He Did Nothing Wrong

Larry Craig is out the door, and he doesn't have many fans left. I'm certainly not one of them. As has been widely reported, Craig is the proud recipient of a zero -- ZERO! -- from the Human Rights Campaign for his anti-gay voting record. As HRC concluded, it's pretty hard to find any issue on which Craig has taken a stand for justice, fairness, or decency.

I'm also horrified by the mobius-strip like way in which Craig's legacy turns in on itself: Anti-gay lawmakers like Craig work so hard to inflame homophobia that it becomes all the more difficult for closeted individuals like Craig to live open lives, which in turn enables anti-gay leaders to foment fear. In a sense, Craig has done everything wrong. I'm glad to see him leave.

That said, Craig's story saddens me at so many levels. As I argue in an op-ed in the Washington Post today, Craig's career has been destroyed as a result of the most trivial of infractions. My partner, upon reading Craig's arrest report, shouted, "But he's done nothing wrong!" And indeed he hasn't. This is the extent of his crime:

Craig walked into a public restroom and fidgeted with his fingers for two minutes as he stood outside an occupied stall. Several times, he peered through a crack in the door. Then, he entered an empty stall, sat down, tapped his foot, and touched the shoe of the person in the next stall with his own. Finally, he swiped his hand under the stall divider three times.

That's the totality of his crime.

Craig probably was looking for sex, but there is a big difference between seeking sex and having public sex. What if, for example, Craig planned to ask the occupant of the next stall to follow him to a private hotel room? What if he simply enjoyed the chase and planned to stop short of sexual conduct? It's sickening that lawmakers who support torture eagerly condemn Craig for a toe tap.

Society, of course, has the right to enforce standards of public decorum. But when we punish people for a wink and a nod, we let our anxieties about sex override the best traditions of what it means to live in a free society.

Let's be frank: Craig is being punished because he is gay, not just because he was arrested or because he has a vexed relationship with the truth. A student of one of my colleagues, Professor Tobias Wolff, did a study showing that gay men in a major metropolitan area are arrested on lewd conduct charges for public behaviors which heterosexuals engage in commonly. According to Wolff, "The double-standard -- including the selective treatment of different public places as implicitly acceptable or unacceptable for exploring assignations, corresponding closely to whether the places are coded straight or coded gay -- is stark."

Craig's personal anguish must be nothing short of extreme. If Craig were being punished for his destructive voting record and the numerous ways in which he has used his authority to crush people who needed help, that would be one thing. But to see him destroyed for being gay brings no comfort at all.

Comments

[bobsmith]

The OP is correct. Larry Craig is a hypocrite who supports an evil ideology, and I'm glad to see him fall. However, I am far more concerned about the police state that brought him down.

We have far too many police, far too many laws, and far too much prison space.

Larry Craig is a diversion from the real issue: We have cops with nothing better to do than ferret out sexual transgressions. And we have a big, hungry corrections/prison industry to feed... and we're all potential food.

[CSE]

Odd how the notion of the senator being pushed out by those other than his constituents is not questioned.

It is a matter for those of the Great State of Idaho to decide - particularly under the contention that he broke no laws.

The notion that national party interests supersede state interests gnaws at the heart of our federal system.

And...yes, there are many senators and congressmen who are in office due to the larger party machine and do not necessarily represent state interests - yet that is something the people of each state need to address through activism.

[Anastasia]

It seems unlikely, that left to their own devices, Idahoans would have re-elected him.

His whole life was a lie. He lied to his family, he lied to friends and colleagues, he lied to the voters. He presented himself as holier-than-thou. He was a hypocrite.

He compounded the lies and hypocricy by blaming others for his downfall. Gay or straight who could vote for such a man?

[WeCanFixThisMess]

He did nothing wrong?
He did everything wrong.
This case is so multi-layered. It is a series of events, not just what he did in that bathroom, that have caused his ouster.
Yes, it is wrong to entrap people for basically flirting.
But it is Craig's response that takes the wrong done to him and runs it down the field. As a lawmaker, to think that simply pleading guilty to a lesser offense would make this "go away"... well, that's a level of incompetence that can't be ignored. Plus, for almost a year, rumors have swirled about this Senator and train station bathroom sex. Even if the rumors weren't true, shouldn't he have been on his best behavior in public restroom settings..­. the sting may be very wrong but he was playing with fire...ano­ther level of incompetence. Is there even such a thing as anonymous sex for a United States Senator? THEN you pile on his voting record against gays-- which is his hypocrisy, not orientation. But the main fact to consider is that the GOP (who obviously have cared less that he is gay as long as he did their bidding) wants a win in Idaho in '08. They are the Brutus here. They could have stood by him and warmed up the old spin machine. But they took a few days to weigh their options then saw a chance for gain by ousting/replacing him and stabbed one of their most loyal dirtywork-doers in the back. It's getting so that having no personal ethics and marching in lockstep for political gain just ain't what it used to be anymore.
So yes, no one should ever be persecuted­/entrapped­/outed for being gay... but in this case Senator Craig did plenty wrong.

[weedhighbuckeye]

It is wrong to arrest people for flirting. I don't think it's wrong to arrest people for flirting with people in a public restroom.

[WeCanFixThisMess]

Annoying another adult is not a crime no matter where you are. Should it be a crime to flirt in church as well? Some guy staring at you in the gym locker room is not a crime either. We have the right to tell him to knock it off just like women are forced to do at every bar in America. Or are men so sensitive that we can't handle be flirted with and therefore need laws to protect our egos?
Now touching someone is another story. No matter what Craig's intent was-- he never even said a word before being taken in-- he was taken in for what they "assumed" he wanted. The persistent Hari Krishna at the airport is more annoying that what Craig is accused of doing. If the cop had said "knock it off" I bet he would have immediately stopped. But the cop encouraged him then assumed what would happen next. Without Craig even saying so much as "your stall or mine"... well, it sounds like entrapment to me. And a far cry from someone actually having sex in an airport bathroom stall. Which is illegal.
Flirting + encouragement + assumption = entrapment

[disintaGreatNation]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see what former Senator Craig did as a gay thing. I see it as a pervert thing, because it involves a public restroom. Gross!

So, now former Senator Craig's life will henceforth be bitter, lonely, and low -- stuck on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, with everybody hating on him.

Not good. Craig should consider using this scandal to reinvent himself. His life might gain new traction if he were to open up his ranch as a sex club and recording studio, where he could put his singing skills to use in a new career as a Brokeback-Mountain dogg.

Where other people see anguished misery and loneliness, I see opportunity.

[amberglow]

Craig was destroyed because he's living proof of the GOP's hypocrisy and lies, and that was intolerable to them. They can't continue to demonize and legislate against us--and for "family values"--if their ranks are full of closetcases. It's the Republicans who dropped him like a hot potato and forced him out--not anyone else.

McHenry is next--he's connected to the FL love triangle thing.

[banjomike]

Don't feel too sorry for Craig. For 27 years, he has been an arrogant, bullying, abrasvie party hack.

Craig's self-loathing is bottomless. He hates his parents and despises the family he had to acquire in 1982 to keep his political future intact. It was only a matter of time before he imploded.

It's ironic that his words to the undercover cop when he flashed his Senate bizcard can be turned toward him now: Hey, Larry- what do you think about that?

I hope he thinks about it. A lot.

[RoddyMcCorley]

On the contrary, Craig has done something wrong on the most fundamental possible level. Surely Craig must know firsthand that sexual orientation is not a matter of choice. And yet, he has allied himself with those who believe it is not just a choice, but a sin. Craig has contributed to the persecution and misery of people like himself, knowing on some level that every one of the precepts he operated on was based on a lie.

I can't think of anything more profoundly wrong.

[nellyol'son]

yeah, that's f'ed up. we are the fall guys again.

i don't know which rankles me more: the disgusted, righteous demands from the republicans that he resign or the gleeful snickering i hear from liberals like Bill Maher. at this point, i think i'm opting for the latter.

what's disgusting about this is that we, as gays, will be further demonized because the media is saying this is how gay culture is.

[weedhighbuckeye]

I would think that decent gay people would be as disgusted as anyone should someone peek into their stall and basicall make a pass at them while they're taking a crap.

[MichaelBuchanan]

Depends on who's making the pass. If it were Craig, assuredly yes. Brad Pitt, I might just give a little toe tap.

[bethinCary]

I found it ironic that Richard Jewell died during this same few days as the Craig case. Jewell, as you recall, was the security guard wrongly accused of having something to do with the atlanta centennial Park bomb. he was later cleared of it-after the media had dragged his name over the coals. I have to wonder if stress form this may have led to his early death at 44-as being something he was never apologized for properly by the msm. I do not understand what Craig did wrong. Just becasue it may be signal for homosexual behavior-me as a straight person-would have no idea what the signals were. the tapes of the police tell Craig if he pleads guilty-he'll be fined and it will go away-innocent and he'll have to stand trial. Being a politician, I could kind of understand why he would not want to go to trial and why he would plead guilty. The whole thing wreaks of entrappment and I find it disgusting that my taxpayer $$ are going to paying cops to sitting in the john-as opposed to providing security outside or inside the restroom.I find it sick anyone would want such a job-and to justify his own job he would need to keep making arrests-falsely or not.I do not believe the cop.

[MichaelBuchanan]

Thank you. It gives me hope that some people are starting to see just how perverted the whole anti-gay thought process is. it leads to well-paid vice officers sitting on a toilet for 8 hours hoping to attract desperate men.

I read somewhere that there had been 43 arrests at that location in one year. If the sting was such a 'success' why have there been so many arrests? Surely the point of the sting is to prevent that activity. Seems to be prolonging it.

[blackchaps]

Craig is gone because while the GOP will accept a diaper wearing hetersexual lawbreaker, they will never keep the door open for a repressed homosexual. Their bread and butter votes in the Heartland depend on their intolerance for anything that smack of 'teh ghey.' And they have no intention of coming out of the closet.

[myshadow]

I totally share 'blackchaps' sentiment, second every syllable. This whole scarlet letter display has been pathetic..­.Sure craig was a quisling, and maybe we are seeing the wings of karma flap his way. We watch the repubs continue to embrace and employ david watersports vitter, who swaddles himself in diapers and commissions the company of a female consort...­I dunno kink for kink, I guess there could be some political mileage to be accrued shining the light of republican tolerance of arrested potty development.

Mr. Belkin, I want to tell you that your essay was thoughtful and exquisitely composed.

[Yomper]

The instant reply feature allows 2 or more people to create a page or more of insults before a new comment can be added and you have pages of people insulting each other and not addressing the original blog.
Its not rocket science to see how a concerted effort by a determined group can control the subject ad infinitum

[jashu51]

Reminds me of an old joke in Playboy, "Smoke one cigarette---do they call you a smoker? Have one drink---do they call you an alcoholic? But suck one c***?!?" As others have pointed out---why was a policeman in a stall in the first place, (other than the obvious reason)? I feel sorry for Craig and his family that he was entrapped. And that he had to resign because of it is laughable. Where are the cries of "partisan politics" and about his good name being "dragged through the mud"? Invade and destroy another country or use the DOJ to further absolute Republican rule, that's OK, but try to have a little quickie sex on a stopover, and you're finished back in DC (and probably Idaho).

[BarryChamplain]

Would everyone please stop enabling Larry Craig, and his idiot assertion that he was "entrapped"?

The cop was doing his job: namely, to assure the patrons of the airport that when they stop into the restroom on their way to Chicago, that they don't have to encounter festering gaggles of perverts. Obviously, they'd already had a problem with this. Obviously, in the course of patrolling the men's room, the officer found one of those perverts and busted him.

He just happened to be Larry Craig, a national legislator for whom the GOP had been covering since at least the early '80s, when they knew fully well about his sexual procliviti­es... his encounters with Congressional pages... and, more likely than not, his cruising habits in men's rooms across the country. Why? Because the son of a bitch carried their homophobic, right-wing water.

You gotta wonder how many other times Craig picked up a BJ in the rest room at Minneapolis. You also gotta wonder how many other times he was dragged out of a public place by a cop, after having committed a similar offense... but powerful people in Congress prevailed, and ol' Lar was given a pass. Or, maybe you honest-to-God think this was the first time in a stall, for the good Republican senator? Yep, that's it.

Look, I'm not a big automatic lover of cops, but really, sports fans... would any of YOU want a job, that consists of hanging out in smelly public restrooms all day, and waiting to bust sexual deviants? This officer EARNED his pay, that day. And, probably unlike other cops in Larry Craig's whitewashed past, this one actually got a good collar on the little prick. Give the cop a break!

[MichaelBuchanan]

Please. A well-placed toilet attendant would accomplish the same thing.

Plus, if this sting was so successful, why is the bathroom still notorious for gay sex? Maybe because the police are not interested in stopping this activity, but simply interested in entrapping people to justify their very existence.

[TruthOarConsequences]

The reason Senator Craig is being forced to resign is not because he is allegedly gay, but that he plead GUILTY. If he did nothing and plead guilty he is WAY stupid. If he was lying about his attempt at bathroom sex than he is morally unfit, in either case he cannot be allowed to be a Senator.

[Ani]

Mr. Belkin ... Thank you for your comments. However, I believe it IS a crime to peep into a bathroom stall for the length of time that Senator Craig pleaded guilty to. It's also a crime to solicit sex in a public bathroom, even though that solicitation is by way of hand signals, toe tapping and foot-touching. For that, he also plead guilty. That said, it's not his being gay that so many of us object to. It's the hypocracy of his anti-gay statements, while participating in the activity himself. Bigotry is as bigotry does. That's the problem many of us bump up against in this case. The Republicans have taken a very vocal stance against an entire group of people. When, then, one of the most vocal of the Republicans participates in the very behavior that is so denigrated and reviled by their party, that person simply IS hypocritical. To steal an old line and tweak it a bit ... It's the hypocracy, stupid!

I do wish, when caught, these public figures wouldn't force their humiliated wives and children to stand with them in front of the cameras. That's just sad and only adds to our feelings of ickiness.

[Defyant]

I don't understand how you can say he is being ousted because he is gay. I see clearly he was the architect of his own demise by his decades long hypocrisy.

Craig's anti-gay voting record, his decades long denial of his true nature, his cowardice, all add up to one thing,he has to go.

People are not getting any accountability from their government. Too many politicians talk one way and in private behave another. We are told how to behave, meanwhile our fearless leaders are chasing teenage boys,engaging hookers, paying for secret abortions.

Why can't you admit that gay or nor the American people would still have some respect for Craig if he had displayed courage instead of cowardice.