If California State Sen. Roy Ashburn can hit the gay bars in Sacramento, can’t Minnesota State Sen. Paul Koering take gay porn stars out on dates?
Koering is the openly gay Republican who once wanted to be governor — and while he voted against state constitutional bans on marriage and civil unions for gays, it’s not like he was really pushing to legalize it either; in 2009, he voted against legalizing gay marriage.
But there he was trying to woo porn star and former escort Brandon Wilde over dinner at the restaurant Iven’s On The Bay in Brainerd — for which the senator makes no apologies, he tells The Sword (NSFW).
Wilde first tweeted about his night with Koering on Sunday evening, writing, “lol so funny!! in 45 mins im going 2 dinner with the senator :).” The senator, Koering, picked Wilde up and took him to Iven’s on the Bay restaurant in Brainerd, where they dined on strip steak and beef medallions. In an exclusive interview with The Sword this morning, Koering was unapologetic: “I don’t see anything wrong with going out with him. Do I think that being a porn star is the best thing? No. But that’s his choice. I think he’s a nice guy.”
The Sword spoke to Wilde, too, who revealed that his date with Koering was casual, yet awkward: “I think he wanted to get in my pants, truthfully. And he was pretty flirty. But it was just dinner. We both were checking out the waiter though. It was fun.”
Koering says that while he doesn’t approve of Wilde’s career choice, he would like a second date. Which is funny, because we don’t approve of Koering’s career choice — porn is less devious than politics any day.
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And for the record, Koering only paid for dinner. Not Wilde’s time. Even though until very recently, Wilde maintained a profile on Rentboy.com. He must know Jo-Vanni Roman, then? From the meetings?
Qjersey
Classy, really classy.
He should have saved the money on dinner and just booked him as an escort.
whatever
I really can’t tell who is grosser. I think the pudgy Republican pol edges out.
Imagine if he had won election for governor. Wilde could have been First Rentboy!
jason
They ate “strip steak”?
How appropriate for a pornstar.
My doctor says porn’s bad for me.
Brutus
“we don’t approve of Koering’s career choice — porn is less devious than politics any day”
oh stfu, someone has to do it
Jimmi
When dating a porn star, just remember to never take them home and allow them to eye up your possessions. A lot of the boys are troubled souls with drug habits and fucked up psyches.
Harvey Walker
Actually, Jimmi, a lot of us aren’t troubled souls with drug habits and fucked up psyches. Brandon is a sweet young man. Try to get off your goddamn high horse and not judge the books by their covers before you know what’s inside.
Aaron
@Harvey Walker: Your aggressive reaction seems to indicate otherwise. And stats do prove you wrong. And you’re way too skinny and ugly to get into porn. You won’t last.
Cam
He voted against legalizing gay marriage? Then fuck him, he is part of the problem.
David Ehrenstein
@Cam: He’s consistently voted against our rights on everything.
KAPO is as KAPO does.
Harvey Walker
@Aaron: My aggressive reaction should only represent one thing and one thing only: I’m no fan of a person being falsely categorized based on archaic assumptions. It was my mistake for even commenting on Queerty on the first place, but that’ll be my burden to bear. To everyone else who visits this page, have a good day.
REBELComx
So an older, chubby, balding, self loathing but openly gay republican can get a date with a porn star, but I can’t get 2nd looks at the bar. Ugh.
Aaron
@Harvey Walker: Good day to you too. You won’t be missed.
Lanjier
This is a wonderful story. The Senator saw a hot porn star, and asked him on a date. He didn’t try to hire him, he just went on a date. No law broken, no harm, no foul.
Really, it was Wilde’s civic duty to let the senator fuck him. A nice release of tension and pleasure may relieve him of stress and pressure, helping to improve his voting.
Bitch gets a nice steak and booze and can’t whore it up for his country. He could just close his eyes and think of England.
Jimmi
@Harvey Walker: Harvey, you will notice I did not say Brandon specifically. Reread that sentence again and then breathe.
Ogre Magi
@Harvey Walker: Don’t let these haters get you down! You are beautiful!
FirefighterBlu3
Anyone who has lived in an area heavily frequented by gay porn stars knows that they’re just like regular people. No, they’re not all broken washed up trash. Very few are. Unless they mentioned it to you, or you recognized them from film, you’re not likely to realize they’re porn stars. The only porn star I met (out of many dozens) with a drug issue, had his issue before he started porn. @Harvey Walker is correct. Quit your generalized shit throwing. It just exemplifies the all-too-common person making comments on queerty. Catty, snide, drama-laden, jealous little bitches that will snipe at everyone that walks past.
J. Clarence
@REBELComx: Ain’t life a bitch?
For political purposes it makes sense that Koering wouldn’t want to hire Wilde as an escort; and I could see in some strange way why Wilde might be hots for going out with a powerful man like a state Senator (parking tickets suddenly magically disappear). And it shouldn’t be surprising that Koering would be attracted to Wilde, he is a good looking porn star; and if Wilde can get a free dinner out of it, more power to him.
I don’t really see where Koering voting against marriage-equality comes into this, beyond the fact that it’s one gay holding back gay progress. But even that doesn’t seem very relevant to the fact that a man might want to go out with a porn star (isn’t that every man’s dream and desire?). This isn’t even a case of hypocrisy.
Koering clearly implied that his vote against marriage-equality in 2009 was politically motivated–he didn’t want to be THAT senator–not that he is an anti-gay gay senator.
Bill Perdue
So what we have here is someone from the world’s oldest profession fraternizing with someone from the worlds second oldest profession.
Brandon H
A twink into bears? Thats rare.
Had Koering taken a less idiotic and homophobic political position this whole thing wouldn’t be a big deal.
Cam
No. 17 · J. Clarence said.
Koering clearly implied that his vote against marriage-equality in 2009 was politically motivated–he didn’t want to be THAT senator–not that he is an anti-gay gay senator.
__________________________-
A shame that he was more worried about being “THAT Senator” than he was about civil rights.
Richie616
Well I hope they had a good time.
JerseyBoy
Well, at least he didn’t appoint him to a position like the NJ Governor did.
J. Clarence
@Cam: I completely agree with you, but elected officials making calculated decisions shouldn’t be all that surprising.
The state senator position is his job, which he probably wants to keep, so he naturally has to balance his ideological ambitions with his practical professional goals. I wish all elected officials could not care about how much the right vote might hurt them during elections, but I’ve come to terms that simply doesn’t make sense.
Jimmi
@Brandon H: Hunny, most porn stars,work in the world’s oldest profession. Some can be had for a quick and tasty dinner, a few scheckles and a place to sleep. A few Porn stars are self-made men and work other more stable jobs but many are hustlers.
Trent
@Aaron: STFU, self-appointed moralist twit!
You anti-sex zealots are a dime a dozen in this fucking place.
Despicable!
Trent
@whatever: YOU’RE ‘grosser’ than both, fucknugget!
Trent
@Aaron: NO ONE ASKED YOU, ASSWIPE
MIND YOUR OWN GODDAMN BUSINESS, YOU FUCKING IDIOT
TommyOC
There are men in this world whose charm and personality allow them to date men much more junior and much more attractive than they.
And if the two of them insist it was just a date, then I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt.
(Though, politically speaking, I would’ve asked for some discretion from Mr. Wilde, just out of a personal and professional courtesy to your company for the evening.)
ewe
Closeted gay men of his age that go after boy looking men is proof they have yet to deal with much of their sexual orientation. It really is no different than older men with teenage adult girls. They are in denial about themselves and their pschological issues are much deeper than simple lust. This person is an enemy of equality and should be exposed for the dangerous hypocrite he is. Not all gay men act out so haphazardly as this vile vomit of a representative.
ewe
@Trent: I don’t think it matters what anyones morality about sex happens to be but i do think it is quite acceptable to expect a state senator not break the law. And although it may seem silly and prudish to you that people judge others sexual escapades, the fact remains prostituion is illegal and this elected representative is held to a higher standard. That is not the sentiments of a moralist twit and neither is exposing anyone who splices and dices the term escort vs. whore.
Jimmi
@FirefighterBlu3: I have know several porn stars in my years upon the earth. Some great and wonderful people and some desperate drug addicts, thugs and severely disturbed people on a self-destructive bent. The sane and stable usually get out of the biz and the other self-destruct, like joey Steffano. Joey was a sweet boy but you couldn’t turn your back on him.
Robbie
I have no problem with porn stars what so ever, but I do have a problem with someone that would go on a date with a man who’s done such a disservice to his own community, a community that buys his porn videos furthermore. When a fellow gay man gives those internalized homophobes any positive attention, he’s essentially teaching him that he can fit in with all the conservative “Christian” bigots and then get all the boy pussy he wants. That’s just encouraging more luggage lifting behavior.
Aaron in Honolulu
@Aaron:
Aaron, you’re a fuck wad. Your comments make you look like you have low self esteem. It’s easy to physically judge a person when you can see them does it? For all we know you could be fugly and I don’t doubt you are. Go be a coward somewhere else.
slobone
Cut the guy some slack. He’s openly gay, he can date whoever he wants. Nobody’s asking any of you queens to go out with him.
I think he’s hot, btw. Definitely a DILF.
Jimmi
@slobone:Self-Hating homophobes are always HAWT! 😛
Aaron
@Trent: Oops, somebody forgot to take his meds 😉
Aaron
@Aaron in Honolulu: It would be interesting to see what you look like too. Btw, you did exactly what you erronously claimed I did. So speak for yourself. So I’m a fuckwad because I think some wannabe porn actor is skinny abd ugly? Huh? Would you mind explaining that logic? One thing’s for sure, intelligence is very obviously not your strong point. Buh-bye 🙂
Trent
@Aaron: You’re right, I forgot to take them. When I miss a dose, I tend to fly off the deep end a little. Sorry.
Aaron in Honolulu
@Aaron: I forgot to take mine too.
jeff
@Qjersey:
he’s still online, see http://www.rentboy.com/brandonwilde
jeff
he’s still on see http://www.rentboy.com/brandonwilde
Aaron in Honolulu
@Aaron:
You have the arguing capabilities of a teenage girl. Good job in continuing to make yourself look like a douche bag.
L.
@REBELComx: Hey – I’m an older, chubby, balding, openly gay guy and I can’t get dates with porn stars either!
(Mind you, I’m not a Republican and maybe that’s what attracts them.)
Jimmi
@L.: They rent by the hour.
Jimmi
@jeff: Well, now we know how much he paid.
FlopsyMopsyCT
Ha, I pass Iven’s everytime I go up to my cabin!