Police Officer Fired Over Bondage Porn

International News, By Joal, 27th January, 2010

A United States police officer has been fired for appearing in gay bondage porn. The officer is suing his department, requesting his job back, saying that if it was straight porn colleagues would be “high-fiving him in the hallway.”

35-year-old Michael Verdugo made $700 for a 15-minute porn film in 1996, but now the appearance has lost him his job.

“I don’t regret it,” says Verdugo of Rope Rituals, which he filmed at the age of 22, “It was a time in my life that I wanted to explore.”

Verdugo’s former employer says the firing has nothing to do with his sexuality but his failure to disclose on his application form that he had appeared in porn.

“This had nothing to do with Mike Verdugo’s sexuality. It had to do with his honesty. The application process to become a police officer is very arduous,” spokesperson Raelin Storey told The Miami Times.

“Discrimination is still huge in the police community. It’s just huge,” says Verdugo.

The former officer, who owns his own interior design company, is now suing the police department for discrimination and wrongful termination.