GOP=Gay Old Party

Larry Craig’s interview this past Tuesday evening with NBC’s Matt Lauer gave the espionage-born term, plausible deniability, a whole new life.

It’s usually a term used as a cover when large government agencies—such as the CIA or FBI—engage in covert actions that can be denied higher up the political food chain. Craig’s performance gave it a new twist—his denials of what happened in that Minnesota airport bathroom were plausible.

Craig really believes his denials. It was all a matter of circumstance he said. He didn’t know tapping feet was a sign that men who have sex with men use to pick each other up. His foot did touch the police officer’s who was waiting there to entrap. But it’s because, as Craig said, he’s a big guy and has a wide stance while sitting to keep his pants from hitting the floor. And, he didn’t reach under the stall partition—he was just picking up a piece of toilet paper that had stuck to the bottom of his shoe so that when he was done with his bathroom business he wouldn’t walk out with white tissue traipsing behind him.

All plausible making it all the easier to deny the actions that the undercover—or should we say “in the stall”—cop said happened. I’m not sure when toe tapping, foot touching and hand movements became illegal actions—there was nothing spoken except Craig’s plaintive “no-o-o-o” when he saw the cop’s business card and extended thumb gesturing for Craig to meet the officer outside the stall.

What is abundantly clear is that Craig is in deep denial. He says he’s not gay. His wife says he’s not gay. Lauer even went so far to ask if Craig was bisexual. The answer was no. What Matt didn’t ask was, are you a man who has sex with men?

These are the guys who don’t identify as gay. You’ll never find them at a Pride parade but you will find them furtively searching for a quick one while their wives are taking a nap during a Provincetown vacation.

Lucky for Larry, he’s not the only man in the Republican Party who has sex with men but would never, ever identify as gay.

The GOP—maybe we should start calling it the Gay Old Party—has a long history of duplicity when it comes to gay rights and gay men.

Remember a guy named Terry Dolan? In the 1970’s and early 80’s, he ran NCPAC—the National Conservative Political Action Committee. He produced hateful AIDS-baiting TV spots to help elect far-right Republicans and was instrumental in making Ronald Reagan president. A closeted gay man who could be found at the exclusive DC gay bars, Dolan died of AIDS in 1986.

Fast forward to 2006 and you have Mark Foley, the Florida Republican Congressman who blames his sexuality and his inappropriate behavior with Congressional pages on the supposed abuse he suffered at the hands of his childhood priest.

And, Craig isn’t the only one to frequent bathrooms.. Republican Bob Allen, a member of the Florida House of Representatives, was arrested this past July for actually offering a cop he met in a men’s room $20 for sex. After the arrest, Allen tried to use the police officer’s race—he’s African American—to deflect his guilt. He said he offered to have sex because the cop was a “burly black man” and he “didn’t want to become a statistic.” Allen was one of 21 Florida legislators to sign a friend of the court brief supporting the state’s ban on gays adopting children.

In Louisiana, St. Bernard Parish Councilman, Joey DiFatta’s past caught up with him. He too cavorted in men’s rooms and when his actions came to light he withdrew from a State Senate race.

Then there’s Glen Murphy, the 33 year old Indiana Republican operative, who this past summer became national chair of the Young Republicans. He’s has a history of getting fellow twenty-something Young Republicans drunk and them sexually assaulting them after they’ve fallen asleep. Murphy has advised candidates to use same-sex marriage as a wedge issue to paint their opponents as supporters of untraditional values.

These guys are just the tip of the iceberg—there are plenty of gay staffers who work for politicians who consistently vote against us as well.

Maybe these folks need to realize that being a Republican is a choice, being gay isn’t.

Comments

[Dominick J. DiNoto]

And that is why they are called Rethugs for short! I think we could add the words "No Class" to their party affilitation which is really Rethuglicans..