Larry Craig, tragic victim of an oppressive environment? Not so fast

[jpgray]

Whatever Craig is (gay, bisexual, curious), I've seen a lot of posts on DU arguing that the admittedly repressive and discriminatory attitudes towards gays in this country excuse his behavior. They see him as a closeted case engaging in a tried and true method of anonymous sexual solicitation, motivated by the even -more- extreme culture of hate and fear directed towards gays during much of his past.

There are several problems with this, but the main one is that his circumstances neither force or excuse his hypocritical behavior. First of all, not all closet cases who lead double lives due to our repressive society actively advocate to debase the rights of GLBT folks. Secondly, many who lacked even a barest fraction of Craig's power and privilege faced the exact same terrible persecution, yet they handled it with grace, honesty, dignity and bravery. So much for Craig being at the mercy of circumstances--his -own- choices in the end decided his behavior. However much those choices were influenced by his environment, others lacking his resources faced the same challenges and surmounted them without resorting to rank hypocrisy and bigotry.

We can both lament the circumstances that must have influenced his behavior -and- condemn him as an individual for making the ugly, dishonest choice to actively debase the rights of other homosexual/bisexual folks. We don't have to choose one or the other.

As for the public restroom solicitation angle, public sex should be illegal (though people of all orientations do it), but public solicitation I don't think should carry a sentence. Whether peering in a stall for two minutes qualifies as harassment is something I'm not qualified to answer (I'd say yes), but all these questions miss the point. The uncovered behavior he was arrested for isn't very wrong or evil, the extreme hypocrisy he has -chosen- to engage in -is-.

[ruggerson]

1. They don't EXCUSE his behaviour

they are one of the underlying factors.

The discussion should be about HOMOPHOBIA, rightwing hate, and its ramifications, not the superficial, sensationalist yakking about the vagaries of bathroom sex.

[mitchum]

2. And the right wing's profitable exploitation of homophobia in which Craig was all too...

happy to participate.
I wouldn't shed a tear if the disgraced piece of shit blew out his own brains

typo

[jpgray]

3. Stupid cruel jokes in an online forum? Color me amazed

Anonymity and an audience can make people into fuckwads, and cruelty is an overused shortcut to humor.

[uppityperson]

4. well put. eom

[Chovexani]

5. I haven't seen a single GLBT DUer excuse Craig's actions

There is a difference between giving a possible explanation for a person's behavior and excusing that behavior. A huge difference.

What I've seen are GLBT DUers trying to give an explanation to straight DUers who are going, "why would a US Senator be dumb enough to pull something like that?" They're attempts to explain the pathology of the closet and what it does to a person.

If there have been posts by some of us giving Craig a pass because of it, I apologize, but I simply haven't seen any.

[jpgray]

6. It doesn't explain his public advocation of homophobia and bigotry

Which is far more evil than bathroom solicitation. Do you think people are more upset about the solicitation than the hypocrisy? For dumb humor material, the bathroom solicitation is obviously the easy club to bash him over the head with, however offensively.

[goodgd_yall]

7. What angers me

is that his anti-gay rights votes do not hurt closeted people like him. Those who have the courage to live their lives openly are the ones who suffer from anti-gay legislation. As long as your closeted you can live in whatever devious manner it takes for you to avoid truly feel the effects of homophobia.

[madaboutharry]

8. This is a very good point.

Thank you for making it. How true, hiding inside their own double life, they insulate themselves from the ramifications of their agenda and hurt those who have the courage to live honestly.