Senator Craig Articles Are Missing the Point

I have so far refused to write about the Senator Craig escapade.

I've read many articles about the situation and they, for the most part, are troubling. I have not been impressed with mainstream media coverage because they don't get to several important points:


1) Senator David Vitter was recently exposed as being a regular at a brothel. This man, who as a politician, said that marriage was a "sacred vow between a man and a woman" did not resign. His party, the Republicans, did not force him to resign. The Republican party, it seems, is more embarassed by potential adult consensual gay sex than it is by a man cheating on his wife with prostitutes. Family values what?


2) Many politicians, it seems, are hypocrites. Hypocrisy is troubling but it shows that politicians are human. And, instead of people merely saying "how hypocritical of Craig/Vitter to tout the 'sacredness' of marriage, when they themselves are adulterers" their hypocrisy should serve to show how it's not gay people who are "ruining" marriage. It's the people who are actually married who are ruining marriage. It's the people who have affairs, for instance, who are ruining the "sacred vow" between a man and a woman.

But, it is easier to place the blame for one's own moral failures on an already-disliked group of people. It's easier to say, "they shouldn't do that" instead of looking at yourself and saying "I shouldn't do that."


3) Someone can engage in homosexual behavior without necessarily identifying as a gay person. Whether Craig is gay is irrelevant to the situation and it's irrelevant to his duties as a politician. Yes, if he's gay it sucks that he would legislate against gay rights, but that's his choice if he wants to create a world that is more difficult for him to live in. He's a hypocrite because he promoted "family values" while (probably) cheating on his wife- not for (possibly) being gay and voting against gay rights.


4) Let's get out of our politicians' bedrooms (er, restrooms) and let's expect them to stay out of ours. Politicians are human. They are going to have sex. Just like the rest of us. Neat. Now let's talk about more important things, instead of using their sex lives to create distractions, to play political football, and to get them to resign.

Grow up, Republicans and Democrats. We expect want more from you.