Larry Craig Wants A Do Over! Puh-leeze!

Larry Craig wants a do-over. He figures he can fight that conviction for disorderly conduct and clear his name. I have to wonder if the voters in Idaho will accept this “kings X” kind of behavior from a man who has had to deny rumors of this kind of activity for several years. Eventually they will say “enough is enough.”

That is kind of how I feel about it as well. As a gay man, I have absolutely no problem with men having sex with men. I love it! But I do believe it has a place, and that is not in a public restroom or public park. I feel the same way about male/female sex in public places. I think it really is rude and is rightly outlawed.

Am I a prude? Hardly. I am perhaps more kinky than 90% of our population either straight or gay and I love playing BDSM games in the dungeon or at private parties. I have friends in poly-relationships and have no problem with almost any kink short of pedophilia and bestiality. So why am I a prude when it comes to public sex? Well I have a sincere belief in consensuality. That means both parties or more who are engaged in a sexual activity must agree it’s OK. It also means that people watching are OK with it as well. That calls into question any public sexual activity, since it is impossible to get an OK from a casual passerby. Sex should take place in a consensual space, a place reserved for that kind of activity, or as far out of reach of accidental observers as is reasonably possible.

Have I had sex in the great outdoors? Yes I have, but it was at a remote location on private land and therefore consensual. Bathrooms, parks and truck stops are not consensual spaces. It’s that simple.

Now the question of why do people do it there? They may be so closeted that they are afraid of meeting another person in a conventional place. It may be that they feel so bad about themselves that they can only act out in illicit places for fear of having to admit that they have an attraction to the same sex. It may be that they get a kick out of the fear factor involved in being caught. I don’t know. I do know that soliciting sex in a bathroom or public park is a pretty good way to get yourself arrested by the vice cops, and anyone who doesn’t know that is a fool.

So here is the gist of the whole rant. I pity Larry Craig and those like him. They cannot find the courage to just admit that they want to have sex with other men and seek a legal and more conventional outlet for it. I also find it incredibly hypocritical of the Republican Party to not condemn and call for the resignation of David Vitter who was a known client of prostitutes in Washington, DC. Personally I don’t have a problem with sex workers either, but I find it really setting a double standard to go after Larry Craig on morality grounds and not David Vitter.
I suppose everyone has something they would not be particularly proud of in their past, and I am no exception, but a public servant must constantly earn the trust of the public, and claiming that you just have a “wide stance” in the toilet is not going to instill that trust. I have used public restrooms for years and never found a need to tap the foot of the person next to me or reach under the stall divider for any reason. So come on Mr. Craig, fess up or just fade away, but don’t try to weasel out of these charges again.