Senator Craig will resign tomorrow. My feelings about this scandal have wavered over the past couple of days. As a gay man, I feel a mixture of anger and pity for Craig right now (and pity is not the same as feeling sorry for him). He’s a hypocrite with internal-homophobic issues.
But, as a gay man, I also feel repulsed at how quickly this is happening – four days between the revelations and the decision to resign. Meanwhile, Senator David Vitter cheats on his wife by fucking hookers and nothing happens to him. Craig is ever so quickly being tossed aside or swept under the rug or whatever disposal-related metaphor you’d like to use. The Republican Party is a big Thanksgiving dinner where nobody wants to talk about Gay Cousin Larry. Instead it’s hey how ’bout them Packers, please pass the cranberries, look at all our normal grandchildren!
Craig will resign, Governor Otter (what an Idaho-esque sounding political name) will appoint his replacement, and Craig will sink cleanly below the surface, leaving not a ripple in the Republican consciousness. The Party can remain in denial, ignore its issues and go on pretending that gay people are The Other.
Sickening.
I agree with you.
The one other factor I think very important to consider is the absolute anger that exists within the GOP over everything at this moment. The party suffers from a weak President, a war that just continues, a restless nation, and no major candidate for the White House next year that has “the Reagan touch’. The GOP is limping and we are one year from just the conventions!
If Craig had just been found to have a boyfriend, instead of using a mens room for seeking out a sex partner he would not have been forced to resign. I think this has everything to do with the way Craig looked for sex, rather than the fact he is gay.
The lesson I hope we teach our nephews, neices, and other young ones we interact with is this below.
There is only one way to live life.
Live your life authentically.
Craig proves the point.
It is a complex situation. I do feel sorry for him, because I think, generationally speaking, he is a victim of cultural attitudes that made it impossible for him to even contemplate being open and honest. But on the other hand, to go around with the Family Values crowd, making political hay over claims about “the homosexual lifestyle,” which doesn’t begin to resemble my life, while he betrays his wife in favor of anonymous hookups in public bathrooms…well, it just makes me angry.
And yes, look at the Republicans run. What Senator Craig could really use right now is someone to go to him and say, “Larry…it’s time. Your secret’s out. Your one chance in life to redeem all this and get your self esteem back is to accept who you are and start making amends. Stop demonizing other people, and by extension, yourself, for things over which they have no control. Learn from this and move forward.” But none of these guys actually care a whit about their friend Senator Craig; their only concern is how his personal tragedy might affect their campaigns. Sickening.
I feel sorrow for Senator Craig. While he is a hypocrite, he is a product of his times and a society that still tends to tag people who are sexually “deviant†with “a Lavendar H.†Senator Craig seems to have a lot in common with the tragic Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, who could not overcome his fears or sexual desires.
— “The Republican Party is a big Thanksgiving dinner where nobody wants to talk about Gay Cousin Larry. Instead it’s hey how ’bout them Packers, please pass the cranberries, look at all our normal grandchildren!”
Your analogy and your choice of teams and food was brilliant! And, hilarious! The nuance encapsulates the problems of both externalized and internalized homophobia. Bravo!