Sen. Craig

I was reluctant until now to comment on Sen. Craig's arrest in a Minnesota airport bathroom for allegedly trying to initiate sex with another man. It's a whirlwind of homophobia and denial that isn't pretty to look at.

It's hard to believe that the Republican Congressional leadership would have reacted so quickly if Sen. Craig was caught cheating on his wife with another woman. I think the message they got from the Mark Foley scandal wasn't "Don't cover up your own who use their power to prey on others" but "gay + sex = bad." Some of them don't even need the "+sex" part.

Yet there is news that Sen. Craig is reconsidering his decision to resign and fight his guilty plea. By guilty plea, I mean his homo- or bi-sexuality.

While part of me welcomes the forthcoming amusement from the reinvigoration of a story that was already fading from the nation's conscience, I don't think this is what Dylan Thomas meant when we wrote, "Do not go gentle into that good night." Or in Sen. Craig's poetry book, "Do not go gentle into that good nightclub on bear night."

I had my own issues with coming out as a gay man and still have work to do accepting my sexuality. I understand the great fear of shedding your old life and having to reconstruct your whole identity, who you thought you were for most of your life. But damn it man, you got in a public bathroom doing a homosexual Kabuki dance trying to entice the guy in the stall next to you to give you a reach around. It's time to give it up and put on a pair of hot pants.

I know, gay men don't wear hot pants anymore. But when your psyche is fractured to the point that when the national spotlight sends your gay side scurrying back into the closet, unscrewing the light bulb, and hanging a sign on the door that says "Out for lunch! Will be back in: NEVER", you have to start somewhere.

I felt some sympathy for what has to be one of the worst coming out experiences ever. Now that it looks like he's looking to fight the "charges" instead of starting the difficult process of accepting them, a lot of that sympathy is gone. It just reinforces an idea some people still have that being gay is an albatross that should be avoided and fought at all costs.

On a final note, what spurred this post was a throwaway line at the end of the aforementioned article:

"All three of Craig's adopted children said Tuesday they believe their father's assertions he is not gay and did nothing to warrant his arrest."

Hey, here's a sign that you may be gay: not being able to ejaculate in a woman. Other signs: actually, there are no other signs. That'll pretty much do it.