled with surge protectors, chunky black keyboards, and wires. Computer monitors were piled on tables.

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Chief Executive Jeffrey Hurant greeted us warmly. The man I'd come in with immediately, eagerly asked if they had any Apple products for sale. They do not. He bought a scale for five dollars, and considered purchasing a roll of tape. Unable to understand why there weren't any Apple products, the man asked how Rentboy managed to do in-house graphics without them. Everything was seized by Homeland Security, Hurant explained. There might be a stray Apple keyboard here or there, but nothing special.

[The persecution of Rentboy] is just another example of the State waging a war against dissent.

Rentboy was one of many online sites that connect escorts to clients. Despite the fact that their terms of use explicitly state the service may not be used to exchange sex for money, the government claims the company was an online brothel, according to the website for the Department of Justice. Homeland Security Special Agent Glenn Sorge stated, "The facilitation and promotion of prostitution offenses across state lines and international borders is a federal crime made even more egregious when it's blatantly advertised by a global criminal enterprise,"

Read More: Forget Hollywood: Decriminalizing Sex Work Helps Sex Workers

The Department of Homeland Security's purpose is broad, "to secure the nation from the many threats we face." But many have argued that services like Rentboy actually make sex work safer.The government's case against Rentboy has some claiming anti-gay bias and an unjustifiable use of government resources. The Editorial Board for The New York Times wrote, "The criminal complaint is so saturated with sexually explicit details, it's hard not to read it as an indictment of gay men as being sexually promiscuous."

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I spoke with a young man name David who says he worked on and off for Rentboy for a decade. His name has been changed to protect anonymity. "During Occupy Wall Street, I was in awe of the amount of resources Homeland Security poured into downtown NYC," David says. "[The persecution of Rentboy] is just another example of the State waging a war against dissent. Rentboy represented an alternative for a lot of young queers to exist on their own terms, make money and [live their lives] outside of traditional narratives."

The charges simply represent America's perpetual need for false monsters to demonize and destroy.

David describes the charges against Rentboy as "unnecessary." He explains that the case is doing nothing to provide meaningful change for individuals who are actually in dangerous situations, or who need support. "To me, the charges simply represent America's perpetual need for false monsters to demonize and destroy so organizations like Homeland Security can continue to profit and call for laws that strip Americans of their rights."

"I'm a little curious where all the senators and politicians and cops I've met [through Rentboy] have gone since this indictment." David's point echoes speculation in the press. Boston Globe columnist Michael Brodeur tweeted that the raids may have been a strategic seizure of sensitive user data that could include the names of government officials.

Federal officials raid Rentboy in advance of hypothetical hack of Rentboy revealing federal officials on Rentboy. #rentboy
— Michael A. Brodeur (@MBrodeur) August 25, 2015

Its also possible the raids are part of a broader cultural backlash against the legalization of gay marriage, David says. "It's unfair, but it speaks to the anti-queerness of America. With every step forward, a step back. The people gay marriage helps isn't the same as the people needing to post ads on Rentboy. Without that site a lot of young people are again struggling and forced to go back and find new ways to advertise. So any argument that [the criminalization of Rentboy] is helping make anything safer is just bullshit. This isn't making anything safer."

From the window in Rentboy's office, I could see the western run of 14th Street as it led away from Union Square. A row of potted plants thrived on the window's edge. Several cushioned chairs and sofas were pulled apart and pushed into the center of the room. Jeffrey Hurant smiled and picked up a pink plastic tape dispenser in the shape of a high heel shoe. He asked if I'd like to own a piece of gay history, prophesying that the relics of Rentboy will one day be considered as precious and historically significant as the barstools from The Stonewall Inn.

I purchased the tape dispenser and pulled up my hood. As I opened the door to leave, I heard Hurant talking to his friends. They wondered who would rent the office once they were gone. Jeffrey Hurant looked around the room. Rain pelted the glass. "It seems like a nice place to live, right?"