Why isn't David Vitter, the Senator from Louisiana who
admitted to breaking his marriage vows, soliciting sex in Washington and New Orleans on numerous occasions, also being asked to resign like Craig has
been?
As usual, gay sex carries a heavier societal
punishment THAN does heterosexual sex "misdeeds."
Now, I'm not defending Larry Craig, and I am not so
upset at his having public sex, but rather that he worked so diligently, so hard
to keep gay people as second and third class citizens. He has demonized gay
people from day one in office and everyone knew he was gay since at least 1982
and even earlier.
Those run-ins with the law coincided with the time
frame of his marriage. He was probably psychically forced into that marriage to
again "hide" his real proclivities.
Larry Craig was socialized at a time when being gay
and admitting to it meant certain death to any aspirations you might have for
your life. And public office....totally out of reach to openly gay people (and
still is in most parts of the USA) until recently.
Society and especially religious strictures forced
Larry Craig into that bathroom in Minneapolis. It was a desperate act. Any gay
man who wanted to express his sexuality at the time of Craig's socialization was
forced to troll bathrooms, public parks, highway rest stops for sex, because
even if there were gay clubs at the time, they were constantly in danger of
being raided by the police---and were as Stonewall
attests.
Of course, gay people weren't the only ones using
public places like parks and drive-ins, and rest stops for sex. Every high
school heterosexual knew and most used such places for public sex and on a
regular basis AND still do.
No outrage over that, it was the norm for society.
Kids borrowing the family car and going to public places to smooch and have
sex.
The outrage was only for those seeking gay sex, not
heterosexual sex.
So, just as those hetero high schoolers sought sexual
relations in public places, and still do, so do gay people. Larry Craig, in my
view committed no high offense for the public sex.
ALL OF YOU WHO HAD SEX IN THE BACKSEAT OF A CAR KNOW
THAT FOR SURE! or in the balcony of a movie theater, at the high school prom in
the park, at the local lover's lane or at the beach under the blankets..all of
you, and that's probably 99% of us can't scream at Larry Craig for public
sex....you did it and your kids still do.
His crime from my perspective is that he demonized the
very sex practices that he was forced to practice in the face of the pressures
put on him--anyone--who does not practice sex as society SAYS people should or
as Churches hypocritically demand.
But remember Craig was probably forced into his
marriage to hide his true orientation and then for decades sought human contact
of the kind his nature required by doing it furtively in public places. Larry
Craig was and is a victim, but that didn't and doesn't give him the right to
victimize and demonize gay people as he did for entire public career. I am
happy to see him go, but I wanted to point out the hypocrisy of the judgments
given to Vitter and his sexual "crimes" vs. those of Larry
Craig.