From Metro Weekly
One of last week's biggest stories was the release of Donald Trump's list of possible nominees for the U.S. Supreme Court. One of the names on the list was Alabama-based federal judge Bill Pryor, who posed nude for photographs that wound up at the gay-porn Web site badpuppy.com in the late 1990s. Trump might be worth billions, but he apparently can't afford to hire a researcher who might have learned about Bill Pryor's background with a simple Google search. After all, we broke the story in fall 2013--including a photo of a young Bill Pryor in the full-frontal altogether--and it garnered significant attention in the Web press.
Perhaps the story hasn't gone viral, but that might change--if the gay press has it's way. It already has generated some Web images for the ages. (See images at the beginning and end of this post.)
Metro Weekly, the largest and longest-running LGBT publication in the Washington, D.C., area, seemed to take special delight in covering the Trump/Pryor connection:
Pryor, who is notorious for his homophobic views, apparently appeared nude in a print publication in the ’80s — his photos were then obtained by badpuppy.com, a gay pornography website, in 1997. Legal Schnauzer broke the story in 2013, obtaining the images which are claimed to show Pryor baring all for the camera.
An unnamed Alabama Republican reportedly saw the photos and exclaimed: “Holy cow, that’s Bill Pryor!”
While Metro Weekly obviously had fun with the story--as evidenced by the hilarious image it produced at the top of this post--it also addressed the serious implications:
Pryor, who is married with two children, denies that it is him in the photos. If that assertion is false, it makes his previous comments on LGBT rights deeply hypocritical. According to Lambda Legal, Pryor has “repeatedly shown clear hostility to the rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV.”
“William Pryor is the most demonstrably antigay judicial nominee in recent memory. It’s clear from his record that William Pryor does not belong on the federal appeals court,” said former Executive Director Kevin Cathcart in 2005, when Pryor was being vetted for his current position.
Pryor has previously drawn comparisons between the rights of gay people and “prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography, and even incest and pedophilia,” in a brief submitted during Lawrence v. Texas, which led to the state’s anti-sodomy law being struck down.
The blog Unicorn Booty, which must have an enormous readership based on the traffic we've received from there over the weekend, took a snarky approach to the Trump/Pryor story:
This week, human buttplug Donald Trump’s named his dream-team picks for the U.S. Supreme Court (we say “dream team” because a Trump presidency would be a fucking nightmare). Among his picks was William H. “Bill” Pryor Jr., a grown-up twink who thinks gay people should be jailed for having sex. The delicious twist: the homophobe might have appeared in gay porn during his 20s.
In 2013, the blog Legal Schnauzer unearthed some nude images that look a lot like Pryor and then showed them to an anonymous Alabama Republican who reportedly exclaimed, “Holy cow, that’s Bill Pryor!” Legal Schnauzer thinks that the images were taken during Pryor’s years at Northeast Louisiana University in the early ’80s and they re-emerged on the web during the ’90s in a file of pics labeled “Bill Pryor”. Pryor has understandably denied the allegations.
The gay news site Queerty, which also must have a huge audience, laid on an additional layer of snark:
You will no doubt be shocked to hear that a crazily homophobic federal judge has been tied to a gay sex scandal. But here’s the fun twist this time: Donald Trump is thinking about nominating him to the Supreme Court.
The man in question is William Holcombe “Bill” Pryor Jr., an eleventh-circuit judge and former Attorney General of Alabama. He’s married (to a woman), has two daughters, and he really really really hates queers. He’s said that queer people should be arrested for having consensual sex in their homes; that being gay is harmful; and he voted to keep kids in orphanages rather than allow them to go to supportive same-sex adoptive parents. Trump says he’d consider Pryor for the Supreme Court.
What a bunch of jerks.
He is also, allegedly, featured in nude photographs that floated around on BadPuppy in the 90s. It sure looks like him! The man in the picture is looking glumly at the camera, on full display, and is identified as “Bill Pryor.” Various unnamed officials have identified the photo as authentic; but then again, it’s easy to claim all kinds of things anonymously.
For his part, Pryor says it’s not him, just like every other Republican asshole caught doing something sexual.
For now, Trump hasn’t said anything about Pryor’s potentially-naked past. But lots of other legitimate legal observers have heard the rumors, and are only too happy to spread them. Maybe that’s the silver lining to Trump’s impending presidency: it’ll force some truly shocking secrets out into the open.
Finally, The Sword, adds to the hilarity. (See image at the end of this post.) But it also takes a serious look at the politics involved:
The fact that virulently anti-gay Justice Bill Pryor allegedly appeared on a gay porn site is a big deal. But now that he’s appeared on the Donald’s SCOTUS list, it’s a huge deal.
Worst case scenario would be having to endure Trump/Palin for eight years. But if they get to pick a SCOTUS judge, America will have to live with that appointment for a lifetime. Justice Pryor would let states jail LGBT people for having sex in their homes. Have I got your attention now?
Within the law, of course, what Judge Pryor or anyone may have done with their penis as a college student, i.e. posing for gay porn pictures, should have no bearing on their judicial aptitude. This is about what he has done and potentially will do with his gavel. . . .
Regardless of how your candidate fairs in the primary, don’t let sour grapes sour our future. Come Election Day; it’s more crucial than ever to vote for the Democratic nominee and elect a Democratic House and Senate that will advance their agenda and confirm their SCOTUS picks.
Donald Trump is right about one thing: this could be huge.
From The Sword
