Henry J. Stern
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
"I read the
news today oh boy,"
What I noticed was how much news consists of lies. Bruno v. Spitzer,
Roger Stone. Who knew what when? And the fire tragedy - who cut
the standpipe, who stopped the inspections, who approved the gangsters, who
ignored DOI, etc.?
The most recent lie, however, may have been told by U.S. Senator Larry Craig
of Idaho, who insists he is not gay.
The heart of that issue depends on what your definition of 'gay' is.
It is similar to the 1990's question of what 'is' is.
If you mean someone who publicly adopts a homosexual life style or resides
and cohabits with a member of the same sex, the answer for Craig is No.
If you mean someone who professes heterosexuality, but has homosexual urges
which he occasionally cannot or will not control, the answer is, Probably.
If you mean someone who lives a heterosexual life, but may have homosexual
fantasies, the answer is whatever you would like it to be.
Larry Craig is 62 years old and owns a ranch. He has three children
and nine grandchildren. He was first elected to the Idaho Senate in
1974, at the age of 29. He was elected to the House of Representatives
in 1980, and to the United States Senate in 1990. His current term expires
January 3, 2009. He is a member of the conservative wing of the Republican
Party, and until a couple of days ago, managed Mitt Romney's campaign in
Idaho, a state which is now 22.8 per cent Mormon.
Craig has a right, as we all do, to describe himself with whatever sexual
orientation he chooses. He may have had varied experiences. But can
he pretend to be a heterosexual when he is in fact a homosexual? He
can, but who will believe him.
The voters of the State of Idaho are Craig's employers. They can vote
him out when he comes up for re-election in 2008. He has been an elected
official for 33 years. Should he resign now, for having deceived the voters
for a generation? I would think not. If every public official
who fooled the voters had to resign his position, there would be more special
elections to fill vacancies than regular elections. And the people
who won the special elections might also deceive the voters.
Senator Craig is being attacked severely as was Congressman Barney Frank
of Massachusetts, who in 1990, seventeen years ago, allowed, either knowingly
or unknowingly, a male prostitute to advertise and solicit business out of
his apartment. There is a difference between the cases. Congressman
Frank was liberal, openly gay and apologized for what had happened.
He was reprimanded by the House, 408 votes to 18, but re-elected nine times
since then by the voters of his district. Senator Craig has been
a public enemy of gay rights, denies his own alleged sexuality and says he
did not commit the act for which he pleaded guilty. He appears to be
a hypocrite of the first order, but he may not believe that he is.
First, he may think of himself as straight most of the time, with occasional
lapses. He may believe your sexuality is what you declare, like
choosing a political party. He may rely on his voting record that shows hiss
hostility to the gay community. He may think that he is bisexual, not
gay. Fortunately, there are no Nuremberg laws in the United States
to determine who is gay and who is straight. People choose what they
wish to be, whether they be right or wrong in their opinion...
Several other thoughts occur to us. One is the issue of entrapment.
Is a police officer sitting in an empty toilet stall in an airport restroom,
waiting for someone to ask for sex pursuing a legitimate public purposes?
Tapping one's foot on the floor is said to be a signal that sexual activity
is desired. Who tapped his foot first, and does it make any difference?
If the officer tapped first, that appears to be a greater level of entrapment.
But even if the Senator tapped first, if the occupant of the adjacent stall
was heterosexual, or homosexual but uninterested in a liaison, he need not
have moved his foot up and down slowly in response, which signaled
that he was receptive to sexual activity. Link to the police report
, posted on thesmokinggun.com, by clicking
here,
but keep in mind that not all of it is necessarily true, as has been shown
in other police operations (e.g. Rodney King, Abner Louima, et al.)
Is it lewd behavior to tap one's foot? Maybe not if one has an ipod,
but what if the next stall were occupied by a drug dealer, and tapping was
considered a sign that the tapper was a customer? Would the tap be
evidentiary as to criminal intent? In this case, reasonable people
can assume that Craig wanted sex. But does unrequited desire justify
police intervention? In New York City, the police abandoned spying
on people in toilets years before the MTA abandoned the toilets themselves.
If the facts are as has been stated by the press, there is nothing that should
compel Senator Craig's resignation from the Senate. He has a right
to be judged by the electors, not be hounded from office by self-appointed
judges who may be bigger hypocrites than Craig is.
Why doesn't the Senator have the wisdom and courage to say. "I think
of myself as heterosexual . I try to live that life with my beloved family.
I have gay impulses to which I sometimes yield. I believe that God
made me the way that I am, and I look to Him to give me the strength to be
what I want to be. None of this has anything to do with my service
to the people of Idaho, to whom I entrust my future."? The answer
may be that if it wouldn't play in Peoria, it certainly wouldn't play in
Pocatello.
The Senator says, in effect: "I didn't do anything wrong. I pleaded
guilty without a lawyer, not thinking of the consequences. I just wanted
to get out of there." It appears obvious that he believed, or was told, that
if he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and paid the fine, nothing would
be said about the nature of his conduct and he would escape public attention.
It was reasonable but overly optimistic for him to conclude that if he paid
$575 he could avoid public scandal.
For better or for worse, this sort of thing inevitably is found out.
It took about ten weeks for the tale to reach from Minneapolis to Roll Call,
the Capitol Hill newspaper, and thus the world. This is not the only
incident of this sort in which Senator Craig was allegedly involved.
Rule 16-J is " Nobody does it once." ( The letter J in the title of the rule
indicates that it was inspired by Michael Jackson.)
There are gay people all over the world, for reasons we do not presently
know, but science is probably on the verge of discovering brain differences
which affect sexual preference. More enlightened cultures accept gay
people; others make same-sex behavior punishable by death. In many
places, there are superficial prohibitions, but in fact toleration.
In the United States, attitudes vary from region to region and class to class.
There is no question that enormous progress has come in the last half century,
and gays and lesbians are now freer here than they ever were, although there
are miles to go. Still there are geographic areas and particular cultures
in this country where there is hostility and discrimination against people
because of their sexual orientation. For example, attitudes differ
between Massachusetts and Idaho.
I do not know Senator Craig, and there is nothing in his record that appeals
to me in any way. It is still sad to see him hoist on the petard of
his inability to control his own desires, while at the same time pandering
to the views of those who have the most contempt for what he is. Hopefully,
the day will come when the Craigs of this world will not have to tap their
feet in toilet stalls to make furtive contact, and police will not hover
in adjacent stalls trying to ensnare them. However, for someone who
holds elective office in the real Idaho, not
My Own Private
Idaho, that day is likely to be a long way off.
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