Axel Rockham

Axel Rockham has been speaking up against Trump's MAGA movement — and how it can affect the LGBTQ+ community and other minority groups — for many years. As we get ready to deal with a second Trump term in the White House, however, Rockham's voice is now being even more amplified, and feels more urgent than ever.

"Emotionally, I'm shocked," Rockham tells Out about his experience seeing certain industry peers coming out in full support of Trump. "My heart can't understand how anyone, let alone fellow members of any marginalized community — gay, ethnic, sex worker — could support someone who conducts themselves the way Trump does. Someone who openly and purposefully inspires rage, insecurity, fear, and discomfort the way Trump does."

Rockham adds:

"But intellectually, I can understand it. The simple truth is that these people believe they have something to benefit, and they don't understand and/or believe the risks that the opposition has expressed. They don't believe these dangers will materialize — when, ironically, many already have."

Besides his page on OnlyFans, Rockham has 288,000 followers on X/Twitter, 40,500 followers on Instagram, and 13,800 followers on TikTok as of this writing.

When asked if he believes that the gay adult film industry is filled with other Trump supporters and/or conservatives hiding in the shadows, Rockham says yes.

"I think many don't voice their support because they understand that it could be deleterious to their brand as it would alienate broad swaths of the community that [financially] patronizes them," Rockham explains. "But there are varying degrees of support — from indifference, to resignation, to out-and-out enthusiasm for Trump's radical agenda."

In the meantime, Rockham, who is Puerto Rican, has been very vocal in his opposition to conservative rhetoric.

"I've been speaking out against Trump since 2015, and I've engaged in activism to support candidates way long before I even had anything to do with the industry," he says. "I lived in Atlanta when that historic double senatorial runoff took place that would decide the balance of power, so I organized a GOTV ['get out the vote'] campaign, put signage my car, canvassed for both campaigns."

Rockham has also engaged in "protests in front of the White House" where he "subsequently got arrested." He continues:

"I'm deeply passionate about the state of democracy, my hopes and dreams for this country, and what I'd like to see manifest. This is not new for me. I know being vocal makes me less appealing as a sex worker, but I don't care. This is too important."

"My biggest concern about the new Trump presidency is that he's far more dangerous now than ever before," Rockham argues. "He only won the presidency the first time because of the Electoral College. This time, his victory is wholly legitimate, further emboldening to act on his worse instincts as he can rightly say that the country has overwhelmingly chosen him, despite everything, and there should be allowed to govern as he pleases."

Rockham also tells Out how concerned he feels about the immunity that's been granted to Trump:

"Before, there was the understanding that presidents could be prosecuted. But he and his collaborators have weakened all of our democratic institutions. You're not even allowed to investigate him. The Supreme Court has given him broad immunity. As the undisputed leader of his party, he controls Congress, he controls the courts, up to and including the Supreme Court. He plans on firing civil servants he suspects of being insufficiently loyal and replacing them with Trump Republican loyalists."

"He and his agenda are far more radical now than they were before, backed by more zealous radicals then before," he highlights. "I don't think the public understands how serious this is yet: the plurality of state legislatures and governorships are captured by Republicans. There aren't going to be any sensible Republicans to stop him, like many [did] the first time. The Republican Classics who did oppose him have since been pushed out of the Party, like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. There's no one left to stop him."

Rockham argues that "we're up against something that's never existed before: this level of voter apathy, AI, and a more clever weaponization of social media. What's less clever, though, is Elon Musk's ownership of X, having transformed it into a vessel to elevate lies and conspiracy theories — which, by the way, has wreaked havoc in democracies everywhere, more recently riots in the UK — suppressing views he doesn't like via his proprietary algorithm, and silencing journalists."

For context, Rockham is referencing the 2024 United Kingdom riots that took place between July 30 and August 5, which are still resulting in further consequences to those who were involved.

On July 29, three girls were stabbed and killed while attending a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in Southport. A 17-year-old male was arrested for the murders, but law enforcement didn't immediately identify the criminal due to his age.

"Within social media was awash with false rumors about his background," Politico reported, "including that there was an Islamist connection to the killings, and that the attacker was an asylum seeker, both of which the police later said weren't true."

The BBC highlighted that this generalized misinformation about the 17-year-old man who killed three girls in Southport was "seized upon by extremists who exploited the tragedy to promote their own hatreds and agendas." This resulted in a "series of violent flash mobs, spanning over several days, with racial and religious hatred the central animating motive. Mobs attacked hotels housing migrants, tried to set the buildings alight, and pulled people from their cars."

Lastly, Rockham underlines why he's more concerned than ever about Trump's second term:

"The Republican Party has cozied up to Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary. He was the architect of something called 'Christian Democracy,' or what he likes to call it: 'Illiberal Democracy.'"

He adds, "We are in a season of conservative success all around the planet; a rise of Christian Nationalism, weaponizing the discontent of the public in the wake of major disasters like the 2008 financial crisis and COVID. This strongmen authoritarianism across the world pervert every medium available to them to cement their power and then their countries into democracies in name only."

"Ultimately, anything policy-wise that Trump and Republicans do [could] be reversed. In a normal election, during normal times, I would just say that we reorganize, and then we win next time, and we fix it," Rockham explains. "[However,] our democracy and electoral system is already deeply flawed, with little tricks built in to thwart the will of the voters — from the Electoral College to the filibuster and the Senate. My greatest concern is that they will pass more legislation to suppress the vote and control the national dialog with lies. We may not really get a second bite at the apple."

Beau Butler

Beau Butler is another gay adult film star who has over 660,000 followers on X/Twitter, 245,000 followers on Instagram, and maintains an active OnlyFans profile.

"Me and Devin [Franco] were Falcon Studios exclusive models together for a couple of years. He was there for a couple years before me, and I was on a while after him," Butler tells Out. "We've worked together about 3 or 4 times, which is a lot for porn. I thought we were pretty close. I made a comment under his pro-Trump post, nothing too crazy, and I saw he had immediately blocked me."

Butler makes it clear that he's been completely blindsided by some of his industry peers coming out as being pro-Trump. He explains:

"I am totally shocked to see that they are Trump supporters. Shocked! All of the signs were there for a while, that Trump has a major hold on the 'disenfranchised white males.' Some of my best friends (straight), super liberal husbands, began dropping hints that they were leaning towards Trump based on the media they were consuming, which were talking heads on YouTube."

When asked about where the gay porn industry stands politically, Butler believes that "there are a lot more [conservatives] than the ones who are admitting it. My close friend admitted it to me, and it made me realize that I actually live in a very insulated bubble. Elon Musk's Twitter has really opened my eyes to how much conservatives have used trans individuals as the scapegoat this election."

Butler goes on to reaffirm his stance on the Israel-Hamas war, telling Out:

"I want to say that I am firmly against the war in Gaza. I remember the W. Bush years from when I was a kid. My dad told me all about Bush Senior's presidency. Republicans have always been synonymous with massive damage in the Middle East. So I couldn't believe how many people were trashing Dems this election."

He continues, "In Trump's four years in office, he was able to stack a Supreme Court that have upended a 50-year precedent on abortion. These are religious zealots in the Supreme Court appointed by Trump. They've said it themselves that this is just the beginning."

Butler also shared his thoughts on the conundrum of people in the adult film industry who don't seem to be concerned with some of Trump's campaign talking points.

"The fact that gay porn stars are not horrified by Project 2025, even purely from a monetary stance, is dumbfounding," Butler tells Out. "They have clearly stated that they are coming for porn. We're already seeing certain laws sweeping the red states. You have to submit your driver's license just to watch porn in Utah."

He goes on:

"This is going to become a country-wide policy with Republicans controlling every single branch of government. Not to mention gay marriage; they're just starting with trans rights. The list goes on and on. I protested Prop 8 in West Hollywood [on the] same day President Obama was elected. I remember what it feels like to wake up to a ban on your rights."

Ruggery Valdivia

Ruggery Valdivia is another standout gay adult film star who's been speaking out against "gays for Trump."

As a Cuban American who resides in Miami, Valdivia has been challenging one of the most confounding dilemmas in the 2024 presidential election: Latinos across the U.S. being drawn to Trump even more than they ever had before.

On October 29, Valdivia shared an Instagram picture of him filling out a mail-in ballot. He wrote in the caption:

"Today I'm voting for my LGBTQ+ family, for all the women in this country! For my trans brothers and sisters, my LATINO family, DEMOCRACY, decency! Humanity! Today I am voting for myself! Time to take the trash out and make sure it stays out! We got this! [clapping emoji]. Cubans and Puerto Ricans, wake UP, DESPIERTEN! They don't want you or appreciate you. Let's turn FLORIDA [blue heart emoji]."

After getting a few negative comments under the post, Valdivia doubled down on his message:

"Trump supporters in the comment with nothing good to say other than pure stupidity. Conclusion (the stupid party) has entered the chat. Like y'all really do think this dumb? I can't even."

On November 4, one day before Election Day, Valdivia shared a video arguing against the usual talking point used by LGBTQ+ Latinos trying justify their vote for Trump: that the Republican Party candidate isn't actually against gay people, and that he's never said anything of the sort.

Except that Trump has shared many anti-LGBTQ+ statements, as demonstrated in various clips stitched together on Valdivia's Instagram reel.

Valdivia also addressed the 2024 election results in a video from Saturday, November 9.

In the Instagram reel, Valdivia reflected on "How Trump won the 2024 elections" and shared his theories about why we ended up with this result.

Considering that Valdivia is a Cuban American gay man living in Florida, it should be noted that sharing a video like this can even pose a threat to his career if he alienates a significant part of his audience.

While this might seem like the bare minimum for a high-profile gay man with hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram, people would be surprised at how many other LGBTQ+ celebs in Florida stayed completely out of this discourse throughout the entire 2024 election cycle.

Sign up for the Out Newsletter to keep up with what's new in LGBTQ+ culture and entertainment — delivered three times a week straight (well…) to your inbox!