Let’s unpack the controversies, the nuance and the fantasies of gay for pay porn.
Ever come across the term “gay for pay”? No? Well, let me explain a little bit about what it is, why it’s controversial, reasons behind why someone straight might participate in gay porn and if it’s ever okay to spend your money and time on.
“Gay for pay” refers to straight porn actors and sex workers who participate in same-sex sex scenes and acts in exchange for money. Usually, more money than they would receive doing straight sex scenes or acts within mixed sex pairings.
Some will disclose they are straight, others won’t.
For some, straightness is part of the sex appeal, for others it’s a violation of the queer experience. This creates a nuanced and multifaceted controversy that surrounds the gay for pay industry at large. Is it ethical, or exploitative? Does it appropriate queer culture, or provide a service?
Why is gay for pay controversial?
Several clashing and interconnected issues make gay for pay a controversial topic. From the allure of a better pay day and the fetishisation of straightness, to the weaponisation of gay for pay porn in anti-LGBTQIA+ arguments, it makes it thorny and divisive.
The legacy of Sean Cody, ‘straight men’ porn and subverting machismo
Way back in September, 2001, a website for gay porn popped up. The site, known as Sean Cody, was filled with solo, group and hardcore porn showing seemingly straight-coded men. They were young, muscly, twunk-ish looking jocks that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the football field.
The all-American boy, straightness and the “I’ve never done this before” trope were a shoo-in. The site rose in popularity, with many fresh-faced young men becoming household names. There was Brandon – real name Jefferey – for example, who peaked in popularity around 2015.
While Brandon/Jeff has openly discussed his no-label approach to his sexuality, his peer Taylor – real name Justin Matthews – has long been open about his straight identity.
In an interview with the Shut Up Evan newsletter in 2023, Taylor/Justin opens up about being scouted at 17 (this seems to be a commonality shared between the stars, as Brandon/Jeff was scouted at just 19 while waiting tables at Arbee’s) and his career as a gay for pay porn performer.
Like Brandon/Jeff, Taylor/Justin came from a humble background. At the time they were both recruited, they were both working hospitality jobs, looking at ways to make more money. When they were both approached, they both felt like getting paid for doing something they were doing at home for free (i.e. jacking off) was a pretty sweet deal.
Speaking on the gay for pay aspect of his work, Taylor/Justin said that he originally had thought, ‘absolutely not,’ but soon changed his mind.
“I was thinking about the dollar signs. I was born into poverty, so I was just thinking, ‘How can I get my mom out of poverty? What can I do?’” he said.
According to various posts on forums like Reddit and Quora, gay sex scenes pay better than straight-seeming scenes with women. Though it’s hard to know, exactly, as there isn’t necessarily a credible log of who gets paid what for what, just knocking about. However, some reports of it do exist in the digital archives of Mic Magazine, for example.
For straight men (and I do not include bi, heteroflexible, homoromantic or any other forms of sexual orientations within that umbrella), more money seems to be the main motivator for participation.
The appeal of straight men in gay porn is still popular today, as according to the 2025 PornHub Pride Report, it is one of the most commonly viewed categories for 18-24 year olds.
It is also the most popular category of porn in places like Poland, a country notorious for its anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiment, and the most-viewed gay categories across Colorado, Louisiana and Iowa. Colorado is currently facing a threat to its ban on conversion camps; Louisiana recently voted against discrimination rights for LGBTQIA+ citizens; and Iowa’s new law bans updates to gender markers on birth certificates.
It might be unreasonable to assume that this interest in straight porn is one of two things, a subversion of comp-heterosexuality and machismo, and a means to explore desire while combatting internalised homophobia.
Subversion of this kind is seen in kink all the time – particularly kinks related to sportswear or scally-lads. It can be freeing, liberating and affirming when explored consensually and mindfully.
However, for those with internalised homophobia, it can be about exploring same-sex desire without feeling “gay”. In a VICE report on scally lads published in 2014 (read with caution – it’s a product of its time) the author comments on one profile, which states “I hate those fucking skinny jeans-wearing, glitter-faced queens. I like guys to be guys, and I might be a bottom, but I ain’t no sub-bitch either.” That the “obsession with heterosexuality” and “fear of effeminancy” is extreme enough to sound, well, homophobic.
Recently, straight gay-for-pay porn actor Andy Lee stated in an episode of the All Out podcast with John Dean – which tackled reasons behind the homo-erotic nature of laddish culture and its appeal to the gay community – that he owed his lifestyle to his gay fans.
“They [fans] wanted to see more lads from the streets. Bring more of my real friends in, not porn stars. They wanted a lot more of that,” said Lee, whose OnlyFans is built on catering to the straight-loving gay-gaze, filled with laddish groups of straight men pushing their sexual boundaries. When asked by Dean why he does so well, he replied that, from his experience, it comes down to three main things.
“From speaking with a lot of gay men,” he said, “a lot of them had that friend in school – their best mate, someone that related to them growing up that they could never have.”
He continued to explain that, from his understanding, the tension between the forbidden fruit, the fantasy of being able to touch and have sex with someone straight and the realism of the type of machismo he has is what holds the straight male porn fantasy together, in the same way that some straight men might enjoy being turned away by two sapphic women.
“People like what’s not the norm,” he continued.
Money, marginalisation and misrepresentation
The second thread that pulls on a controversial string is the idea that gay roles, in cinema and in porn, should be fulfilled by gay men. And, that by straight men taking these roles, they take money away from gay men, who are marginalised. This causes both misrepresentation and it’s an undeniable sting. The fact that a straight man can make money from something that is socially taboo’d globally can feel like a slap in the face.
But as we’ve covered with the straight man porn, it’s not always as simple as playing into a mixed sex fantasy that is representational of gay identity. Some people aren’t into it.
“There are some people who get very offended by the fact that a heterosexual man is engaging in gay sex with other men with penises” says Rhys, 31. “They feel that they’ve been cheated or the fantasy is broken for them and they can’t engage with it anymore. I think that’s really interesting because, for me, I always remember that all porn is a fantasy to a degree.”
Rhys explains that for him, labels are having less and less importance, following a UK-wide trend of many millennial and Gen-Z folks feeling fatigued by self-identification.
So, why do porn actors and OnlyFans creators go in for gay-for-pay?
Alexia Woods, 23, from London is an OnlyFans creator who frequently does gay-for-pay videos, but identifies as straight.
“For me, it’s always been for the money and a case of demand from my fans. I put it off for a while as I found it to be pretty awkward in the beginning, but I think it was just a case of building confidence to do the scenes. I actually mainly work with girls I’m close friends with now,” she tells Gay Times.
Woods explains that as far as her attitude on gay for pay, it is exactly that – only performative. “The majority of women in the industry are straight, but know that filming girl/girl collabs is the best way forward.”
She notes that, for a lot of her straight male fans, they like the idea that she’s straight and doing girl-on-girl content, as it gives it an edge of exclusivity, which also means you can mark up the price.
“In regards to sexuality aligning with the sex acts they perform, I’d personally say no. The part I love about this industry is the freedom and creative thinking it allows you. You can create whatever content you want, and that includes content that doesn’t align with their sexuality.”
Weaponisation of LGBTQIA+ identity
The last and final bone of contention comes from the weaponisation of gay for pay porn, which has historically been cocked to the bow of conservatism as ‘proof’ that orientation is a choice. What this fails to take into consideration is both romantic love and the physical mechanism of arousal.
The body can become aroused randomly, when we are asleep, through touch and stimulation and by visual, auditory and textural senses.
There are nuances to attraction and arousal, too. It may, for example, not be the fact that two men are giving one another oral sex that’s the turn-on; it could be the context of their environment, or, as we’ve seen, the performance of their gender and sexuality.
“Everything is about sex, except for sex. Sex is about power,” Oscar Wilde famously wrote, and it seems that with gay for pay porn, it is the power of the fantasy of straight men that people are buying into.
