More evidence that I'm a loser: In all the years I've gone to men's bathrooms, I've yet to notice the friendly foot, the enticing hand, the toilet stall sex tryst.
So, in order to understand the latest developments in national politics, I needed some explanations.
Fortunately, Slate has been all over this one.
Bathroom Sex FAQAnd here's a CNN interview with a leader of Atlanta's Anti-Sex League.
Craig's Lust
Source (4:53)
But of course, the zealous suppression of homosexuality couldn't possibly be the big issue here. The big issue would be the fate of the reconstituted Singing Senators. As recently as July, Larry Craig reunited with John Ashcroft and Trent Lott to perform at a fundraiser for the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. I imagine Larry's resignation comes as a terrible blow for John and Trent.
Just as Stephen Colbert predicted, it really hasn't been the same since Jim Jeffords left the group.
Source (3:55)
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5 comments:
The story that seems unreported by most of the media is, why was LC arrested in the first place? I thought sex workers weren't arrested until they were seen exchanging money for sex. Am I wrong on this? I certainly do believe that LC was wanting sex but tapping a shoe against another shoe or placing one's hand at the base of a stall seems hardly enough to arrest someone for. Plus, I also cannot imagine that someone would approach someone else unless that person had already showed some interest. I don't want people soliciting sex in public restrooms, but I also don't think arresting people for shoe tapping and fingering a stall is justified. Just my thoughts.
It's like what that Florida cop describes, I guess. There were, apparently, some complaints about the airport bathroom. Somehow this was important enough to the police that an officer stationed himself in a stall and waited for some desperate guy to try to pick him up. The guy turned out to be Larry Craig, who I guess pleaded down from lewd conduct to disorderly conduct. I think he probably could have gotten all charges dropped had he decided to fight the charge, but I guess he caved due to something resembling fear and exhaustion in the face of police pressure. A Fox News report says "The court docket said Craig paid $575 in fines and fees and was put on unsupervised probation for a year. A sentence of 10 days in the county workhouse was stayed."
I do think the whole thing is a sad reflection of just how intolerant U.S. culture can be, but of course there's a kind of poetic justice in it happening to Craig, who has remained in the homophobic Republic party for decades despite being the target of homophobic rumors for much of his life.
I do find it creepy to hear these stories of people soliciting sex from others in public restrooms. And I would like to figure out some way that would inhibit such behavior. But, it seems odd to me to use arrests at the fix to this. It just doesn't seem legal to me, but I'm basing this totally on what I think should be the law. Perhaps this totally is illegal. I just don't see how foot tapping or fingering a stall raises to the level of being arrested. As you said, had he fought the charges they would have been dropped, but why even get to this point. If you are going to place an officer in a restroom to stop people from looking for sex, wouldn't it have been more effective to simply have had him in uniform standing there? As long as you are going to pay the guy to stay there, why not have him in uniform? Because they chose this method it seems clear to me that they simply wanted it to make money with these fines. It just smells really bad to me (no restroom pun intended--although that is something that I don't get. Why would you want to solicit for sex in a smelly restroom? Yuck!)
Yes, I agree that the presence of a cop or security guard or bathroom attendant could act as a control without leading to arrests, legal hassles, fines, etc. So much of this strikes me as a strategy to keep some gay men fearful and closeted. I'd imagine that "cottaging" involves certain risks to start with--I mean, prowling the restrooms of the world, you could get beaten up by some jerk. That's where all the signaling must play a role. But on top of that, to have to worry that you might get busted for merely sending the signals? I'm telling you, it's the Anti-Sex League, Cottaging Division.
It's such a pathetic situation. Larry Craig is associated with people who basically demonize gay relationships as "filthy." It's like they can't even conceive of a relationship outside the (water) closet. You know?
The WC pun was very funny.
What I find sad is that I really believe LC believes all the hatred he spews out about gay people to be true. He hates himself so much because he has gay feelings himself. (If he is gay that is. I've known many a straight man that will have sex with gay men because they aren't getting satisfied at home, they need relief and having sex with men, where they don't have the chance of becoming emotionally involved, is thus considered only slightly more than masterbation in their minds and therefore they rationalize that they are not cheating.) Whatever the case, it just is sad that society has such homophobia that many gay men and women feel like they cannot be who they are, become filled with so much self hatred and fear that they look for sex in bathroom and get positions in churches, politics, and other positions of power and perpetrate further hatred.
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