Senator Larry Craig REPUBLICAN from Idaho resigned from the Senate after his fellow Republicans basically drummed him out, once it was revealed that he plead guilty to lesser charges attempting to make an arrest "go away" after he was caught soliciting gay sex from an undercover cop in a Minneapolis airport men's room. Whew! Long sentence. Not as long as the "sentence" former-Senator Craig will now serve - the rest of his life. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/washington/02cong.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1188833432-HihlfGKMg0zSlrXLeG3DbA
I was not familiar with Craig until all this happened. He was just another stereotypical Republican homophobe voting against adding sexual orientation to the Hate Crimes Act, voting for the so-called Protection of Marriage bill, sanctimoniously condemning Bill Clinton as a "nasty, naughty, boy" when the Monica story broke. He was actively anti-gay like many Republicans and like many persecutors throughout history he hid his secret "gay" life from the world. Ironically he was part of creating the very environment that led to his downfall.
As a gay man I was struck yesterday by my feeling sorry for him and not celebrating his downfall. I've never solicited sex in a toilet, I've never tried to hide my sexuality by marrying and fathering children and thank God I never felt the need to be an anti-gay Republican so that no one would ever suspect my secret. But I did spend a portion of time in my life - elementary through high school - when I told gay jokes and even made fun of effeminate guys in a mostly-successful attempt to hide my sexuality from others. My reasoning was something like "the other guys will never think I'm gay if I tell the most hateful jokes and also laugh the loudest at their gay jokes."
My freshman year in college, a male friend who was still in high school came to visit for a football game. I had a date with a girl (still covering) and of course there was drinking and partying but a chaste evening - no more that major kissing and making out. Back at my apartment my male friend came to my bed and made a pass. I was very turned on and horny so for a few seconds I thought about submitting - I could always say that I was drunk, that I did not know what was happening. But FEAR joined us in that bed and I became a total jerk to him. I whispered, "what the f*#! do you think you are doing?" I belittled and demeaned him, called him a "queer" demanding that he go back to the couch before I kicked his ass. Even worse, the next day after he left I told my apartment mate what had happened and we laughed at the guy and made fun of him in his absence.
Had I continued my self-loathing, homophobic ways I could have ended up like Senator Craig - living a "straight" life to be accepted and then resorting to sleazy, anonymous sex to take care of the natural urges associated with being gay. In that life one can NEVER let down his guard - can never have sex with someone where there are positive feelings or emotions. No sex with someone who might know him and let his secret out.
So seeing this man in his sixties, twenty-seven years a senator, probably forty plus years having sex in nasty men's toilets so no one will know while periodically having sex with his wife enough to have children, hating himself and all other gays - especially gays who have accepted themselves and live open lives I could not experience happiness or glee just sadness and sympathy.
His statement before the cameras where he said over and over, "I am not gay, I have never been gay, I love my wife..." made me feel sick for him because he probably believes those statements. Denial is so powerful I'm sure that he is parsing words and thinking in distorted logic, "okay, occasionally I do have sex with men in bathrooms but that doesn't make me gay! Look at my record, if I were gay would I have voted as I have? If I were gay would I be a father? If I were gay would I have stayed married to the same woman all these years? If I were gay would I be so actively involved in church?" Sorry Senator Craig but in a homophobic, hate-filled world that you have worked so hard to create the answer to all those questions is, "yes!"
I am praying for Senator Craig. I am praying for all gay men who hate themselves so much that they feel a need to do these kinds of dangerous and disgusting things. I'm praying that young gay people seeing the story did not think that they need to follow his lead and not enjoy the sexuality that God gave them. I hope those young gay men who haven't come out or accepted their sexuality yet will think to themselves, "I am not going to do that - look how miserable he has been!"
Yesterday on "Meet the Press" one of the political pundits commented how no one had spoken positively about Senator Craig. He said that with previous scandals someone would always express sympathy, say what a good senator the person had been, what a strong family man etc. etc. yet no one came forward with a single positive remark. Well doesn't that just confirm Senator Craig's fears - if he had been open about his sexual orientation he would never have been elected in the reddest of red states. No matter what his accomplishments, if he had chosen to live as an openly gay man he would never have gotten credit; or, every accomplishment would have been minimized because he was gay. He would not have been "Larry Craig" he would have been "Gay Larry Craig" or "Larry Craig, a Gay Idaho man" when he accomplished something. Well, let's face it, he probably would have been denied the situation to even make a contribution as an openly gay man.
Finally I am praying that Larry Craig will reflect on his life and what he has helped create and will see that others do not have to be as unhappy as he has been. God turned Paul from a persecutor to an advocate maybe God can use this experience to motivate Senator Craig to work to erase his current impact and save future gay brothers.
When Larry Craig dies, his obit will refer to him as the "senator who resigned after soliciting gay sex in a men's room" OR it could refer to him as a "Gay man who had an epiphany after his arrest and spent the rest of his life working for acceptance of gays and an end to irrational discrimination and hatred that caused his fall from honor." Senator Craig it's up to you.
I was not familiar with Craig until all this happened. He was just another stereotypical Republican homophobe voting against adding sexual orientation to the Hate Crimes Act, voting for the so-called Protection of Marriage bill, sanctimoniously condemning Bill Clinton as a "nasty, naughty, boy" when the Monica story broke. He was actively anti-gay like many Republicans and like many persecutors throughout history he hid his secret "gay" life from the world. Ironically he was part of creating the very environment that led to his downfall.
As a gay man I was struck yesterday by my feeling sorry for him and not celebrating his downfall. I've never solicited sex in a toilet, I've never tried to hide my sexuality by marrying and fathering children and thank God I never felt the need to be an anti-gay Republican so that no one would ever suspect my secret. But I did spend a portion of time in my life - elementary through high school - when I told gay jokes and even made fun of effeminate guys in a mostly-successful attempt to hide my sexuality from others. My reasoning was something like "the other guys will never think I'm gay if I tell the most hateful jokes and also laugh the loudest at their gay jokes."
My freshman year in college, a male friend who was still in high school came to visit for a football game. I had a date with a girl (still covering) and of course there was drinking and partying but a chaste evening - no more that major kissing and making out. Back at my apartment my male friend came to my bed and made a pass. I was very turned on and horny so for a few seconds I thought about submitting - I could always say that I was drunk, that I did not know what was happening. But FEAR joined us in that bed and I became a total jerk to him. I whispered, "what the f*#! do you think you are doing?" I belittled and demeaned him, called him a "queer" demanding that he go back to the couch before I kicked his ass. Even worse, the next day after he left I told my apartment mate what had happened and we laughed at the guy and made fun of him in his absence.
Had I continued my self-loathing, homophobic ways I could have ended up like Senator Craig - living a "straight" life to be accepted and then resorting to sleazy, anonymous sex to take care of the natural urges associated with being gay. In that life one can NEVER let down his guard - can never have sex with someone where there are positive feelings or emotions. No sex with someone who might know him and let his secret out.
So seeing this man in his sixties, twenty-seven years a senator, probably forty plus years having sex in nasty men's toilets so no one will know while periodically having sex with his wife enough to have children, hating himself and all other gays - especially gays who have accepted themselves and live open lives I could not experience happiness or glee just sadness and sympathy.
His statement before the cameras where he said over and over, "I am not gay, I have never been gay, I love my wife..." made me feel sick for him because he probably believes those statements. Denial is so powerful I'm sure that he is parsing words and thinking in distorted logic, "okay, occasionally I do have sex with men in bathrooms but that doesn't make me gay! Look at my record, if I were gay would I have voted as I have? If I were gay would I be a father? If I were gay would I have stayed married to the same woman all these years? If I were gay would I be so actively involved in church?" Sorry Senator Craig but in a homophobic, hate-filled world that you have worked so hard to create the answer to all those questions is, "yes!"
I am praying for Senator Craig. I am praying for all gay men who hate themselves so much that they feel a need to do these kinds of dangerous and disgusting things. I'm praying that young gay people seeing the story did not think that they need to follow his lead and not enjoy the sexuality that God gave them. I hope those young gay men who haven't come out or accepted their sexuality yet will think to themselves, "I am not going to do that - look how miserable he has been!"
Yesterday on "Meet the Press" one of the political pundits commented how no one had spoken positively about Senator Craig. He said that with previous scandals someone would always express sympathy, say what a good senator the person had been, what a strong family man etc. etc. yet no one came forward with a single positive remark. Well doesn't that just confirm Senator Craig's fears - if he had been open about his sexual orientation he would never have been elected in the reddest of red states. No matter what his accomplishments, if he had chosen to live as an openly gay man he would never have gotten credit; or, every accomplishment would have been minimized because he was gay. He would not have been "Larry Craig" he would have been "Gay Larry Craig" or "Larry Craig, a Gay Idaho man" when he accomplished something. Well, let's face it, he probably would have been denied the situation to even make a contribution as an openly gay man.
Finally I am praying that Larry Craig will reflect on his life and what he has helped create and will see that others do not have to be as unhappy as he has been. God turned Paul from a persecutor to an advocate maybe God can use this experience to motivate Senator Craig to work to erase his current impact and save future gay brothers.
When Larry Craig dies, his obit will refer to him as the "senator who resigned after soliciting gay sex in a men's room" OR it could refer to him as a "Gay man who had an epiphany after his arrest and spent the rest of his life working for acceptance of gays and an end to irrational discrimination and hatred that caused his fall from honor." Senator Craig it's up to you.
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