Heritage Foundation hires conservative education advocate who previously appeared in gay adult films

The Heritage Foundation announced Thursday that it has hired Corey A. DeAngelis, a prominent anti-LGBTQ+ right-wing advocate for privatizing education, as a research fellow in its Center for Education Policy. The ultra-conservative group’s announcement follows a 2024 controversy after DeAngelis admitted to appearing in gay adult films under a pseudonym, which critics called hypocritical.

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Heritage said DeAngelis will focus on advancing “school choice,” challenging teachers’ unions’ power, and addressing cultural debates over race and gender in education. The hire was first reported by The Daily Wire, which quoted DeAngelis calling the post “a tremendous honor” and praising Heritage as “the world’s leading conservative think tank.”

Related: Right-wing ‘school choice’ advocate linked to gay adult films appears in Republican Project 2025 document

Related: Anti-LGBTQ+ Corey DeAngelis fired from conservative ‘school choice’ group after gay adult film past exposed

DeAngelis was listed as a contributor to Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint that Democrats and critics say is now being implemented by the Trump administration, which proposed radical changes to the federal government, including major reforms to the U.S. Department of Education. Since January 2025, after President Donald Trump took office again, the federal government has targeted LGBTQ+ rights, including content about and participation of queer and transgender people in school settings.

Less than two years ago, after a blog dedicated to gay porn posted stills of him from films in September 2024, DeAngelis confirmed the following month that videos circulating online of a performer using the name “Seth Rose” were of him and said they were recorded during his college years. As The Advocate previously reported, the disclosure led to his firing from the American Federation for Children, a conservative anti-public education group where he had been a senior fellow.

At the time, DeAngelis acknowledged the videos were real and said they reflected mistakes from his past. The episode drew national attention because DeAngelis had built a public profile as a critic of what he has described as “woke ideology” in schools. He said the episode should not define his work, and he cast himself as a victim of cancel culture.

Related: Anti-LGBTQ+ extremist Corey DeAngelis admits to gay adult film past during Christian news interview

Related: Right-wing anti-LGBTQ+ education activist exposed as former gay adult film actor: report

“If I was able to be lured in to make bad decisions as a young adult in college, just imagine how much worse it could be for younger people,” DeAngelis told the Christian Broadcasting Network at the time.

DeAngelis has been a prominent figure in conservative education policy debates, arguing for vouchers, charter schools, and education savings accounts and against the influence of teachers’ unions. He has held roles with several right-leaning institutions, including the Cato Institute and the Hoover Institution.

Heritage, one of the most powerful policy shops in Washington, D.C., has been in the middle of a public identity struggle, buffeted by internal disputes and high-profile departures. In announcing the hire, Jonathan Butcher, acting director of Heritage’s Center for Education Policy, praised DeAngelis’s work, saying, “Corey has produced high-quality research demonstrating the effectiveness of education choice and regularly exposes policymakers who choose private schools for their own families but deny such choices to others.”

Related: Right-winger Corey DeAngelis seems to admit to gay adult film persona: ‘victim of poor decisions’

Jay W. Richards, Heritage’s vice president of social and domestic policy, also welcomed DeAngelis’s addition, telling The Daily Wire, “We are thrilled to welcome Corey DeAngelis to Heritage’s Center for Education Policy. Corey brings a rare combination of rigorous research, real-world policy engagement, and an unwavering focus on empowering families.”

The Advocate contacted The Heritage Foundation outside of normal business hours. Representatives for the organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, criticized DeAngelis’s hypocrisy when the videos were first reported. “Corey DeAngelis is yet another public figure whose anti-LGBTQ extremism already makes him deeply unqualified to be an expert in improving safety and education at school,” Ellis told The Advocate at the time. “The latest news on DeAngelis further reveals his baseless, hypocritical attempt to profiteer and score political points. DeAngelis is a sideshow charlatan."

Ellis added, “The real threat is from the people who’ve propped him up and their Project 2025 blueprint for a government takeover that would demolish the Department of Education and refuse to recognize rising LGBTQ visibility and acceptance across society.”