85-Year-Old Retired Priest Embraces “Porn Star” Title (YNOT)

Read the full article by Miss Lagsalot at YNOT.com

A retired priest from North Carolina, Norm Self starred in his first gay pornographic video when he was eighty-three years old. Now eighty-five, Mr. Self told The Sun that he’s feeling “more vibrant than ever” after having appeared in four adult films. He wasn’t paid for any of his performances, but he says that’s fine with him because it’s been like “having a party.”

Self entered the priesthood at the age of 18 after a struggle against masturbation. He later left the priesthood to pursue ministry as a layperson and to get married. But, after twenty-one years of marriage, while working as a campus  minister in the late nineties, he realized, “Guess what, I’m a gay man!”

Just as spiritual today—but much less religious—, he now works primarily as a “minister of erotic education and the sacred intimate,” a teacher who helps people of all genders explore the healing power of pleasure, he told HuffPo. His ultimate mission, he said, is to ensure that ““sex-negative norms are removed from our society’s vocabulary and replaced with the implicit message that our birthright is to enjoy erotic joy and bliss.”

So when his roommate approached him about appearing in a gay porn film with two younger men, he thought, “We are going to have sex anyway so why not make it a liberating and bonding experience instead of hiding it away in the shadows?” he told The Sun.