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Chad Hardy wrote:Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:42 am Post subject: The Back Story to the Chad Hardy Excommunication
I know everyone is speculating about my excommunication, and thinking there must be more to the story that I am not telling. Well I am the only one who can ever openly say what went on in the court that day, but I will say this, and say it by swearing on the Bible and everything that is good and holy on this planet: There was NO talk of ANY form of personal transgression AT ALL during my disciplinary council. The "other" charges that Frank Davie casually broke confidence and slyly shared with the Associated Press to create this assumption was simply that I do not honor my priesthood (by not attending church meetings) and do not honor my temple covenants (by choosing to remove the sacred garment.) The entire meeting was about the calendar, and after I spoke, all the questions that were asked by the council ALL had to do with the calendar. Just for the record, my reasons for leaving the church had nothing to do with transgression. Quite frankly, I was sick and tired of the hypocrisy and self-righteousness of the members and I never felt like I was a fit in the "country club." I never felt I could trust LDS people, therefore I decided to leave the fellowship, but I never left my faith. I will say, that since doing this calendar, I have met the best LDS guys ever. These men are top class, and I respect and honor them.

Now the Church did try very hard to try to find a moral transgression by spying on me so they could excommunicate me for that instead of having to embarrass themselves by excommunicating me over the calendar. After initially meeting with me in my home about the calendar, a few weeks later Frank Davie requested to meet with me one-on-one to discuss some "personal matters." I have attached the email correspondence below so you can read just how this unfolded.

After refusing to meet with Mr. Davie several times as he would never tell me what the "personal matter" was, he finally agreed to tell me over the phone. He flat out asked me if I was living with my (female) coworker, and if we were having sex!!!! I was speechless. Not only do I not live with her, the closest we have ever come to sex is when she has shared her sex life with me. We are really good friends, and that is about it. I asked him where he got this information, and he said he could not share that with me, just simply that it had been brought to his attention. I work out of my home, and she comes and goes from my house all the time, so I could only imagine they had been spying on me, especially when he would not share the source. He went on to ask me if I had been involved with inappropriate relations with anyone of the opposite sex. He was digging, and it was obvious. This was the third time I have been falsely accused of erroneous transgressions, and then of course being denied to know the source of the inaccurate information. That is why, when I received my summons for a disciplinary court, I went to the press. The back story has never been published, which has in turn created much speculation.

Before my court started, I met with Mr. Davie in his office where he went over the proceedings of the court so I would know what to expect. Once again he asked me if I had been involved with my coworker and brought up a myspace message that I had written to her about being my hot sexy mama, or something flirtatious like that. So they were looking at my myspace friends to see what kind of comments I was leaving??!!! He also then asked me once again if I had any inappropriate relations with anyone else of the opposite sex. I then honestly and accurately answered. This was NEVER brought up in the council. Not even a hint of it. It was simply the two things I mentioned above, and the "inappropriate project" (a.k.a. the Calender) that I was involved in

Here is email coorespondance as it unfolded over the past several weeks:

______________________________________________________________

From: Frank Davie [mailto:frankernstdavie@
Sent: Sunday, May 11, 2008 2:00 PM
To: Chad@
Subject: Missionary Calendars?

Brother Hardy,
Bishop Olds and I appreciated the opportunity we had to come to your home last April 15.
As you may recall, we discussed with you the publishing of the returned missionary calendar.
During our visit, I mentioned to you that the calendar was inappropriate and asked that you give careful consideration to terminate its publication. It simply does not represent the Church or Church missionaries in the right way.
You shared with Bishop and I that you would discuss this with your work partner.
I would welcome an opportunity to come to your home again or you may wish to visit with me otherwise to further discuss your decision.
Please give me a call at XXX-XXXX or answer to this email.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you,
President Davie

______________________________________________________________

On Thu, Jun 5, 2008 at 6:45 PM, Chad Hardy <chad@> wrote:

Hi President Davie,

The Men on a Mission Calendar is owned by CMH Entertainment, LLC. I am not full owner of this company. This company is backed by financial investors that are invested in the publication and distribution of the calendars and other products it produces. The 2008 Men on a Mission Calendar was one of the top 10 best selling model calendars in the 2007 season. Its success is being followed up by the 2009 Calendar which has already been guaranteed distribution across the US for the 2008 buying season.

We are standing behind the project, its message and philanthropic purposes. Though we understand not everyone agrees with the project, the individual expressions of those involved have reshaped perceptions, removed walls, and shown an outpour of acceptance and tolerance around the world. Everyone involved has experienced the positive ripple effect of what this project has created. This project in no way is meant to demean, disrespect or misrepresent the LDS church fundamental beliefs. The project is based on individual models who at one time in their life served a full-time service mission. It was their choice to appear in the calendar and share their personal experiences and stories.

I understand and appreciate your personal concerns and thank you for your understanding of my decision to stand behind my project and business venture.

Best,

CHAD

_______________________________________________________________________

From: Frank Davie [mailto:frankernstdavie@]
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 9:24 AM
To: Chad Hardy
Subject: Re: Missionary Calendars?

Dear Brother Hardy,
Thank you for your response and explanation of why you are maintaining this calendar project.
I still need to visit with you one-on-one, regarding you personally of which I do not wish to share via email or over the phone. It is important that you and I have some time together.
I am available this Sunday, June after 9:00a, at the conclusion of early morning meetings.
Please give me a call as soon as possible as I will be looking forward to meeting with you.
You may call me directly at XXX-XXXX.
Thank you,
President Davie

_____________________________________________________________

On Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 12:08 PM, Chad Hardy <chad@> wrote:

I appreciate your consideration; however your intentions at this point are unclear. I do not feel there is anything more I need to discuss. If you can clarify your intentions, or the purpose for wanting to meet with me, I will consider a meeting.

Thank you for the understanding.

Best,
CHAD HARDY
_______________________________________________________________________

On Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 6:55 PM, Frank Davie <frankernstdavie@> wrote:
Brother Hardy,
Please give me a call and I will be pleased to discuss this matter with you, so as to clarify my reason for wanting to meet with you in person.
Thank you,
President Davie

_____________________________________________________________
From: Frank Davie [mailto:frankernstdavie@

Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 8:54 AM

To: Chad Hardy
Subject: Re: Missionary Calendars?

Brother Hardy,

I would like to hear from you as soon as possible.

Time is moving along and we need to visit with each other even by phone.

Please give me a call at XXX-XXXX.

President Davie

______________________________________________________________

On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 9:39 AM, Chad Hardy <chad@> wrote:

I have tried to call you a couple times and got no answer. What is the urgency?

Best,

CHAD

From: Frank Davie [mailto:frankernstdavie@]
Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2008 8:21 AM
To: Chad Hardy
Subject: Re: Missionary Calendars?

Brother Hardy,
I am on vacation and will be returning to the US, June 27.
For some reason, I have not received any of your calls or voice messages but that is OK as I still want to visit with you in person for what we need to talk about.
I again would be pleased to come to your home or you can meet me at the stake president's office. When I return, I will look forward to setting an appt. with you.
Sorry you keep you wondering what this is all about, however, it needs to be talked about between the two of us as it is quite personal.
Thank you,
President Davie


I THEN SPOKE TO MR. DAVIE ON THE PHONE AS OUTLINED ABOVE AND THEN RESPONDED WITH THIS EMAIL:

On Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 4:26 PM, Chad Hardy <chad@> wrote:

Hi President Davie,

I have been giving it some thought, and I no longer see a value or purpose to speaking with you anymore in regards to my personal life or my business affairs. I appreciate you taking false accusations and misinformation to the source and hope you are satisfied with the correct information.

Regards,

Chad Hardy

______________________________________________________________


From: Frank Davie [mailto:frankernstdavie@]
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 7:56 AM
To: Chad Hardy
Subject: Re: Further Contact


Dear Brother Hardy,
I had hoped that from our conversation yesterday, previous emails and with our visit to your home, that we would be able to continue meeting with each other and that I might have the opportunity to work with you.
It is apparent that you have chosen the path that you have.
You have broken your priesthood and temple covenants and engaged yourself in a project that is considered inappropriate.
As you would hopefully understand, this is all considered as 'conduct unbecoming of a member of the Church'.
In the near future, I will have two elders deliver to your home or sent to you by registered mail, a Notice of a Church Disciplinary Council to be held in your behalf. The date and time will be indicated in the notice.
Again, I had hoped that we would have further conversation, that I might help you to come to an understanding of your Church responsibilities. Since you have chosen not to meet with me any further, I have the responsibility to take this action in your behalf.
I thank you for sharing all that you have thus far. It is my intent to do all that I can to help you and will look forward to any opportunity to do so, should you change your mind.
Please give me a call if you wish to do so.
Sincerely,
Frank Davie
Stake President
Warm Springs Stake

Mahonri wrote:Of course it was the calendar. Showing "skin", but most of all, not paying Tithing on the damn thing. If he had paid tithing none of this would have come up. Marriott pays tithing on his dirty movies. A good friend and bishop of a Student Ward at Utah State University photographs and sells prints of nudes, but pays tithing, so it is OK.

Pay and you can play. Don't pay and you are thrown out and innuendo is used to trash your reputation.

How about a calendar of the top 12 Excommunicators in the LDS Church, you can call it Hit Man for God!

Chad Hardy wrote:"Can you confirm that he was being directed from above? And if so, do you have any idea what that direction was?"

I had a very interesting phone conversation with a reporter who had some inside information as to where this summons came from, and from what I was told, it came from the office of the First Presidency, that they wanted to make an example of me to scare off anyone from getting involved in the future- and since it did not turn out like they hoped, they now have regret over the PR nightmare this has become for them.



"Do you have any sort of proof that the church was spying on you? What form did that take?"

The only proof I have is how the SP said he had been told about my relationship with my coworker, and even called her by name. He also brought up the myspace page in the one-on-one I had with him prior to my council.

Chad Hardy wrote:No - I actually thought they would not. When it first came out, the press got some quotes from church PR representatives who said there is no gross violation of anything. When the models were called into their leaders, and nothing was done to them, I thought the church would just ignore the whole thing. It wasn't until Monson took office that all of this changed.

Trevor wrote:Chad added this on another thread:

Chad Hardy wrote:"Can you confirm that he was being directed from above? And if so, do you have any idea what that direction was?"

I had a very interesting phone conversation with a reporter who had some inside information as to where this summons came from, and from what I was told, it came from the office of the First Presidency, that they wanted to make an example of me to scare off anyone from getting involved in the future- and since it did not turn out like they hoped, they now have regret over the PR nightmare this has become for them.



"Do you have any sort of proof that the church was spying on you? What form did that take?"

The only proof I have is how the SP said he had been told about my relationship with my coworker, and even called her by name. He also brought up the myspace page in the one-on-one I had with him prior to my council.

When asked whether he thought he would be disciplined over the calendar, he responded:

Chad Hardy wrote:No - I actually thought they would not. When it first came out, the press got some quotes from church PR representatives who said there is no gross violation of anything. When the models were called into their leaders, and nothing was done to them, I thought the church would just ignore the whole thing. It wasn't until Monson took office that all of this changed.

Chad Hardy wrote:Hi guys,

I wanted to let you all know of a very recent development in the calendar. There is a story about a recent church disciplinary council to be held in my honor this Sunday that is hitting the press all over. I want you all to know about it, and to not worry about anything, that your local leaders should not be coming down on you for being in the calendar, because there is nothing wrong with modeling. Models from last year did not have any problems once their leaders knew of its message and purpose.

Just so you know why this is happening to me, I will fill you in on some of the details.

I have had several conversations with my stake president about the calendar. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and my SP did not like it and he let me know that. We had some great conversations about it, and thought he was satisfied that I was not out to destroy or harm the church, and hoped he realized the positive effect we have had around the world, and of all the great opportunities we have had to share our truth. A couple weeks ago, he started aggressively contacting me that we needed to meet one-on-one about some “personal matters.” He would not tell me what these matters were, and so I would not meet with him. He really started to get aggressive, calling me at work, etc until he finally told me over the phone. He made false accusations that I was “living in sin” with my full-time employee. He said he had inside information about this, and he would not tell me who shared this with him. (Basically they were spying on me.) I told him that she works for me and is always in and out of my house because we work out of my home. He then started to grill me on my worthiness, and reasons why I don’t attend my church meetings or pay my tithing. (These are personal and I have a long list of reasons why I have distant myself in the past few years.) This really upset me because I felt they were on a witch hunt to try to disgrace me because of his personal feelings about my calendar project. I sent him an email asking him to please stop inquiring about my personal and business affairs, and he replied with a church court letter.

The media is VERY interested in this because they see the project as being progressive, fun and enlightening. I do not want this to damage the image of the church, and I don’t want it to damage my project. I am hoping my local church leaders will do the right thing. If I am excommunicated, or if I resign – it will have no effect on this project. It will not change the way I feel about the church or what I am doing. None of you should be scared, or have any fear, because some church leaders use fear to keep their members in line, which I personally do not agree with.

Remember, there is nothing wrong with posing shirtless for modeling photos. Things have been done tastefully and with respect to you, your beliefs and the church. If the church wants to make an issue with this, they will have to answer a lot of questions including why the Marriotts are allowed to sell XXX pornography in their hotel rooms. All church pool and beach parties would also have to be reconsidered. The list can go on and on.

I am not trying to start a revolution, or cause a fight – but I will stand up for what is right and what I believe in. There have been nothing but positive feelings and energy behind this project. You have all experienced that at the photo shoot. It’s amazing. Thank you for all being brave enough to be in this calendar project, and for being will to share what you believe in as an individual man of faith. You have my word that the integrity of this project will always be positive, will never tear down any faith – and will continue to create interfaith dialogue around the world. I believe we are part of a great thing, and I will share this conviction and truth with my leaders on Sunday.

Best,

Chad Hardy

Trevor wrote:Chad has now posted the text of a letter he sent to his models when he was summoned to the Church court:

Chad Hardy wrote:Hi guys,

I wanted to let you all know of a very recent development in the calendar. There is a story about a recent church disciplinary council to be held in my honor this Sunday that is hitting the press all over. I want you all to know about it, and to not worry about anything, that your local leaders should not be coming down on you for being in the calendar, because there is nothing wrong with modeling. Models from last year did not have any problems once their leaders knew of its message and purpose.

Just so you know why this is happening to me, I will fill you in on some of the details.

I have had several conversations with my stake president about the calendar. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and my SP did not like it and he let me know that. We had some great conversations about it, and thought he was satisfied that I was not out to destroy or harm the church, and hoped he realized the positive effect we have had around the world, and of all the great opportunities we have had to share our truth. A couple weeks ago, he started aggressively contacting me that we needed to meet one-on-one about some “personal matters.” He would not tell me what these matters were, and so I would not meet with him. He really started to get aggressive, calling me at work, etc until he finally told me over the phone. He made false accusations that I was “living in sin” with my full-time employee. He said he had inside information about this, and he would not tell me who shared this with him. (Basically they were spying on me.) I told him that she works for me and is always in and out of my house because we work out of my home. He then started to grill me on my worthiness, and reasons why I don’t attend my church meetings or pay my tithing. (These are personal and I have a long list of reasons why I have distant myself in the past few years.) This really upset me because I felt they were on a witch hunt to try to disgrace me because of his personal feelings about my calendar project. I sent him an email asking him to please stop inquiring about my personal and business affairs, and he replied with a church court letter.

The media is VERY interested in this because they see the project as being progressive, fun and enlightening. I do not want this to damage the image of the church, and I don’t want it to damage my project. I am hoping my local church leaders will do the right thing. If I am excommunicated, or if I resign – it will have no effect on this project. It will not change the way I feel about the church or what I am doing. None of you should be scared, or have any fear, because some church leaders use fear to keep their members in line, which I personally do not agree with.

Remember, there is nothing wrong with posing shirtless for modeling photos. Things have been done tastefully and with respect to you, your beliefs and the church. If the church wants to make an issue with this, they will have to answer a lot of questions including why the Marriotts are allowed to sell XXX pornography in their hotel rooms. All church pool and beach parties would also have to be reconsidered. The list can go on and on.

I am not trying to start a revolution, or cause a fight – but I will stand up for what is right and what I believe in. There have been nothing but positive feelings and energy behind this project. You have all experienced that at the photo shoot. It’s amazing. Thank you for all being brave enough to be in this calendar project, and for being will to share what you believe in as an individual man of faith. You have my word that the integrity of this project will always be positive, will never tear down any faith – and will continue to create interfaith dialogue around the world. I believe we are part of a great thing, and I will share this conviction and truth with my leaders on Sunday.

Best,

Chad Hardy

Mister Scratch wrote:Isn't it just as possible that some nosy and gossipy neighbor went immediately to the ecclesiastical leaders and ratted on Hardy once the calendar began hitting stores?