Wayne Besen - Author, Activist, Columnist, Public Speaker

Monday, August 27, 2007

Sleazy GOP Senator Busted In Airport Can

(Bathroom Fiddler, Left)

Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper said on its Web site Monday that Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) was arrested June 11 by a plainclothes officer investigating complaints of lewd conduct in a men's restroom at the airport.

Craig said in a statement issued by his office that he was not involved in any inappropriate conduct.

"At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions," he said. "I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously."

How the hell were they misconstruing it? We all know that if you shake it more than five times it's masturbation. Anyone beg to differ? And what's this nonsense about counsel? Does Craig usually take a leak with an attorney in tow? Furthermore, if he would have handled the matter "himself" he would not have gotten his pecker in a pickle. How many of these incidents will it take before America realizes that the family values crowd is a big, fat fraud? They are a batch of moralizing molesters, pious pervs and values voyeurs. It is time the right just closes shop and stops pointing fingers - because we have no idea where those sticky fingers have been.

Congratulations to super activist Mike Rogers of Blog Active who nailed the culprit (not literally) way before anyone else. As usual, he was on the mark and vindicated. In fact, I don't think he's ever been wrong and has nabbed many such hypocrites. We are lucky to have him in the GLBT movement.

32 Comments:

Are there any Republicans that aren't sex offenders or crooks (like Delay)?
posted by Robguy, at 8/27/2007 8:53 PM

Send up a huzzah!
posted by Emily K, at 8/27/2007 10:27 PM

Though I am as pleased as anyone that a yet another right-wing, religious hypocrite republican has been brought down, hoisted on his own petard (pardon the mixing of metaphors, but it is good!!!) Larry Craig fights gay people to fight his own demons. big whoop. no real news there. Hypocrisy IS the homage that vice pays to virtue, as someone else famously said.

but I don't think it is a good thing beyond that. We all scream "hypocrisy", because it is so obviously that, so you're preaching to the choir here. The haters are screaming "see how all those fags are", because everything they know about us is true-- look at larry craig and lonnie latham and Ted Haggard--and so changes nothing for them. The people in the middle--who knows how they will take it? except that i am afraid they will blame homosexuality instead of homophobia for the larry Craigs of the world. This underlines yet again the terrible, destructive, corrosive nature both of the closet and of the homophobia it creates, which twists and distorts and perverts everything it touches. Becuase of the prejudice and the homophobia and the closet, Larry Craig and Ted Haggard and pedophile priests are seen and being in the same class as Joe and Sam or Mary and ellen, who just want to live thier lives free of harassment, with the smae irghts and responsibilities and respect of everyone else.

This is the poison that the irght-wingers and the christo-hetero-supremacists are feeding our society, and it kills everything.
posted by Ben in Oakland, at 8/28/2007 12:29 AM

Another bathroom sting
Nabs one more G.O.P. queen.
Black man not present.
posted by Curt Prins, at 8/28/2007 1:09 AM

I bet this piece of filth is a right wing evangelist too! Notice how most of them are the most outspoken when it comes to supporting discriminatory laws against the LGBTQ community? I've always believed that the most antigay are usually the most closeted of all. I hope the Log Cabiners are paying attention! Not one word from them so far! Classic!

Kudos to Mike Rogers, have long been a fan of his and as you say Wayne, he's always been proved correct.
posted by Robert, NYC., at 8/28/2007 7:50 AM

The rainbow flag you put on his lapel is funny, but a self-imposed pink triangle would have been more appropriate.
Gary (NJ)
posted by Anonymous, at 8/28/2007 10:21 AM

My hero Mike Signorile must be grinning from ear to ear. I generally oppose outing (sez the reporter who outed Babs Mikulski prior to Mike's notorious book-reading incident more than a decade ago and still believes it was the only moral choice), but Craig more than earned this. Frankly, I don't care if he is gay or a serial adulterer or a sleazebag or secretly self-loathing. That's his funeral. But if you do harm as Craig has done, if you're going to engage in gay sex while actively working to ruin the lives of gay people by denying them equality under law, you deserve to be exposed to your constituents -- and to the wronged spouse. Given Craig's numerous denials over the decades, his flip-flopping on GLBT issues (one day he's for civil unions; the next he votes to ban marriage equality *and* the queer Jim Crow not-quite-equivalent), and his support for every vile anti-American and anti-gay measure put before him (he opposes hate crimes protections for glbts and ENDA while supporting DoMA and the vile, thankfully failed FMA), exposing this guy is doing a service, even a mitzvah, for the nation.
posted by nr davis, at 8/28/2007 12:02 PM

Though we're all enjoying this, there is a downside to it. His behavior only feeds into the the homophobe's classic view of who we are, i.e. predatory, perverse, promiscuous. On the upside, it exposes the doublestandards of bisexuals indulging in cheating on their spouses, hiding behind the facade of marriage, promoting religion and supporting antigay legislation. Looks like the ex-gay ministries have their work cut out for them.
posted by Robert, NYC., at 8/28/2007 12:47 PM

"Family values" come naturally to people. If already you're not the type of person who nurtures and protects those you love, no politician in Washington DC is going to convince you or anyone else to behave otherwise. As Wayne regularly points out, political advocacy of family values is not the expression of any genuine desire to help families and children. It's simply a cloaking device that is used by people who feel the need to hide. Within the last few years, the "social conservative" crowd has taken massive hits, and they will simply never fully recover.
posted by Chris L., at 8/28/2007 4:13 PM

An expansion and reposting of what I wrote earlier:

Though I am as pleased as anyone that yet another right-wing, family values, religiously hypocritical Republican has been brought down AND hoisted on his own petard (mixed metaphors cheerfully acknowledged!!!) So, Larry Craig hates gay people because he hates that part of himself, and he gains personal and political advantage by oppressing gay people to fight his own demons. Big whoop. No real news there-- we have Ted Haggard, Lonnie Latham, Mark Foley, Jimmy Swaggart, Davit Vitt, among a veritable host of others, who did exactly the same thing. Hypocrisy IS the homage that vice pays to virtue, as someone else famously said. What Rochefoucauld did not mention is that it is also more profitable, as the host of hypocrites has demonstrated repeatedly.

But I don't think it is a good thing beyond that one more of them has been exposed. We gay people all scream "hypocrisy", because it is so obviously that-- at the absolute minimum-- so it is just preaching to the choir here. But in one sense, it is NOT hypocrisy. (I'm not making excuses for Craig). He is demonstrating self-hatred privately and very clearly, just as he is demonstrating his homo-hatred in the public arena. I mean, what kind of an idiot (pace Bob Allen) who has this kind of position, power, and wealth, does this sort of thing, except for someone blinded by self-hatred and the delusion that he is not really that way? He just slips once in a while. That is why he is not a gay man, and he hates those who are. Ted Haggard is another one.It is very consistent--and very sad.

As for the he haters screaming "see how all those fags are, and here's another scuzzy queer in a pyublic toilet." I don't think it matters at all. From their point of view, everything they know about us is true-- look at Larry Craig and Lonnie Latham and Ted Haggard--and so changes nothing for them. At some level, this is an acknowledgment that Larry and Lonnie and Ted really are straight men-- who fell. That they and the people who think that way have a great deal of responsibility for this less savory aspect of gay life does not dawn on them, nor would they care. As we have all pointed our repeatedly, this is not about morality, the bible, marriage, the family, or any of it. It is only about prejudice and hatred, whether disguised as sincere religious belief or admitted for what it is.

The people I am concerned about are the ones in the middle. Who knows how they will take it? I am afraid they will blame homosexuality instead of homophobia for the Larry Craigs of the world. This underlines yet again the terrible, destructive, corrosive nature both of the closet and of the homophobia that creates it, which twists and distorts and sullies and perverts everything it touches, whether it is in the gay world or the straight world. The costs to the Haggards, Lathams, and Craigs are just as important as the costs to every family that has broken up over a gay relative, or every gay couple that can't get married. Because of the prejudice and the homophobia and the closet, Larry Craig and Ted Haggard and pedophile priests are seen and being in the same class as Joe and Sam or Mary and Ellen, who just want to live their lives free of harassment, with the same rights and responsibilities and respect as everyone else.

The closet twists and distorts, dirties and perverts. That is it. And this is the poison that the right-wingers and the christo-hetero-supremacists are feeding our society. It may strangle us.

The right-wingers claim that homosexuality causes the downfall of civilizations-- no evidence, but it sounds right to the ignorant. The irony is delicious and unfortunate both, because it well may be that the fear of homosexuality and the hatred of gay people is what brought this current batch of idiots and moral degenerates to power. And that may well be seen one days as the cause of the downfall of the american empire,
posted by Ben in Oakland, at 8/28/2007 5:54 PM

Ben in Oakland and Robert, you have it exactly right. i couldn't put it into better words.

We must have homophobia come to hold the blame, not the "homosexual lifestyle."
posted by Emily K, at 8/29/2007 1:01 AM

Indeed, Robert and Ben, what you write is very true. The unfortunate downside of this -- and schadenfreude only makes us look bad -- makes it our job to spread the word far and wide: Homophobia and homo-hatred are to blame. And Wide Stance Craig's sin isn't being gay or bi... it's lying and being a horrible representative for his lgbt and queer-supportive constituents. And while Craig, Allen, Haggard, et al, may be "pervs," as Wayne put it, most gay people are most assuredly NOT.

The NGLTF's Matt Foreman brought up another good point that did occur to me when this all went down (and, frankly, occurs to me anytime I cover Baltimore's notorious red-light districts, The Block and The Meatrack): Why all this money spent on arresting poor souls looking for, um, love in rest rooms and parks and alleys when really dangerous crimes go unsolved and murder rates in big cities are on the rise? Institutionalized societal homophobia, of course. And that's the biggest sin of all.
posted by nr davis, at 8/29/2007 9:54 AM

Actually, NR, i think homophobia is only a small part of it. It's easier and less dangerous to chase after some poor guy in a rest room than it is an armed thug.
posted by Ben in Oakland, at 8/29/2007 11:21 AM

Any sexual activity inside a men's public restroom is D-I-S-G-U-S-T-I-N-G. No wonder it's done by deeply-closeted, married men who have absolutely no regard for themselves. Any man, gay or straight, should be able to go into a restroom without worrying about being sexually hit on by some charity case who's in the next stall. Yuck!
posted by Chris L., at 8/29/2007 11:41 AM

In response to nr davis's comment:
"The unfortunate downside of this -- and schadenfreude only makes us look bad."

Would you call Elektra's rejoicing over the deaths of her step mother and father at the hands of brother Orestes schadenfreude? A little overdone I grant you. But that is exactly how I, and many others, feel every time one of those self righteous conservative family values hypocrites gets caught having gay sex. I do the vindication dance! It goes beyond schadenfreude, it is a jubilation of sorts that what these people spew is just as putrid as their actions are in the privacy of the public toilet. And the respected Senator votes against gay marriage! His wife should be voting against marriage by divorcing his sorry ass. Did anyone see her wearing sunglasses during the press conference? Another way of hiding the truth is by covering the eyes. Mrs. Craig knows that what happened is TOTALLY TRUE and the lady, the other one, protests much too much. Another Republican jackass legislating morals and family values when he should be dealing with real issues like Katrina, immigration, Iraq/Iran, the economy and the housing market, education (low SAT scores!!!), global warming, the list goes on and on. Instead the jerk gets his homophobe supporters in writing discrimination into his state constitution. And discrimination gets him votes! Now that speaks volumes as to how dumb half the electorate is!
posted by richard schillen, at 8/29/2007 1:59 PM

richard, i know what you're saying. i follow gandhi, striving to be a decent human of peace and still find myself having to shove down the urge to laugh or do a vindication dance on rare occasions. it fills me with shame to admit that, but it is the truth. (i'm a work in progress.) still, that doesn't mean that what is said about schadenfreude isn't true. justified or not, it doesn't make anyone look good. and for me, personally, experiencing that "vindication dance" urge makes me feel like a hideous human being. ymmv, and that's ok. i'm queer too and know the damage these misguided souls do, the pain it causes and the misery, depression and rage it can engender. you're entitled to feel whatever you feel and to tell the world.

i totally agree about the apparent IQ of way too many americans, but then, this is a country that focuses on lindsay lohan and reality shows rather than real issues, a country where the music that doesn't sell millions is usually better than the crap that tops the charts, a land that can't grok that america isn't the greatest country that offers justice and liberty for all that it claims to be if it enshrines discrimination against glbt people (which, of course, it does).
as you can imagine, i spend a lot of time weeping and praying (and working, of course) over the nightmare that is this country and its repressive reality and by the fact that the us is run by very ignorant "leaders" and, by extension, the very ignorant We The People who elect them.

and for ben in oakland: too much time in the doughnut shops? that's why cops focus on fogey gopsters on the down-low rather than violent criminals who actually terrorize society? (although tucker carlson makes the point that an unwanted advance in the little boys' room caused him a certain amount of terror... 'til he metaphorically kicked the guy's ass -- well, he says he bashed the guy's head into the stall. of course, i don't condone violence either.)

you know, there is probably some truth in that lazy-cop theory...
posted by nr davis, at 8/29/2007 2:34 PM

I-da-Ho. I-da-Homo. I guess it's permanently back to Idaho for Craig.
posted by Anonymous, at 8/29/2007 4:21 PM

Sent to the SF Chronicle today:

So many gay people are calling Sen. Craig a hypocrite for seeking out gay sex and then voting against any equality for gay people because we are "immoral". Truly, that would be a hypocritical "wide stance" if he were gay. But he says he isn't, and really, we don't want him. No self-respecting gay man I know would be caught dead cruising in a public toilet. That's really for closet cases like Craig, and it exists because of the homophobia of people who believe as he does-- truly a delicious irony.

No, the real hypocrisy lies in "protecting the sanctity of marriage" by preventing gay people from marrying when he is out there intending to commit adultery by seeking out anonymous sex with someone who is not his wife.

As with Ted Haggard, Bob Allen, Lonnie Latham and a host of others, the sanctity of marriage applies only if we're not talking about HIS marriage.
posted by Ben in Oakland, at 8/29/2007 9:16 PM

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