And Most Self-Deluded Member of the Senate Award Goes to…

of course, Larry Craig.

Seriously, Larry. Get out now. It’s too late for dignity, too late for honesty, too late for anything but retiring to Nicaragua in disgrace.

And given your latest votes against habeas corpus and against the amendment that would make violence against your GLBT compatriots a crime…it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

Is He Crazy?

Okay, I know that Arlen Specter said Senator Larry Craig should fight for…something.

Senator Arlen Specter said Idaho Republican Larry Craig should try to withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct in connection with an incident in an airport men’s room and fight the case.

“I think he could be vindicated,” Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on the “Fox News Sunday” program.

Specter, of Pennsylvania, said that Craig “hasn’t resigned” from the Senate, only that he “intends to resign” as of Sept. 30. That gives Craig a month to fight the case in court, Specter said. If the case went to trial, Specter said Craig “wouldn’t be convicted of anything.”

Look. When you are in an oppressed minority, as gay men of a certain age feel they are, and you’re doing something at the very least sleazy, and in the case of Minnesota law, illegal, you develop little signals that clue in your partners in crime that you are one of them. You tap your foot, you stare into their stall for two minutes, you touch their foot in the stall, you run your hand under the stall divider.

The policeman who was responding to complaints of public sex in that restroom was looking for those particular signals. When Senator Craig gave enough of them, the law was broken, and the police officer presented his police badge. Done, finito, buh-bye, Senator.

What exactly does Senator Craig think he’s winning by saying he’s not ruling out pursuing the legal case?

In the best possible scenario, would Cher come to his trial and scream, “This man is not gay! I swear it! He doesn’t own any of my records!” Would his Republic colleagues suddenly apologize for their relentless insistence on his guilt, admitting that they’re not exactly paragons of sexual morality themselves? (Paging David Vitter!) Would the Washington Post print “LARRY CRAIG IS INNOCENT!!!” across their front page in 64-point type?

No. None of those things would happen. Instead, the trial would be more and more sordid as past scandals surfaced; his family that he professes to care about (his three children are adopted, by the way) would be subjected to more media scrutiny; and he certainly wouldn’t be back in the Senate doing the job he claims to prize.

Is he crazy? Or is the Republic Senator from Idaho an egomaniacal, not-too-bright man who will protect his pseudo-heterosexuality at any cost?

Does it matter? Probably not. But it is fascinating to contemplate.

A Silver Lining

There may be an upside to Senator Craig’s recent public disgrace and resignation – it shows that the outrage over his gayness is coming almost exclusively from the Republics and their followers.

Which means that most of the population DOESN’T CARE ABOUT TEH GAY.

The reaction to Democratic New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey’s public coming-out was, as reported at the time, a collective shrug. Overwhelmingly, New Jersey residents felt his sexuality was his business – what they were upset about was the fact that he was using his power as Governor to reward his lover with a highly-paid job for which the lover was not qualified.

Of course, New Jersey is a liberal state, but national statistics on gay rights issues are encouraging. After all, we all know someone who’s gay, and we all love someone who’s gay, whether we know it or not.

It seems that Americans are starting to realize that ostracizing and punishing people for being themselves is NOT a moral value. And that might just be a silver lining.

No Sympathy

Perhaps I’m an unfeeling person, but I have absolutely no sympathy for Senator Larry Craig. I’ve noticed a lot of talk about how he really didn’t do anything wrong, and how having sex in bathrooms should not be against the law, and how he’s just an innocent victim of a sting operation.

Um, no.

Senator Craig was not a victim. This was not the first time he sought sex in a public restroom. He was even a suspect in the page scandal of 1982, 25 years ago.

This guy broke the law. An elected representative of the people should be held to the highest possible standards. Lawbreaking should be cause for immediate resignation, indictment and whatever punishment is appropriate.

Larry Craig said similar things about Bill Clinton, didn’t he?

And yes, I know it must be very difficult to be an older, closeted gay man. But no one forced him to run for office. No one forced him to seek money and power by running on a platform of hatred and bigotry, supporting the so-called “Defense of Marriage” Act and fighting against labelling anti-gay violence as a hate crime. And no one forced him to break the law. He could have gone to a gay bar, used Craig’s List, or met men in any of the other myriad legal ways available.

This man has climbed to the exalted position of United States Senator on the backs of his brothers and sisters in the LGBT community, causing needless suffering and anguish on the way.

He deserves whatever he gets.