[17] While in France, he worked under the influential French director Jean-Daniel Cadinot,[22] appearing as "Ramzes Kairoff" in two gay pornographic films, both released in 1996.

[26] The Banana Guide called his productions the most polished, big-budget gay porn films ever made and cited Lucas' love for the subject and high technical aptitude.

In 2014, Lucas released his second documentary, Campaign of Hate: Russia and Gay Propaganda, which investigates the current anti-gay climate in Russian politics and society.

[17] In February 2006 he participated in a symposium on adult entertainment that was sponsored by the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, which later published Lucas' discussion in its Spring issue.

[57] The Speakers Bureau at Stanford University invited Lucas to speak in Cubberley Auditorium on February 14, 2008, about the role the adult entertainment industry plays in AIDS prevention.

[58] The appearance sparked debate about his political columns for the New York Blade, particularly his assertions that "the Qur'an is today's Mein Kampf" and that its teachings inspire Muslims to kill gay people.

[58] Lucas, who grew up in the Soviet Union and experienced its antisemitism and Homophobia, was on a panel at The New School on the state of gay rights and acceptability in Eastern Europe.

[59] Lucas' criticism of drug use and his sponsorship of public service ad campaigns about the dangers of unprotected sex in the gay community led Harvey Fierstein to interview him for The Advocate.

[42] His New York Blade columns on Ultra-Orthodox Judaism and Islam sparked a campus debate at Stanford University in February 2008 when Lucas was invited to give a speech to students.

[58] In 2010, he debated Peter Tatchell and Sue Sanders at England's Oxford University on whether the gay rights movement has undermined family values.

In his debut as a documentary filmmaker, adult-film entrepreneur and political columnist Michael Lucas examines a side of Israel that is too often overlooked: its thriving gay community.

Lucas also visits Tel Aviv's vibrant nightlife scene—and even attends a same-sex wedding—in this guided tour of a country that has emerged as a pioneer for gay integration and equality.

In 2013 Lucas wrote an op-ed column at Out.com where he discussed his use of Truvada (which he began using in June of that year), the medication used as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent contracting the HIV virus.

In his column Lucas wrote:The more I learn about PrEP, the more shocked I'm becoming that gay men are not shouting from the rooftops about this potential game changer in the fight to prevent new HIV infections, which we're losing badly.

Hezbollah's attacks in the 2006 Lebanon war affected Lucas, who in the midst of the fighting announced his plans to go to Israel to entertain gay soldiers (who are allowed to serve openly in the military).

[68][69] Lucas received a positive response to the trip; however, some religious segments of Israeli society had expressed less enthusiasm for the arrival of a gay porn magnate.

[73] In February 2011, Lucas created a controversy over a pro-Palestinian group that planned to hold a meeting at New York's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center.

The group, Siegebusters, had planned to hold a fundraising party on March 5 at the center to help fund another vessel to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, as well as to train activists.

[74][75][76] Lucas protested and claimed that Israel is the only gay-friendly country in the Middle East, that the group was anti-Semitic, and that LGBT people in the Palestinian territories are tortured and killed.

After Lucas's calls for a boycott, the Center backed down and decided that Siegebusters was not an LGBT-related group, and so they should not use their space for the Israeli Apartheid Week event.

[74][75][77] Siegebusters protested the decision by organizing an online petition; Lucas told The Jerusalem Post that his success with the event's cancellation was a "landmark moment" in his life.

"[79] In a press release, Lucas responded that the center had become an accomplice of an "anti-Semitic hate group whose goal is the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel".

[49] Lucas told Israeli channel Ynet that he believed that the boycott was due to antisemitism, rather than, as many critics stated, that the missile was likely to kill Palestinian civilians: "I'm the only Jewish owner of an adult company in the gay side of the industry.

"[8] In an article for the American Jewish magazine Tablet, Ross Anderson questions if pro-Palestine adult film performers are using the Israel–Hamas conflict as a means of gaining popularity and earning new followers.

Meanwhile, Anderson points out that Lucas is the only Jewish owner of a traditional gay adult studio, has directed and produced hundreds of films, and is an industry veteran with a place in the GayVN Hall of Fame.

On December 24, 2023, porn star Sean Xavier, who had previously worked with Lucas Entertainment, wrote on X:[83] I find [the post] both saddening and reprehensible.

For those that are inquiring, I will no longer be promoting my work with that studio, nor accepting future offers to work with them.In June 2024, the gay activist group ACT-UP removed a flag honoring House Representative Ritchie Torres, who is the first openly gay member of Congress with black and Latino heritage, from an area recognizing the contributions of LGBTQ history makers in Fire Island Pines' Trailblazer Park.

As in the reaction to the missile-related boycott, he stated his belief that the motivation was "classic, textbook antisemitism," as opposed to Israel's (per the ICJ) war crimes and killing of tens of thousands of civilians.

Lucas went on to question why, according to him, ACT-UP is "quiet" on incidents of "abuse" of and "danger" to gay people in Arab countries, but "rant about a war started by Hamas they know nothing about, simply because it involves Jews."

Lucas recorded himself carrying a ladder to Trailblazer Park, removing the flag (which included the ACT-UP slogan Silence=Death), and tossing it into a trash bin.