Was anybody really shocked to hear that anti-gay US Sen. Larry Craig was arrested for soliciting sex from a man in a public restroom recently? Since this incident became news Sen. Craig has continuously denied that he is guilty of soliciting sex in public and vociferously denied that he is gay…again!
Hopefully, some day Sen. Craig will discover that there is no sin in being gay; the sin is in living a lie and lacking integrity. It may come as a surprise to some, but it takes far more honesty and integrity to live one’s life openly as a gay man or a lesbian than it does to live one’s life as a heterosexual. There is no social cost or threat to living one’s life as a heterosexual if that is in fact who you are. Openly gay and lesbian people risk everything they have every day of their lives just to be who they are and to love who they love. Sen. Craig simply never had the guts to do this and he has now been exposed as the fraud and the hypocrite that he is.
Unfortunately, there is no shortage of this brand of politician who, as proof of their own moral superiority, would gladly legislate away whatever can be taken from gay and lesbian Americans, while at the same time pleasuring themselves with the T-room trade and who knows what other hypocrisies.
But here is a truth worth taking to heart as we watch Sen. Craig’s life of lies unravel…ANY openly gay or lesbian person who lives his or her life with honesty and integrity is by definition morally superior to Larry Craig. They are in fact morally superior to ANY closeted anti-gay politician who lies to his constituency, his family, his friends and most importantly to himself while doing egregious harm to the lives of gay and lesbian Americans.
Craig’s bathroom arrest pales by comparison to the more fundamental sin and disgrace of the closeted gay politician who spends a lifetime using his closet as a sniper’s nest against the LGBT community. The closet often protects these hypocrites from public scorn, but it cannot shield them from living in mortal fear that they will ultimately suffer the same fate as Larry Craig…as every last one of them should!
No doubt our remaining senators of this stripe will support Senator Craig’s resignation.
Charlie Smith, Charleston