Bill Pryor at badpuppy.com
When we reported in fall 2013 about nude photographs of U.S. Circuit Judge Bill Pryor that appeared at a gay-pornography Web site in the 1990s, at least one mystery remained unresolved.It involved a man named "Ernie," who was credited at badpuppy.com with providing the Pryor photos, and other images (both color and black and white) from a private collector. (See notation at the top of images embedded at the end of this post.)
Now, it looks like we might have tracked down Ernie's identity. It's not a certainty, but this is an individual who had ties to badpuppy.com and other publications about gay life (not just porn), he had a habit of collecting documents and sharing them with others--and his first name is a match; it's Ernie.
Here's what we said about the "mystery of Ernie" in a post dated September 18, 2013:
How did the Pryor photos make their way to Badpuppy? Details about that are murky, but language at the top of "WizardBoy Gallery 19" provides some clues. Here is how it reads:
"WizardBoy Gallery #19 features new scans of classic color and B&W pix from a private collector. Thanks, Ernie! Comments to WizardBoy welcome."
Who is Ernie? Well, that remains a mystery at this point--although we have discovered some clues about his identity. This much appears certain: Ernie was quite the collector of gay porn, and he liked to share it with his friends and the public.
Ernie almost certainly had no clue that his collecting habits would someday help shine light on a federal judge who has a solid record of speaking out against gay rights. In fact, Bill Pryor might accurately be called the most homophobic individual on the federal bench.
More importantly, we showed in a recent post--borrowing from the work of D.C.-based investigative journalist Wayne Madsen--that members of Pryor's own party (Republicans) have used his gay-porn secrets to help ensure that he serves as a "gatekeeper" for their interests before courts in the Eleventh Circuit (Florida, Georgia, and Alabama).
So, who do we think is this mystery man named "Ernie"? We will address that question in an upcoming post.
