Senator Craig, The Closet, And Self Hatred

Senator Larry Craig deserves our scorn. He has worked tirelessly to ban gay marriage and deny rights to the GLBT community. Hypocrisy is one trait that American’s loath more than almost any other.

However, and this is a big however, Craig is a symptom of the very problem he helped to create. Homophobia affects not only gay and lesbian people who are visible and out of the closet, but those still hiding inside. Some people are so closeted, they cannot even accept themselves. Such would seem to be the case with Senator Craig. He went on television yesterday stating, “I am not gay. I never have been gay." I can agree with him in one respect. A gay man is one who accepts and identifies with his sexuality. Larry Craig certainly does not qualify in that respect.

Perhaps Senator Craig is bisexual? Well, that would make his statement true, and we all know how Republicans love to parse words to give the impression of telling the truth. Yet I still find myself wondering if his alleged restroom sex trysts are a symptom of something deeper. Perhaps Senator Craig is compelled to seek male sexual partners in public restrooms because he likes the adrenaline rush brought on by the possibility of being discovered. That oft chance that he might be having sex as the door to the stall opens and he is seen on his knees. Or perhaps he likes flirting with the possibility of getting arrested, a fait accompli in his case? If this is what drives him, then his self hatred is the real problem.

Somewhere deep down in Larry Craig’s psyche, he might feel that because he has the desire for other men, he is dirty and in some way “less than”. Should that be the case, I have to sympathize with him. He has become a victim of his own homophobia, and that is the saddest possibility of all.