Why do you think Americans care so much about an “issue” that ignites so little controversy in Europe? Why are we alone in the developed world in our intense distress about the fact that a minority of people are erotically attracted to members of their own sex rather than to the opposite sex?
Even as the Evangelical [J1]Lutherans were timidly saying that it was all right for a minister to be gay if he was in a monogamous [J2]long-term relationship, yet another gay-bashing right-wing Republican politician was caught in a compromising situation in a public restroom.
Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho was arrested in a sting operation in a bathroom at the Minneapolis Airport, and he says he pled guilty to disorderly conduct, without the advice of an attorney, in order to make the case “go away.” Then he held a press conference, with the obligatory stone-faced wife at his side, saying that he was not gay and had never been gay—that he only entered a guilty plea to keep the whole thing out of the media.
It made one queasy[J3] to hear Craig describes his “wide stance” in the bathroom as the explanation for his hands and feet having wandered under the barrier separating him from the cop in the next stall.
I would have felt deeply sorry for the blockheaded [J4]senator (how could he possibly have thought he could keep such an arrest out of the papers?) if he were not one of those moralizers who wants to police everyone else’s sex life. How terrible it must be to live an entirely life at odds with your deepest desires, and how terrible it must be for a woman to know that she has been living with such a man for years.
Significantly[J5], Republican senators immediately called for Craig’s resignation. The rush to penalize someone suspected of being gay contrasts sharply with conservatives’ tolerance for colleagues involved in corruption scandals and, for that matter, in heterosexual misconduct. Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, for example, is back at work in the Senate after confessing to having had relations with prostitutes. Female prostitutes, that is. One can only imagine how swiftly Vitters Republican colleagues would have abandoned him if he had been fooling around with male prostitutes.
Is the power of fundamentalist religion, again unique in the developed world, the only explanation for the American fixation on gays as a threat to traditional values? Perhaps this also has something to do with traditional images of American masculinity—the Marlboro Man, the rugged cowboy who would never have dreamed of engaging in the kind of activities described in the movie “Brokeback Mountain.”
All I know is that we have heard more about Sen. Craig’s bathroom encounter during the past week than we have about the continued fighting and dying in Iraq. That scares me.
Replying to:
Significantly, Republican senators immediately called for Craig’s resignation. The rush to penalize someone suspected of being gay contrasts sharply with conservatives’ tolerance for colleagues involved in corruption scandals and, for that matter, in heterosexual misconduct. Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, for example, is back at work in the Senate after confessing to having had relations with prostitutes. Female prostitutes, that is. One can only imagine how swiftly Vitters Republican colleagues would have abandoned him if he had been fooling around with male prostitutes.
Posted by Susan_Jacoby
I'm sure it never crossed the minds of GOP Senators that if Craig resigns, a Republican governor will name his replacement while if Vitter resigns, a Democratic governor would name his replacement.
Funny how that works.
It just goes to show that the whole thing, the 'defense of marriage' acts (recently struck down in Iowa) the demonization of gays, the attempts to regulate private sex lives and personal morals of all citizens, is politically motivated.
In a world that is changing rapidly, there are a lot of people that stand to lose their privileged status. White, Christian males used to to be THE power block in this country. So many of their 'perks' are under attack. The population is increasingly non-white. Nonchristian religions (and also Catholicism) are on the rise. Spanish is heard more and more often on American streets. Women are actually demanding equality with men!
All of these things concern those who see their privileges slipping away - but none of them are particularly attractive as a rallying cry. The decreasing whiteness of America (even when wrapped in the shroud of 'illegal immigration') wreaks of racism. Complaining about women's rights and non-Christian religion is attractive to some, but it turns off many Americans who still think that America is a land of freedom and equality.
But demonizing the gays works.
Bigots can lie and say that being gay is a choice. They point to cherry picked bible verses, making points with the Christianist crowd. Anti-gay groups use the 'ick' factor to their advantage. They rely on people not knowing any gay people, ignorance making the demonization of a faceless 'other' that much easier.
It's all about the politics of 'us versus them.' The people in (tenuous) positions of power just picked the most opportune 'them.'
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