In defense of Larry Craig

As much as I'd love to jump in another Repug bash fest, the Larry Craig incident is just too depressing. Here is a man brought up in an environment of extreme sexual repression who has lived his entire life hating himself and his "urges". Okay, so he's a hypocrite, but how hypocritical is it that we live in a country where people are arrested for trying to find a consenting adult to have sex with. I'm not gay and I don't even pretend to understand the need to hook up in public restrooms, but wasn't that basically what Stonewall was about? And we're still doing it? No wonder Larry Craig is fucked up. The man is to be pitied for what we as a country did to him.

Outing gay republicans just isn't as fun as it used to be.

he could harm THE CHILDREN!

:spray:

He had two choices, honor his marriage, or be true to himself. He did neither, and probably never will. Instead, he cheated. In the most generic sense of the word.

Screw that "background" crap.

He broke the law and tried to have it his way after he pled out.

Hell, I didn't even feel sorry for myself when my heroin addiction got me put away for a while.

I broke the law and I knew what I was doing when I did it.

feeling sorry for yourself ..on your way to healing!

Edit~ They should have a rehab for hypocrites and greedy bigots for the likes of larry craig and his ilk and that would include vitter.

..that the man hates himself. "Self-hating homosexual" is a term tossed around way too loosely in more than one quarter. Well-meaning progressives often assume it's true for every gay man/woman who's closeted and who does political disservice to other gays and lesbians, but it's something of a cliche.

who lowers themselves to having sex with strangers in an unsanitary environ such as a public toilet hates themselves. Be they straight or gay, male or female.

That's your ick factor talking.

good reminder. :hi:

I don't see what's so hard about lamenting the (presumed) societal causes of his behavior while still deploring the hypocritical life he's -chosen- to live. Other gay or bisexual or even curious folks have handled far more oppression and persecution than the privileged Senator Craig, and they have handled it with dignity, bravery, and honesty. Therefore, while the tragic environment of repression contributes to his actions, I don't see why we can't recognize that and still condemn his behavior.

He needs to find someone to have consensual sex with where my ten year old nephew isn't taking a piss! He was looking to do the deed in a public men's room!

I don't pity him. He did this to himself. He needs to get over his self loathing, be honest with his wife and children and go play out his sexual needs in a motel room.

for a living no less. That's where I get off the pity for Larry Craig bus.

It's the holier-than-thou raging hypocrisy. He was leading a double life and he got caught. Good. I hate self-righteous fundamentalists and whenever one gets caught with his pants around his ankles, and gets booted out of the bully pulpit, it's a good thing.

:kick:

and seeking promiscuous, anonymous sex in high risk public locations.

I don't feel sorry for a grown man who exercises such poor judgment. His orientation has nothing to do with my feelings about him.

Lots of people grew up in toxic, repressive environments. We can all work toward enlightening such places and helping them become more nurturing to healthy human development. We don't have to give a pass to those who have had the benefit of travel and education and still remain toxic. There is such a thing as willful ignorance

I agree with you on the first part - about the repression of his sexuality. But there is another issue about the subsequent choices he made.

He chose to go into politics and embraced the reactionary wing of the Republican Party. A year after he went on TV denying his involvement with a congressional page, he married a woman with three kids. If she knew what she was getting into, then she shouldn't be surprised by this. If she didn't, then shame on Craig for using her so he could continue his high profile Republican career.

I do feel outraged by how the Republican Party treats gays. Craig certainly couldn't change his sexual orientation, but he did choose to align himself with the anti-gay republican party and bring another person and her children into his life to act as cover.

So I really don't have much pity for Craig. Karma is a bitch and she nailed him good.

Mz Pip
:dem:

I was also brought up in an environment of repression but still managed to be true to myself and I am older that Larry.

He put himself in the hole. No sympathy here.

Note: The one good thing coming out of this high profile arrest is perhaps a clearer understanding of the low thresh hold of proof or actual behavior that is required when arresting a man in a public bathroom for seeking a sexual partner. Anyone "having" sex should be arrested. However, the subjective standards of the "come on" arrest are pretty hard to understand or support in our general view and understanding of this country's laws.

I live in Idaho.

I've lived here for 7 years. Craig and Crapo have been "my" senators the whole time, and for quite a bit of time before I moved here.

Neither senator has ever represented me.

I can't stand Larry Craig. I don't give a damn who he has sex with.

always having sympathy for EVERYONE, even the ENEMY!

hmmmph.

:evilgrin:

AGAINST gay issues, all the while hiding his own desires from his constituents. There's no difference btween Larry and the dirty cop who spends every enforcing the laws while taking bribes or looking the other way when a friend of his commits a crime.

I could sympathize a LITTLE if he had been openly gay and supportive of removing the stigma of being gay in our culture, but even THEN I said "A LITTLE"! He's a damn Senator who knew or should have known the laws, and he BROKE the law!

but he's also CHEAP!!!!!

He wants sex? Call an escort service. Hook up with someone online. Go to a bar and buy someone a drink.

Not only is he an asshole who lurks in bathrooms, he's a CHEAP asshole too.

Pity? Pity, my ass. I'll save my pity for the many people he has fucked over with his vicious, conservative votes.

Larry Craig wasn't outed, he was arrested.

Larry Craig deserves to be kicked in the ass for condemning people for behavior he engages in and privately condones.

Let him resign in peace and deal with his issues.

and EVERY ONE of these Lavender Fascists need to be outed

I was brought up in an environment of extreme sexual repression also, but even before I came out, I never found it necessary to engage in gaybashing, either real or legislatively.

stalls. They just invite trouble.

He authored "don't ask don't tell" two weeks ago he wrote to a constituent that the military was "no place for social experiments" re: doing away with that stupid law. He has voted against the glbt community at every chance. He deserves what he got. And as for having sex in a public bathroom :puke: :puke: :puke:

I have no pity for someone who is responsible for the deaths of innocent human beings because of his propaganda and votes.
If he's thrown into jail as a war criminal, along with the criminals in the White House, or gets his due in another fashion it's one more fascist gone. Sexual preference doesn't matter to me. :dem:

to be a decent human being is his own.

journalism for such a long time and has never come OUT - why?????????????

What's this WE you talk about? Last time I looked I do not have rights to not get fired because I am gay. How can widdle ol' me be so powerfull?

others who are gay. Don't try to blame that SOB on the rest of the country.

Let the punishment fit the crime.

To me, the crime wasn't what he did or tried to do with other consenting adults.

It was what he did to others with the same desires. Not just the denial and hypocrisy, but the condemnation etc.

To me, this should be a big deal to those he deceived (his homophobic constituents), and those he condemned.

I'm not in either group.

then I might have had a bit of respect for him, not enough for him to remain in office, but a bit more... And I would have pitied him more certainly.

And his continued denials and proposed legal actions are a waste of time... He's going up against the Minneapolis police department and a cop with an impeccable record and numerous past arrests in stings like this. Craig has no chance.