Gay porn stars aren’t usually judged on their conversational skills, their humor, or their opinions. If they do take a particular position, it’s generally not of the political kind. Reese Rideout, arguably one of the most popular stars in the industry, might be the man to change that. Whether he’s talking faith (“I’m not strong on religion”) or shop (“I’ve only had one ’plop’, with a toy”), he’s proof that you can fuck like the best of ’em and still have a personality so infectious it’s impossible to pull out.

Talking from his hometown near Salem, Oregon, Rideout is porn’s cut cut-up, reveling in asides and gaffes, with a mouth that’s suited for his business and a small-town demeanor that would make Mom proud to have him for a son-in-law. It wasn’t until the end of our interview that he asked that one quote be off the record, in a manner suggestive of a kid on the playground who knows excessive pigtail pulling might cause the school marm to scold him.

Rideout dove headfirst into every topic, starting with the unavoidable “Are you really straight?” question. Rideout’s one of several big-name adult film stars who’ve hit the jackpot in the gay-for-pay industry, and he’s aware of the suspicions that label brings. “I think everyone has a little gay in them,” he says, with an accent that sounds more Down South than Pacific Northwest. “More and more I could see myself as having a relationship with a man.”

Before you slap your ass and call him Nancy, you should know that Rideout’s married to a woman, and never had sex with a man before being recruited by RandyBlue.com. “She’s totally fine with it,” Rideout says of his wife, adding that “she won’t watch, and she doesn’t want me to do straight porn.”

An amateur body builder and model when he got a call from the RB offices, the 27-year-old Rideout had done some hetero porn, but didn’t care for the industry. “The men don’t get paid as much, and the male models aren’t respected as much,” he says. “The girls are the stars.” Man-on-man action might have been a new frontier, but he adjusted to the difference like a pro. “It made me cum; we’ll just leave it at that.” Rideout’s blunt description of work befits a man who’s good at his job and doesn’t have the time or inclination to mince words. He sums up his Randy Blue try-out succinctly. “You start with a solo jack off, then you let someone suck you, then you suck someone.”

Four years and a lot of latex later, Rideout flies to Los Angeles once a month, does a video, a photo shoot, and a live show. “I like to rise to the honor of live shows; it’s tough just knowing people are watching every second…I have trouble peeing in front of other people but I can shoot a load on camera.”

Rideout has no regrets or hang-ups about his career and, well, gets off on the perks. “I love sitting on the airplane next to an eighty-year-old grandma, and she asks what I do. I say ’gay porn’ and they get flushed and jump around it.” He also enjoys the company of the men he keeps, and says he’s not demanding about who his co-stars are. “I could ask for any guy I want, and I’ve never picked or refused. I just show up on the set, greet the guys there, and fuck them up the butt. They’re all equally hot.”

Perhaps the hottest of Rideout’s co-stars is Chris Rockway, another gay-for-pay actor who was topped for the first time on film by Rideout and Alex Eden. The clip is almost notorious for Rockway’s screaming, which sounds a bit like two alley cats strangling each other with razor-blade-lined ropes. “Throw in Rockway and his complaining and that adds more time,” Rideout says of the lengthy shoot. “I’m always the nice guy and start out slow, but he would have whined even if my penis was two inches. That hole was tight.”

Rideout admits the two stars “butted heads” when they first started working together, but says they’re friends now. “We worked through it. The crew builds us up so much that, when we walk into the room, we have all these newbies kissing our feet. We get the star treatment.”

That treatment extends to off-camera perks (“There have been sexual experiences, but I won’t say how far”), and the red-carpet back home. Rideout’s a celebrity in Oregon, which adds yet another layer to what he believes is the myth of heterosexual living. His family, he says, is happy for him, but “usually, when a guy asks about having sex with men, they’re curious; or they want me to suck their cock.” I didn’t ask Rideout if he obliges, but I found out he does have on-camera limitations. “I couldn’t do something for Raging Stallion, with big, hairy men.”

So, is a man who’s married to a woman and has sex with men for a living, and who watches “all kinds of porn, gay and straight,” and who strips on the side, and who says he could be in a relationship with a guy, and who’s kissed, sucked, rimmed, fucked and been fucked by (non-hairy) men on-camera gay, straight, bi-sexual, or just a nymphomaniac? Rideout’s blunt and, like his persona, ambiguous. “Someone who is tall might be a long-distance runner. Someone who’s bulky might lift weights. A nymph might be drawn into porn. I can do a shoot anytime, anywhere.”

The story might end there, but Rideout is more, or perhaps less, interested in the social-sexual boundaries we demand of our porn stars. “Women are supposed to do what we want. Every vagina is the same; it’s a hole. Every penis is way different, and the men get very insecure, the straight ones.” Rideout’s convinced this discrepancy, along with size equaling masculinity, has something to do with why sex with men is taboo unless you’re gay.

“Straight guys need to buck up and forget about it. Porn doesn’t hurt anyone; you’re not going to get gunned down by dealing porn, and every politician knows someone in porn.” He’s also glaringly aware of the people who made him. “The gay community, if you want to call it that, is the best community in the world. I’d rather go to a gay bar than a straight bar any night.”

Rideout doesn’t believe that anyone’s completely heterosexual, and, as for the labels bestowed on him — straight, gay, bi, liar — he’s befuddled as to why it matters. “Hopefully, there will be a time when we don’t care.” Of the many positions Reese Rideout has taken over the years, that’s the one he firmly sticks to.