Page 50 - AVN September 2017

GAYVN
MAN ON A MISSION
Colby Melvin and AdamMale team up for the greater good
In April, he was named a brand ambassador for AdamMale—celebrating
the event with a “Dodgeball” parody video filled with well-known adult
industry personalities and airborne dildos. Given that Melvin’s social media
following has reached nearly 2 million, it was a no-brainer for both parties.
The position will last for at least two years, and utilize Melvin’s passion for
social activism.
“Had I experienced a positive sexual environment—and I’m not saying that
everyone needs to be a slut, but just the education of how to be gay man, how to
take care of yourself and everything regarding sex as a gay man—I probably would
be in a very different place today,” he says. “So my work with AdamMale is very
focused on that, and I love working with them because they don’t just want me to
be a porn star knockoff. They really allow me to use my voice in a very educational,
sort of free way.”
Melvin ideally envisions himself as “a Dan Savage meets Dr. Ruth for the gay
community. I want to be able to talk about sex, sex toys and sexual health in a
very free, positive, open way. One of the biggest things for people is they’re scared
to get tested for any STDs because they’re scared to find out they have something.
And I think the way for us to bridge that gap—and it’s no longer just about HIV ,
we’re talking about genital warts, chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes, all of these
different things—is to help people feel more comfortable, exploring their sexuality
but then also taking care of their sexual health in a way that they’re not scared to
seek help when they need it.”
Melvin notes he has done videos exploring sexual health, whether it’s how to
clean sex toys, checking for testicular cancer or different ways to make bottoming
a better experience.
“There’s a lot of things in the works, and we will see where it goes. I’ve done
some promotional videos, some educational videos, because you know we don’t
live in the 1950s anymore. It’s no longer about this nuclear family … as gay men,
when we have sex, it’s not for procreation, it’s strictly for pleasure. I want to
help people explore their sexuality, be more comfortable with it and not feel that
they’re doing something wrong by exploring it,” he says, noting that monogamy
isn’t necessarily what works for every gay male relationship.
“I have plenty of friends that have very modern approaches to relationships. I’d
love to be able to help people discover and explore their sexuality, whether it’s just
with themselves, their partner or partners. Again, life is too short to not have fun,
and we don’t have to fit into a certain mold anymore.”
INTERVIEW | By Brady Jansen
In an effort to aid with recovery efforts after the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill in
2010, a young Colby Melvin decided to get involved—working in management as
part of the cleanup crew and sourcing vessels.
part of my identity that I had never really experienced before,” recalls Melvin, the
brand ambassador for AdamMale, an offshoot of Adam & Eve. “And whenever the
company that I was working for found out, they said that they didn’t approve.”
growing up in the South, it added to an already arduous experience.
where the extent of our sex education was a course in religion class that told us,
‘If you masturbate or have anal sex or anything like that, you’re going to hell.’ I
didn’t lose my virginity until I was 19, and I didn’t figure out I was gay until I was
21. And I had convinced myself that I wasn’t attracted to guys, I was just envious
of the bodies that they had—it’s because that’s what I wanted,” Melvin says.
where I went to college, there isn’t any sense of gay community. Online was the
I
“That was around the same time that I came out. I had just discovered this new
I WANT TO BE ABLE TO TALK
ABOUT SEX, SEX TOYS AND SEXUAL HEALTH IN A VERY
Combined with the less-than-ideal climate the young gay man dealt with
FREE, POSITIVE, OPEN WAY.
“I grew up in a very conservative Catholic area in the Deep South in Louisiana,
—COLBY MELVIN
“In Alabama, it’s still legal for them to fire you for being gay. So in Mobile,
only place that I had to look, and the only thing that I saw were porn stars and
drag queens. And while I don’t have a problem with either, I didn’t want to be
either of those things. I’m a very sex-positive person, I think we should be having
many more discussions about sex, but it doesn’t mean that I wanted to have sex in
front of a camera.”
Melvin left the summer job and found himself a new mission—to become
what he wished he had seen growing up, educating gay men on important social
and sexual issues. He began working with Full Frontal Freedom, a coalition of
independent artists and media executives that raise awareness and improve civil
discourse. That led to his popular “Disclosure” video during the 2012 presidential
campaign. He currently works with a media agency as head of growth,
recruiting social media figures.
50 | AVN.com | 9.17
Melvin also loves AdamMale’s commitment to public service. Over the past
decade, more than 40 percent of the company’s profits have been donated to
various charity programs—with 20 percent of its profits going to HIV/AIDS
organizations.
“I am hoping to bring them in to more mental health awareness, which is a big
cause that I care about. I think that we have a long way to go in dealing with gay-
specific mental health issues regarding suicide, depression, anxiety and everything
else associated with coming out,” says Melvin, noting that a disproportionate
percentage of homeless youth identify as LGBT.
Melvin adds that continuing to promote a sense of gay community is more vital
than ever—and can’t drop off after the marriage equality victory.
“It’s great that we’re assimilating, but we don’t necessarily have to disintegrate
gay culture,” he says. “I think we still have a long way to go in the United States
in helping people be comfortable in their own skin. And again, that’s one of the
things that I love about this deal with AdamMale. It’s not about this deviant sex
sort of vibe; it’s explore, be comfortable and do your thing. You don’t have to
apologize or prove anything to anyone.”