ABOVE: Catwalk cutie.

BELOW: Keep reading for Scruff's gay-eroticism cop-out, the blackface Florida scandal, Trinity's new song & video and much more ...

As Twitter's @Pup_Amp points out, Scruff's promo  imagery on Instagram would now break its own rules. (Images via Instagram @scruffapp)

OUT: CEOs of gay apps are not always great gay advocates. Case in point: Eric Silverberg of Scruff is explaining that the popular hookup app has banned “sexually suggestive embraces,” and also profile photos showing men in jockstraps, underwear and bikini-style (aka Speedo) apparel. I read a sympathetic comment from a user who said it was due to laws changing, but that is untrue — Scruff has been clear that the changes are strictly due to money. The app was removed from “an app store” (hi, Apple) earlier this year. These companies — Apple, Google, Facebook/Instagram — are wildly conservative, sexually, and probably unconsciously homophobic in their application of their puritanism. It's one reason why this blog makes no money — advertisers think lots of shirtless guys = too racy, they spend time making sure there is no VPL or even suggestive bulges in content, and even object to coarse language. (Pearls. Clutched.) That's why years ago, I had to give up. There's no point trying to run a gay blog with no sexuality just because Google has placed me on a blacklist while other gay blogs skate, and while larger sites with major $$$ backing post far worse. So I post what I want and get bupkus for it. So yeah, fuck you, Scruff, for not even trying to fight.

THE TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT: Michael Ertel, who had just been appointed Secretary of State by newly elected (barely ... suspiciously ...) Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Florida), stepped down Thursday after photos emerged showing him dressed as a female Hurricane Katrina victim in blackface. The party happened just a year after New Orleans was devastated by Katrina, killing or displacing thousands. Great guy, and goes to show you the types of individuals the governor — accused of racist pandering during his campaign — surrounds himself with.

PHOENIX NEW TIMES: State Rep. David Stringer (R-Arizona), who has come under fire for racist remarks, turns out to have been charged with multiple sex offenses — including possessing child porn — in 1983. He had the records expunged in 1990, but they were inadvertently provided to a newspaper requesting information. Now, the judiciary (in Baltimore, where he offended) is saying it was an error and the records, on microfilm, must be destroyed. Instead, they're published. Isn't it always the right-wingers with the most skeletons?

YOUTUBE: Trinity the Tuck offers up “The Face The Body” — warning, it's three minutes of high-drama sci-fi before a typical drag-queen song begins. I would also suggest that so much concentration was placed on the face, the body that the hair was neglected:

TOWLEROAD: Lance Bass and Michael Turpin are trying for a child with their seventh egg donor. Coincidentally, Olympian Ian Thorpe and his partner Ryan Channing also announced they're looking to become parents. #daddiesknowbest