Reports Mount About Judge Bill Pryor's '90s Ties To Gay Porn

Over the weekend I noted that a gay porn scandal seems to be building in Alabama focused on federal judge, Bill Pryor, a George W. Bush recess appointment to the federal bench.  Pryor is extremely homophobic now and ultra-far right in general, but to date has tried to blow off the growing controversy by stating "I have been smeared by a widely discredited blogger with a political agenda. His allegations have now been picked up by other bloggers. . . . "   The blog Legal Schnauzer looks at the growing scandal.  Here are excerpts:

The number of news accounts is steadily growing about photographs of U.S. Circuit Judge Bill Pryor that appeared at a gay porn Web site called badpuppy.com in the 1990s. Perhaps the story has not "gone viral" yet, but given Pryor's staunchly anti-gay views and the flagrant hypocrisy the photos represent, members of the gay press are starting to latch onto the tale with glee. (See here, here, and here.) The style site NewNowNext.com picked up on the story yesterday.

Based on inquiries I'm receiving from major news outlets, the story might go viral on the Web at any moment. Pryor once was considered a conservative boy wonder, whose boyish looks and right-wing credentials made him a possibility for future appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. Pryor might be watching that dream, and maybe quite a few others, slowly swirl down the drain.

As noted by Legal Schnauser, even the legal website Findlaw has now picked up the story:

Judge Wade McCree left the bench after an inappropriate photo leaked (though he was also embroiled in a sex scandal). Does a similar fate await Judge William Holcombe Pryor of the 11th Circuit?

The Internet and especially legal blogosphere exploded earlier this week when nude photos of a man bearing a striking resemblance to Judge Pryor appeared on Legal Schnauzer (link NSFW), a blog dedicated to fighting legal "injustice," and filled with criticism of allegedly-corrupt judges. The blog is authored by Roger Shuler, who holds a journalism degree from the University of Missouri, worked for 11 years at a daily newspaper, and then spent 19 years as a university editor. 

Past Resurfaces
The photos came from badpuppy.com, reportedly one of the largest gay porn sites on the Internet, and were allegedly taken when Pryor was a student at Northeast Louisiana University (now University of Louisiana Monroe) in the early 1980s. The photos, which originally appeared in a print magazine, resurfaced briefly on BadPuppy in 1997 before being taken down. Printouts survived, however.
 
Judge Pryor was confirmed to the bench in 2005. His candidacy was extremely controversial due to his antigay stance, reports the Advocate.

Credible source or not, the photos do resemble the 11th Circuit jurist. Above the Law has a censored version of the photo (SFW), and here is a photo of the judge (SFW). Legal Schnauzer has the printout from BadPuppy, which has "Bill Pryor and Tom Wander" displayed next to the photo (SFW). 

 If the photos are in fact of Pryor, I hope the jerk gets his due.