Larry Craig
Posted: August 28th, 2007 | Author: Sam | Filed under: Blog Posts, Frustration, Homosexuality, Individualism, Libertarians, Politics, Scary Stuff, Stupid Stuff |
I’m with The Agitator on this one: why is Larry Craig in trouble? (More here. And here.) Because he asked somebody in a bathroom for a blowjob? Tacky? Yes. Gross? Absolutely. A punishable offense? Seriously?
Balko rightly points out that people do exactly what Craig allegedly did in bars, restaurants, clubs and dancefloors across America. Nobody gets arrested. Porn producers absolutely do exactly this sort of thing making their movies. Nobody’s banging down their doors…yet. The point is that while Craig might have been a bit skeezy in his behavior, skeezy shouldn’t be illegal. Read that report from Yahoo News. It’s not like Craig even asked outright for a blowjob. He communicated in some sort alleged secret language known only by the gays that, according to the police, means, “Hey, a blowjob?” That he faced criminal sanction for such a thing is absolutely absurd.
I’ve argued this before, and I’ll argue it again, but we cannot criminalize that which weirds us out. Nobody was hurt by Larry Craig asking for a blowjob, even the person being asked. Suggesting otherwise is devaluing those times when people actually are hurt by particular behaviors.
(As for the blatant hypocrisy of those demanding Craig’s immediate resignation? Well, what did we expect from the Republican Party? What did anybody seriously expect?)
I can agree that propositioning someone in a bathroom, while using code, shouldn’t be against the law, and I wonder why he was arrested, instead of run off… But, I’d be willing to bet if Larry Craig were asked (before this incident of course) “Do you think it should be illegal to proposition someone, by use of code, in a bathroom?”, his answer would be “Of course”…
Nevertheless, he was arrested and he did have his day in court… a day in which he decided to plead guilty… what the hell was he thinking?
The reason everyone has jumped on this is that Larry Craig doth protest too much…
Drew
How about the hypocrisy of someone who consistently votes to ruin the lives of gay folks in our country but is actually a self-loathing closeted homosexual himself? Not to mention the deception of his own wife and children, living a sham of a life.
Balko’s argument is terrible. Is he implying they’re only coming down on Craig because he’s a politician? He had equal opportunity as any other person to be arrested, it was his own fault for being bagged in a sting. It’s not a question of picking someone up. Generally the procedure is to proceed with sex in public, that part is illegal, gay or straight, porn star or not.
Just because they haven’t cracked down on it hard yet doesn’t make it any less illegal. Obviously this stuff happens way too often, which is what prompted stings like this in the first place.
Is it a huge offense? No. Nor was getting a blowjob from an intern in the privacy of the Blue Room. American citizens certainly thought that was important, enough to impeach the president!
Dan Savage agrees with you:
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=309736
(second question)
I have to say, that I could not agree with you in 100% regarding Larry Craig, but it’s just my opinion, which could be wrong