The fraud scandal involving Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Larry Langford has grown to entangle gay porn icon Ryan Idol. Langford was arrested Monday on 101 counts of bribery, money laundering, conspiracy and fraud. As details of the charges against him have started to emerge, one fact has caught our attention: Langford apparently wrote checks to Ryan Idol, the Daily Voice is reporting.

It's too early to jump to any conclusions as to what he was paying him for. Langord may have merely been paying Mr. Idol to give him a personal reading from Terrence McNally's play The Ritz, of which Idol starred in the Broadway revival of last year. However, it's particularly ironic, not only because yet another politician possibly paid for the services of an escort with a check, but also because Langford has done some decisively anti-gay things, like refusing to issue a permit for Birmingham's gay pride parade.

-- Jack