CocoDorm Wins Federal Lawsuit, XXX Shows Continue at Miami Home

Sorry for being a little bit late on this story. The boyz of Cocodorm.com—such as Baby Boy (nsfw), seen above, and the very familiar faces and bodies of performers such as Will and Breion Diamond (nsfw)—will stay put for now.  A federal judge rules the very popular blatino gay porn portal can continue to offer live sex shows from its Miami home.

The dorm—which has advertised on Rod 2.0—features up to five black and Latino young men who share a home together and have sex on schedule (nsfw).The city has tried to shut down the five-bedroom house near downtown Miami, arguing it constitutes an "adult business illegally operating in a residential area." In 2007 the city's Code Enforcement Board agreed, and Cocodorm owner Flavaworks (nsfw) responded to the code enforcement by suing in federal court.

U.S. District Court Judge Marcia C. Cooke sided with Flavaworks and based her ruling on a precedent involving the City of Tampa and adult website Voyeurdorm.com, a straight website which features women. Cooke ruled Cocodorm did not violate city ordinances and "agreed with Flava Works that no business was conducted in the house where the sex shows take place and that all business transactions were conducted over the internet." There was no evidence what happened inside the home "could be accessed by neighbors or effect the immediate surroundings."

The legal battle began when neighbors and zoning authorities were sent anonymous, printed copies of the webpages, a DVD of a sex show and a fight that happened at the dorm, and, photos of the red brick home. (Copy of the package courtesy of Darian Aaron and LOLDarian.com) Candid snapshots of the dorm residents also identified the young men by name. The package was sent to NBC6 which aired an expose—YouTube here—that prompted city officials to take action. The television report and dorm activity became a cause celebre across the black gay virtual community with various blogs taking sides. (Note: The story was never reported on Rod 2.0 until now.) It was later revealed one of the leading bloggers who publicly condemned the activity was a longtime customer of Flavaworks and Cocoboyz.

The verdict is being celebrated across the adult industry and for good measure. The case becomes a precedent for future cases involving zoning and its application to cyberspace, as well as regulation of live, virtual adult entertainment. It also helps that the Flavaworks case was decided on a very distinguished docket: Judge Marcia C. Cooke is the first black female federal judge in Florida and the same judge who presided over the terror-conspiracy trial of alleged Al-Qaeda "dirty bomber"  Jose Padilla.

Comments

[Antwan]

"...one of the leading black gay bloggers who condemned the activity was a longtime customer of Flavaworks and Cocoboyz."

WTF???
Why did this never come out?

Who was on their moral high horse in public and secretly enjoying Breion and Mr Sauki at night????

[ATL Kid]

hmmm. interesting.

yeah, i was always wondering why you never mentioned this story but you've never been hypocrit. i would personally like to know which black gay blogger was a longtime and frequent custiomer watching these boyz and j/o but saying no one else should

[Greg G]

Typical faux conscious black gay activist drama.
The entire blog uproar over Cocodorm was just BS. Those queens were not concerned about the health or welfare of these young men. They were trying to make a name for themselves.

I have seem some of these boyz movies, some are hot and some are not. I am not into raw sex but blaming a porn website for our community HIV rates is not persuading. If that is the case HIV would be much more prevalent in hetero (=no condom videos)

[Bradley]

So are prices going down?

[Adrian]

I remember Darian Aaron's interview with Alex. He did some very good work with Alex, that is how I came to respect him as a blogger.

Glad this case is over. Falcon and other white gay porn companies have similar setups and no police harassment.

[Devin]

i actually am a big fan of cocodorm, its like a black gay sexy real world, it hot

[M. Mark]

I was wondering why you never mentioned the NBC6 news report or the Chicago case.

But I for one want deets on the blogger who was buying all the Cocodorm and Thugporn. If they have been outed you should share name.is it a big name?

[Axel]

This case actually could have very important 1st Amend ramifications. I wish them the best.

And good looking out on the judge.

[FREELEO]

They are having sex without condoms. Many of them are poz. They are sending the wrong message to other young people shame shame shame..

Freeleo, I have responded at length below. -RM

[Albert]

So what exactly were they accused of doing wrong? Operating the webcam dorm? That is hardly much different than what many people do with there own webcams, only this was a business.

And who exposed them to the neighbors? Very shady. Probably a former employee or competitor I would think right?

[Q]

How much you wanna bet that one of those neighbors tries to burn the house down...with them IN it?!

[Stephen Milan]

Wow. That would be horrible Q let's hope not. But that was a very ugly thing for someone to do. Sending their names and photos and house pics to all the neighbors,, someone could have been hurt. Miami isn't necessarily as gay friendly as some people think esp. the hood.

But I will not lie and say I havent watched dorm or bought movies. I have.

[Jeffrey Fichtelberg]

Who ever started this this falls into the category of human waste that I always remember to flush.

That this was pursued by the city of Miami is very sad since prior case law indicated that there was no foundation for this litigation. Like the person or people who started this, the Miami Government is also worthy of flushing. The stench of defecation is awful.

Miami has it's good points though. We are very safe from terrorism against government here, who would bother to kill such idiots

[Jaroslaw]

this is ridiculous. If there is no evidence from the outside, then WTF are the neighbors complaining about? Come to my neighborhood where half the people think the alley is a garbage can. And pay for my replacement tires from all the sh*t I run over.

[q.deon]

CHILD
i'm like everybody else, i wanna kno who the blogger is

[Joseph]

This was crazy. Why did you never report this?
I never knew Cocodorm was under this scrutiny or investigation. The neighbors have a lot of nerve. Their are bigger problems in urban areas than what people do behind closed doors with webcams. If that were the case many people would be in trouble!

And let me know who these bloggers who helped expose Cocodorm and who was the blogger buying their movies all the time? That is some Ted Haggard crap.

[Indio]

I have never heard of any of this story before. Who is the blogger?

[gurlene]

For those of you who have no idea who it "might" be just google Cocodorm file lawsuit against blogger and let your imagination be your guide.

Rod thank you for posting this. I have googled that case for well over a year (cocodorm sues black gay male and black female blogger) and said all along that case was settled out of court.

A friend of mine said that he was in actual life the a-s-s he appears on tv and that what he no doubt wanted was to get free access to that site.

Congratulations to the owner of Cocodorm.com for standing up to tyranny.

Again thanks for posting this.

[Bruce K]

I watched that report and it was a freaking outrage! Who did this? Was it the blogger?

I am not very surprised a spiteful queen would do this but am very shocked it made the news. Where was I?...Was this a continuation of health department STD investigation in Chicago? If not it does not seem very relevant.

[Bruce K]

Oh and thanks Gurlene...I googled

Whoa. Never knew anything about a tv news report, federal lawsuit, blogger lawsuit or anything of this madness. It is crazy and seems a bit much. But I could be wrong. There were legitimate concerns about HIV and STD in Chicago. I don't know were these resolved in Miami.

And let me pass on "thanks" to Rod. I am googling and see that indeed all the black gay blogs were on this story but you'. I am not sure is it because Flavaworks advertises on your site and you didn't want to seem bias (not like anyone could accuse you of promoting unsafe sex...). But you didn't call out anyone which not your style. So thanks for that. You do a helluva lot on the blog and don;t get enough props.

[terry]

[DELETED]

No names mentioned in this post, no personal stories. Time to move forward. -RM

[Rod Mc]

Freeleo, let me respond to your earlier comments. I normally do not debate this topic because my views are so well known.. But I appreciate your honesty and support.

Cocodorm should have been more responsible in Chicago. They have made progress. I also am not a fan of gay bareback porn, apparently many people are, but there is definitely not a correlation between HIV rates and porn. As someone mentioned earlier, if there were, HIV rates would soar in white hetero demographics since the overwhelming majority of porn is geared toward heterosexuals. The rates have not. Or the HIV rates would climb in white gay demos, since most bareback gay porn is white. The rates are not climbing with gay white men.

For 20 years, safe sex messages have been everywhere, on prime time television, movies, cable, commercials ... media which attracts far more viewership among "young" black men than this one company's limited range of raw titles. (Not to mention the fact other black gay porn companies also produce these.) Unfortunately some people just aren't listening. I'm not sure why but blaming one company isn't going to fix things. It's also very simplistic to assume "young" black gay men are ignoring everyone else but imitating what they see in some porn titles.

To be very honest, I talk about HIV/AIDS all the time. Almost no one says anything in those posts. A few years ago, several black gay bloggers posted a few reports on HIV and bareback porn, caused a huge controversy, and everyone was suddenly concerned. What are they saying about HIV or bareback porn today? The same bloggers are either saying nothing or have totally changed their tune. But I'm sure they are discussing porn, though. And it was brought to my attention immediately that one of the loudest opponents of Cocodorm was one of the company's biggest customers. I chose NOT to single that person out but the truth emerged later on another blog.

IMHO there are a number of factors fueling HIV rates in our community which we refuse to discuss, such as drugs and alcohol, as well as self-esteem and personal responsibility. The black community has a history of shame and denial--look at Chris Brown story--and the black gay community even more so. It's very sad that the (white) gay community recognizes and tailors prevention messages around drugs and alcohol--which are HUGE problems in the gay community, lower inhibitions, and increase the likelihood of unsafe sex--and the black gay community refuses to discuss the obvious.

Just my thoughts. -RM

[FREELEO]

I appreciate you responding Rod. I have a confession. I love porn. I also can't watch porn where there is barebacking. Every time I see it, I'm sickened. I just keep thinking, here is another brother being infected with hiv.

I've watched this virus take most of my friends. Most of my friends.I suffered from survivor's guilt for years. I've been getting tested for hiv for over 20 years. I've been sexually active for a loooong time. After the medical professionals said a condom was the best defense against the virus, I've always used them. I know if used properly they work. It breaks my heart that people think they can not have a good time using condoms.

Black gays are a very large supporter of many pharmaceutical companies because many black gays need daily hiv drugs to survive. This too saddens me.

I'm sure the black church, depression, shame, and abuse have a lot to do with the spread of hiv, but we have to take responsibility for our own lives and try to erase those negative tapes that play in our heads.

As you can see, I have no answers. I'm afraid for my brothers and future generations of black sgl brothers because we just aren't getting it.

I watched cocodorm and was sickened. There was something that gave me a sex slave vibe. I saw beautiful young brothers having unprotected sex and just thought it was sad. I know they aren't the only ones doing it but they were the ones that stood out for me.

I have no answers. Only an undying love and concern for my brothers.

[Victor C]

Rod,I don't necessarily agree with everything you say on this blog but agree with a whole lot of your points on substance abuse and HIV. We all know that many young bothers are partying, drinking, smoking weed and using drugs (crack) when they are hooking up,but we almost never hear any criticism or commentary on this.Our 'hood' culture celebrates drinking, 40s, weed\, blunts and all that, especially around sex.Its much easier to point at a black gay porn company owned by a white gay man and point the finger.

I appreciate your honesty.

I also appreciate Freeleo's honesty and am glad to see real meaningful "dialogue" and "conversation." I don't have any answers either,but am think we need to look at everything. Bareback sex isn't my thang but I do think this company was scapegoated.

And bravo for not calling any of the bloggers whio were hypocritical. As TD Jakes son has learned, what you do at night comes to light during the day!

[Freddy]

Was Cocodorm scapegoated?

Hell to the yea it was! There are other couples that do webcams in homes, other couples that do bareback,,, and these are larger companies. Why was Cocodorm "exposed" across blogs and tv news?

But this is very good news,,, I am glad to hear they won the lawsuit. It was bogus to tell the neighbors! And who did this! Add me to the list of the people not aware of a lawsuit against bloggers (thanks gurlene!) or a black gay blogger who was a closeted freak!

Give us a name!