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A New Kind of Israel Tour

Gay porn star’s itinerary is inspired by his films

by
Marc Tracy
February 01, 2010

Michael Lucas, Israel’s biggest gay porn star, is now offering group tours of his country tailored to the locations and, er, themes of his films, according to Heeb. So in addition to Yad Vashem, Masada, and the rest of the usual suspects, Lucas’s tourists will visit Israel’s famous Gaash Beach and the Tel Aviv gay scene.

Wayne Hoffman profiled Lucas for Tablet Magazine last year:

In gay porn, where there’s less room for nebbishes and clowns, openly Jewish men have been virtually absent or invisible. In fact, the only one in recent memory is, well, Michael Lucas. …



In [Lucas’s] Men of Israel, the guys are all Israeli, all Jewish, and they’re not hiding it. Sure, their names are probably fakes—no parents would name their son Morr Foxx unless they knew he’d grow up to be a gay porn star. But at least their names sound plausibly Israeli, plausibly Jewish: Matan Shalev, Avi Dar, Naor Tal.

Lucas has long seen himself as something of an evangelist for Israel: “His website extols the virtues of a country rich with natural wonders, intriguing museums, liberal politics, and friendly locals,” Hoffman pointed out. “More than a biblical theme park, Lucas’s Israel is a tourist destination, a place where lovely beaches beckon and muscle-bound men have sex with each other.”

Related: Great Exxxpectations [Tablet Magazine]

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.