"Let me be clear: I am not gay and never have been."

By Michael J.W. Stickings

In response to THE SCANDAL, Senator Larry "Lewd Conduct" Craig basically had two options:

1) DENIAL ("I didn't do anything wrong.")
2) REPENTANCE ("I'm sorry for everything I did wrong.")

It should come as no surprise that he went with #1. He wasn't looking for sex, gay sex, in that Minnesota airport restroom. Far from it. It was all a big, huge, massive misunderstanding.

You can read his statement here (and C&L has the video here). And you can find the blogospheric reaction here.

Here's the gist of Craig's denial: He's sorry. He apologizes. He pled guilty, and one would think that was enough, but that guilty plea has brought sadness to the people he cares about, presumably people he wasn't thinking about in that washroom, tapping his foot, looking for action. He "made a poor decision" -- no, there was no lewd conduct, and he wasn't looking for any, in fact, ever. No, the "poor decision" was "to plead guilty to a lesser charge in the hope of making it go away". Which is an odd sort of mea culpa, when you think about it: Why plead guilty if you didn't do anything wrong? Was he motivated by panic? Perhaps -- but unlikely. And why not even seek counsel? Was he afraid a lawyer would spill the beans?

Anyway, yadda yadda yadda.

There's an enemy, of course -- this is what rightists do, and always have done. They don't do anything wrong, it's their enemies who do. This time it's the Idaho Statesman, which "had been relentlessly and viciously harass[ing]" Craig and his family -- yes, poor Craig family! -- for a good long time before the restroom incident.

And: "Let me be clear: I am not gay and never have been."

There's the deeper denial. All-too-predictable, of course.

He's not gay, or so he claims, AND he's a great guy, a fine heterosexual. All-too-predictable again: "I love my wife, family, friends, staff, and Idaho. I love serving Idaho in Congress. Over the years, I have accomplished a lot for Idaho, and I hope Idahoans will allow me to continue to do that." He may or may not seek re-election, and he understands that his actions "have brought a cloud over Idaho" (the guilty plea, not the lewd conduct, of which there wasn't any)," and he "ask[s] the people of Idaho for their forgiveness".

And he won't talk about it anymore. Period. It's a legal matter.

Now, look, I'm not a big fan of lewd conduct -- er, sexual activity -- in public restrooms, be it homo, hetero, or any other prefix. That some people like it and seek it out, well, that's their business, and police business. Good liberal that I am, I would prefer such conduct, such activity, to remain private. And so, really, what Craig does in private is his business, too.

The problem here is that his explanation, his excuse, is simply not credible. He may call it a big misunderstanding, he may claim that he did nothing wrong, aside from the weird guilty plea, that attempt to keep it all secret, but it's his word against the word of a police officer, a plainclothesman who seems to know a thing or two about lewd conduct in public restrooms. Who is more credible -- a police officer doing his job or a conservative politician desperate not to have a gay sex scandal destroy his image and career?

Let me be clear about something, too: I find nothing wrong with gay sex. I find nothing wrong with what Craig was looking for, beyond the obvious concerns regarding anonymous sex. What I find wrong here is that what Craig was doing is illegal, that he has insulted us (including his constituents) with a lame excuse that includes the requisite scapegoat, and that, more seriously, he is a conservative Republican bigot with respect to homosexuality. He is a reprehensible man -- not because he's gay (and he may or may not be: looking for gay sex, having gay sex, and even enjoying gay sex do not make one gay -- sexuality is far more complicated than that), but because he's a hypocrite and a bigot, because he loiters in washrooms looking for some cock action even as he talks up "family values" and bangs the drum against gay rights.

And I do not at all feel sorry for him that he lives with such self-denial, self-loathing, self-hatred. It must be a nightmarish closet that he inhabits, but he deserves it.