Wide stance
Everyone knows that Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was caught soliciting sex at a bathroom in the Minneapolis airport. But as someone who lives and works a few blocks from Union Station, I feel that the train depot's importance in this story is being overlooked — reportedly he used the bathrooms at Union Station for the same sort of thing.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and some other prominent Republicans have called on Craig to resign from Congress. The party leadership says it is not because Craig is gay, but because he withheld the information.
But that makes it sound like the Senate Republican leadership would have been welcoming of the news of Craig's homosexuality otherwise.
I'm not defending Craig's lewd behavior in a public place. But it's not like he wants to sneak around in airport or train station bathrooms.
My assumption is that gay people, much like straight people, would prefer to have sex in places that are more comfortable and smell better than bathroom stalls. They do it, presumably, for the anonymity. (Footage of a senator checking into a hotel by the hour might arise suspicion the way that a long bathroom break doesn't.)
Anyway, assuming that Craig is indeed gay (his explanation about his "wide stance" on the toilet cast doubt on his denial), it's pretty easy to see why he was keeping it a secret from his political party.
5 comments:
An article in today's Style section seems to say that anonymous sex is a particular compulsion. So I wouldn't assume that Craig would automatically have a healthy same-sex lifestyle if he were out of the closet.
I'll just say, his was the best opening line ever for a public statement:
"Thank you all for coming out today."
Indeed.
It seems likely that Craig preferred anonymous sex because any other homosexual option was taboo.
Gay sex is taboo because of jerks like Senator Craig. And I should feel sympathy for this?
Anyway, normal adulterers get a room.
A fair observation, but I think the anonymity is only part of it. I think the thrill is part of it too - in the same way that it is for plenty of heterosexuals who have sex in public or "taboo" places.
There are plenty of closeted gay guys having sex in hotel rooms, bedrooms, and other private places. I'm guessing that Larry Craig's public encounters are not the only places he's had gay sex.
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