Can You Believe This ?

[Edwina's Secretary]

The whole issue just seems rather sleazy, especially when you listen to the exchange between the cop and the Senator. Very, very strange.

Wasn't it hysterical! I have a "very wide stance"! I expect better lying from a congressperson! Indeed very strange (although the handing of the business card with the comment "Look who I am!" was quite predictable.)

And...since when do criminals get to change their plea from guilty to not guilty? Once the press learns about the plea?? Can you imagine if he is allowed to get away with that....all the other criminals who will decide to change their plea?

I don't care who someone has sex with...if both are adults and consenting. I do think I would rather it not be going on in the airport bathrooms...if I sent my son in there and he came out asking me questions....

[lizbud]

I liked this guy's column today for the Chicago Tribune.



Craig was talking the talk
By Rex Wockner
October 7, 2007


Even though a judge ruled last week that Sen. Larry Craig cannot withdraw his guilty plea stemming from a Minneapolis airport sex sting operation, the Idaho Republican says he has changed his mind about resigning from Congress.

Which raises the question: What will it take to make this guy go away? Here we are six weeks after Craig's arrest became public, and the story just will not die. This is intolerable -- even for gay folks like me. I can only imagine how straight people must feel.

So, if you don't mind terribly, I'd like to do my part to help kill this story off, put it out of its misery, make it go away forever. This will require a bit of setup, and I'll have to spoon-feed some straight readers some gay secrets.



The most amazing thing for me is that Craig still insists he wasn't "cruising," which is gay lingo for looking for partners in men's rooms, forest preserves, rest areas and the like (remember George Michael? Wham!), or even just while walking down the street or shopping at Jewel.

Assuming the airport police report is accurate, and by ruling against Craig on Thursday that is exactly what a Minnesota judge did, the insurmountable problem with Craig's insistence is this: We know better.

There are millions of gay men in the U.S. who, like me, came out in a less-enlightened era when we didn't have much choice but to learn about restroom cruising. There were few other ways to find each other. Some of us weren't so much looking for "public" sex as we were just looking to meet. But regardless of our motivation, we all -- millions of us -- have one thing in common: We learned, and we can still speak, the secret language that the police report says Craig spoke fluently in a men's room at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

I learned this non-verbal language in 1984 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Let me be your translator.

The police report says Craig entered the men's room and began peering through the door crack into the undercover cop's stall. The report says Craig did this for two minutes. That is how bathroom cruisers often begin their dance.

The police report says Craig then sat down on the toilet in an adjacent stall, "tapped his toes" several times and moved his foot closer to the officer's stall. The cop responded by moving his foot "up and down slowly." Craig then slid his foot into the adjacent stall, and the two men's shoes "touched." This, gentle readers, is more than a textbook example of how bathroom cruisers communicate that they're there to hook up rather than use the facilities. (Ordinarily, you don't bump feet; usually, the slow up-and-down movement of toes is sufficient.)

The police report says Craig then slowly swiped his hand, palm upward, along the bottom of the stall divider with his fingers protruding into the policeman's stall. It says he did this three times.

This gesture has a precise meaning that is universally understood in the cruising scene. It means: "Come closer to the wall so I can touch you."

If you're skeptical, you should know that the Minneapolis airport is extending the stall dividers farther down toward the floor.

So the bottom line: Larry Craig evidently was cruising. The only way he wasn't cruising is if the perfectly detailed police report is a total fabrication, or if by magical coincidence all his many moves flawlessly mimicked the intricate choreography of the men's-room mating dance.

You can make your own call on that. Audio of the post-arrest argument between Craig and the flabbergasted arresting officer is online. Go to tiny url.com/32h68z and scroll down to "MSNBC audio" in the right column.

Meanwhile, there is at least one other element that has kept this story alive -- the growing consensus among opinion writers, straight and gay, that Craig was entrapped by a police department that should have better ways to use its officers.

After all, it's not as if men's-room sex shenanigans are actually "public." Cruisers go to great lengths to keep from getting caught. Bathrooms that become "tearooms" (gay lingo for cruising bathrooms) are chosen because they're safe for such activity. Many such bathrooms, for example, are L-shaped, or have two layers of doors at the entrance. Why is this relevant? It means that if you're using the men's room as a tearoom, you can hear someone entering the bathroom before the person gets close enough to detect the shenanigans. In most tearooms, cruisers have time to get back in proper position after realizing that someone is heading in.

I agree that Larry Craig was, at minimum, enticed. It takes two to tango. If the cop hadn't been sitting there peering back and playing footsie, Craig probably wouldn't have made the come-hither finger gesture. Instead, he likely would have left frustrated, caught his next flight and returned to the Senate to continue his 100 percent anti-gay voting record.

In the wake of Craig's inane drama, it seems obvious we should urge police departments to find better ways to spend our money. The era of what the British call "pretty policemen" entrapping horny men in toilets is long gone in Western Europe, and it should be relegated to the history books here too. Tearoom hanky-panky is a victimless "crime" that is only visible to those who are looking to find it.

In the end (if this story ever ends), Larry Craig may never come out. He even went so far as to engage in a bizarre, doomed effort to undo his guilty plea. I sort of hope he doesn't come out. He's hardly a role model for gay men, bisexual men or even straight men who sometimes have sex with men.

But if the police report is accurate, there are millions of such men in America who know the truth because we're fluent in tearoom communication. And, if the report is accurate, you now know the truth too.

----------

Veteran journalist Rex Wockner writes for the Windy City Times and numerous other gay publications.

[lizbud]

Whenever someone comes into the spotlight of news groups, they seem
to find out all sorts of things about them & their families. Sen Craig's family
is no exception. ABC news ran this story shortly after Craigs latest trouble.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3573171&page=1

[RICHARD]

I do think I would rather it not be going on in the airport bathrooms...if I sent my son in there and he came out asking me questions....

"Mom, Can I go to Washington and become an aide?"

[lizbud]

Well, they did it anyway. Sen Graig was inducted into Idaho's hall of fame
on Saturday. He's also got some interviews set up for next week to tell "his
side" of his arrest.

[Catty1]

Take That, Mall of America

Scott Feschuk | September 18, 2007 | 12:20:24 | Permalink

[email protected]

The airport restroom in which U.S. Senator Larry Craig was arrested during a sex-solicitation sting has become “a tourist attraction,” an airport official says. – The Association Press

The Men’s Room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
The Audio Guide

Welcome to the men’s room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – an institution internationally renowned for facilitating and hosting the arrest of U.S. Senator Larry Craig. Also, we think Prince might have peed here once.

I’m Morgan Freeman, and I’ll be your host for this journey through time, through history and, above all, through the mind of a simple man from Idaho who came to this airport men’s room with a dream. And with knowledge of an intricate series of movements and gestures meant to convey his desire for a homosexual encounter. And, some historians believe, with a boner.

Please do not touch any of the displays or artifacts. They’re not antiques or valuable in any way, but they sure are gross. Especially the urinal cakes. Flash photography is not permitted – unless the man in the next stall taps his foot three times and passes under a notarized affidavit denying that he’s a cop. And even then, you might want to check first to make sure he’s not fugly. I’m just saying.

1. Since the dawn of humanity, man has felt the urge to explore, to grow and sometimes to urinate. You are standing at a row of five urinals – man’s epic sculptures to need. It is widely believed by anthropologists that Senator Larry Craig did not stop here on his journey to ignominy, though a fringe group of scientists speculate that he may have paused briefly and glanced over to “check out” some of the talent.

2. This is the stall in which Senator Craig positioned himself, adopting his now-famous “wide stance,” which caused his right foot to come into contact with the left foot of the arresting officer in a way – and this is crucial – that was "totally gay." Some say that late at night, if you listen very closely, you can hear the haunted sounds of distant tapping, following by the haunted sounds of a man remarking, “You’re a cop?!” followed by the haunted sounds of a man repeatedly but unconvincingly asserting his heterosexuality. Others say it’s just the noise from the air duct.

3. You are standing now at the sink. Frankly, it’s just a sink, but I’m getting paid by the word so I though I’d add this bit in. The sink is automated so it’s supposed to turn on if you put your hands near it, though in my experience in hardly ever does. I mean, what’s the deal with that? Stupid sinks.

4. You are standing now at the spot where Senator Craig handed his business card to the undercover officer, and then remarked: “What do you think of that?” The officer’s response to the query has been lost to the sands of time, though many believe he said something along the lines of, “Whatever, just please get your hand off my ass.”

5. This? This is a stack of paper towels. Idiot. (Hey, are you still hanging around in the john?)

This concludes our tour of the men’s room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. We invite you to pause at the exit to visit our gift shop, which stocks a wide selection of T-shirts, souvenir toilet paper and plea agreements. And for God’s sake, please wash your hands.

[phesina]

Oh, that's funny. Thank you, Candace!

Do you have a link to the article itself? This message just has a mailto to the author. I want to pass this one on to some friends. Thanks..

[Catty1]

http://forums.macleans.ca/advansis/?...act=dis&eid=13

About halfway down page 4. I posted his imaginary post-jail interview with Nicole Ritchie a while back - hilarious!

[phesina]

Thanks, Candace!

Pat