The Grift: How Gay Baiting Is Cannibalizing Queer Community

The gay community is wild and wonderful. Within it, many different realms exist, and inside those realms are other realms. It's deep, cavernous, and beautiful all at the same time. But while it's full of beautiful things and people, there are just as many trappings that exist within this community. And it can be harsh.

One of the things the gay community constantly deals with is a form of capitalism that really only affects gay people: gay baiting. What I've found over the years is that many platforms introduce opportunities for gay baiters to exist. Some are more prominent than others, but it's one of the most hurtful things to this community because one way we like to express ourselves is with our sexuality. When that expression is hijacked and weaponized against us—presented as genuine but with the sole purpose of bleeding us dry of money and resources—that's just wrong.

Wyatt Cushman is one of the most well-known gay baiters. When OnlyFans first became a thing, they were one of the early trendsetters in this practice because they know what gay men want. They present themselves as if they're offering that very thing, but what they're really offering is an opportunity to take our money. It took a really long time for people to catch on to what they were doing and to use their better judgment before handing over their hard-earned money. Gay baiters are great at making themselves look gay for the express purpose of taking money without really ever giving anything in return. Over the years that has changed, but not a whole lot. To some degree it has changed with the way social media has evolved. Gay baiters exist on every known social media platform, and they'll continue to exist as long as they're able to convince people that they are, in fact, genuine.

I've seen Wyatt Cushman in other places—not just on OnlyFans, but also on Twitter and Instagram. Most recently on Substack, and that brings us to the heart of this conversation. It's now become evident that gay baiters exist in spaces like this—spaces where creators take the time to create and share stories within the subset of this great community. For as long as I've been a writer, reading some of the works from these creators has been totally inspiring. But watching our community infiltrated by these individuals is absolutely gut-wrenching. And to some degree, expected.

I was recently talking to some other creators, and one thing we discovered was that on Substack, there was this really prominent gay-forward media publication called Gayety. They were using an AI account to write content geared toward gay people. But the creators of this account weren't doing it for the purpose of providing entertaining content—they were doing it for the purpose of making money. Yes, writers want to be paid for their work, and there's no issue with that. What writer doesn't want to be compensated for the hard work and dedication they put into their craft? But when you have people who use gender and sexuality as a guise, you are hurting this community.

Caleb James—or whoever's behind that name—claims to be a real person, but multiple sources, including my own research, have uncovered one glaring issue: it's all fake. All of it. As of today, Caleb is sitting at #10 in Fiction. The account has surpassed all reasonable expectations and, more importantly, the limits of human capability.

We've seen Substack ban accounts that tried to game the system through shady tactics, but Gayety seems to be the exception. They can post whatever they want—vulgar or otherwise—and remain immune to consequences while other accounts with lesser offenses get the boot.

You need thick skin to survive in this industry, but it doesn't help when the platform actively champions the bad guy. Sure, I'm not on Substack anymore, so you could argue I don't have skin in the game—but I do. Many of my friends still use this platform to share their stories, and I'll keep supporting them until they retire. Plus, helping to cultivate the next generation of gay erotic writers has become something of a calling for me.

In a way, this makes Substack just as culpable—honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a hand in the whole thing, though there's no direct evidence of that. There is, however, evidence for the next claim I'm about to make.

Most recently, we learned about another account on good ol' Substack that raises troubling questions (or glaring red flags) about authenticity and accountability. The particular "creator", as it goes, seems to be operating under an invented gay male persona—one rooted not in anyone’s personal identity or gender history, but in deliberate and flagrant misrepresentation (among other things). Added to this, their publication relies heavily on low-grade, low-effort, AI-generated slop that's designed to elicit quick engagement rather than offer genuine insight or lived experience.

When queer identity is treated merely as a marketing ploy without any real substance or connection or responsibility to the community, it undermines a certain trust that spaces like this require. True allyship demands honesty and respect—not the exploitation of our community for clout or profit.

To the members of this community: be vigilant, ask questions, do research, and never hand over your money if you're at all uncertain who is on the other side.