The Pot Calling the Kettle...Gay?

As most of us are well aware by now, Idaho Senator Larry Craig (R) seems to be in a bit of a bind. He allegedly solicited some nooky from an undercover airport police officer in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. While on a summer hiatus from blogging (well, at least the last half of the summer when my work for Columbia really picked up steam), I feel the need to delve into this story uncharacteristically late due to a nice little ditty written by Nancy Gibbs in this week's Time magazine. When the report of Craig's arrest became public some of the first words uttered out of Craig's mouth were, "I'm not gay," which you can hear for yourself in the video posted below this. Now Mr. Craig has missed the point because that is not what he's being charged with. He is being charged with trying to get some in an airport bathroom stall (what happened to meth dealing and back rubs in the privacy of one's own relatively sanitary hotel room?). Gibbs has a great line about this: "'I am not gay. I never have been gay,' he insisted, as though that were the charge that had to be knocked down, not the accusation of recklessness or infidelity." It's true. Craig is more defensive about his sexuality than the fact that he would have a) been paying for sex and b) cheating on his wife. Rumors about Craig's sexuality have been floating in the air for quite some time, as the top of the page in Time in which Gibbs' article lies has a quote from Craig saying he does not hit on men, but if he did he would not do it in Boise. Additionally, as per the CNN article, blogger Michael Rogers called on Craig to come out of the closet in mid-October of 2006. Craig's "secret" does not seem to have been a secret at all, you just had to know where to look.

So where does this leave things? Well, first I think we should look at some prominent politicians' responses. Mitt Romney, who chose Craig as his Senate liaison, called the whole thing "disgusting." John McCain - rising from the rubble of his train wreck of a presidential campaign - declared that it was "disgraceful" and "it harms our reputation with the American people." My question is this: what is disgusting and disgraceful? Craig's actions or, as Craig himself first jumped to, his sexuality? When the whole Clinton ordeal broke, I do not remember language such as "disgusting" being widely used by Senators and researching on the internet I could not find any of that type of talk either. I even found an article in which Trent Lott - not one to necessarily restrict himself from saying stupid things - was uncharacteristically mum about the situation. Would this be the same if Clinton had hooked up with a male intern? Doubtful. As a country we need to realize that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality and the whole religious viewpoint and its "sinful" nature is played out. Cheating on your spouse is wrong, paying for sex is against the law - the gender of who one is cheating with is completely irrelevant; something that many people in this country seem to disregard.

Photos - Top: Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) (www.id.blm.gov), Bottom: Where Craig likes to get his freak on (www.blognetnews.com)