Towleroad has this video from CNN up; it's an interview with Major Darryl Tolleson of the Atlanta Police Department on the kind of folks his unit has busted for having sex in public restrooms -- they've busted CEOs, bank presidents, law professors, you name it...but most of them are straight identified, with wives and children in the dark about their netherworld activities.
"The majority of these men, they have families...You would think that it would be a gay issue but overhwhelmingly more and more, we're seeing that these are people with families."
Yes, it's these pathetic hetero-identified closet cases making their way to these restrooms to engage in their same-sex desires, regardless of the impact on those families that they prize for social acceptance.
Meanwhile, those of us out here fighting to obtain our civil rights stand vulnerable to the political activities and judgment from Larry Craig and others like him. Sara Whitman at Huff Post nails it:
He claimed a higher moral ground while he was cruising for sex in bathrooms because... well, because his fundraising clearly depended on it. It's doubtful that a gay man in Idaho would get elected Senator but I might be wrong about that. Regardless, if he wanted to be in the closet, still stay married, be a Senator, well, I can understand all of that. It's not easy to be out, it means job discrimination, it means physical harassment and sometimes violence, it means not being able to have your loved one be your legal spouse or any of those benefits. It means, often, losing your family and friends. It's not an easy path. I can respect anyone who chooses to live in the closet on one condition:
They don't actively fight for laws in an elected office that allow for discrimination, hate and bigotry. If Senator Craig needs a pick me up every now and then from the men's room, I think that's pathetic, but ... to each his own and understand, you're going to get caught.
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National Black Justice Coalition on Larry Craig
In a similar vein, Alexander Robinson of the National Black Justice Coalition has a thoughtful piece on the Senator Larry Craig's "dilemma" -- it's particularly relevant because it raises the issue of the fluidity of sexuality and the phenomenon of men who identify as heterosexual engaging in sex with men, something often brought up in discussions about the Down Low (usually associated with black men in popular culture).
The Craig incident shows how colorblind the phenomenon is -- there are a lot of "family men" cruising restrooms, parks and other public areas where illicit sexual encounters take place because these men cannot accept their same-sex desires as moral or legitimate. They act out inappropriately.
Since Sen. Craig clearly attempted to engage in gay sexual behavior but publicly denies a gay sexual identity does this mean that he is in sexual denial or perhaps deeply closeted? Not necessarily. Often men who engage in the underground culture of public restroom, rest stop, tea room sex do so as an act of sexual titillation, sexual release, and an immediate sexual gratification.
They are fueled by the sexual thrill of getting caught, doing something that is taboo and the potential danger of seeking out homoerotic encounters with men who otherwise would strictly identify as heterosexual.
So in every sense and definition of the word, the sex that these men have is truly, utterly and exclusively recreational. It is void of emotional value, love, respect, intimacy or an expectation of a romantic relationship to come. For them having male-to-male sex is truly a sport, a hobby, a distraction and a pastime or rebellion against convention with no emotional attachment or desire for more.
He covers the differences on how black and white DL men are treated in the media, as well as the reasons why many blacks refer to themselves as same-gender-loving (SGL) because of the media-driven image of what "gay" is. This is also the case for Larry Craig, who finds no identification with "gay."
Today for an individual to self-identity as gay, they seemingly must take on an image created by the media that is based upon societal stereotypes. For men, we must be either feminine or super gym macho bunnies. We must be either florists or hairdressers or super witty, smart, affluent and overly-successful. But all too often, the gay identity most exclusively seen and portrayed is that of white men and their lives (i.e. Will and Grace, Queer as Folk).
Sen. Larry Craig rejects this identity, because simply this is not who he is. He is a conservative, married man who has very little in common with America’s gay identity. In fact he is perfectly valid in stating that he is not a gay man.
Many of you may have not heard of the National Black Justice Coalition. It's an organization that's working hard to counter the bigotry being fomented by the misguided, and oftentimes delusional rants of ministers and community leaders in the black community. It's a challenge to say the least when you have nonsense like this being promoted:
In addition to the damage that gay marriage does to the black family structure that is already under stress, legalization of gay marriage has the potential of endangering the next generation. -- Bishop Harry Jackson, in a March 12 Town Hall column, " Black Gays Aggressively Enlist in the Culture War"
You got blood vessels and membranes in your behind. And if you put something unnatural in there, it breaks them all up. No wonder your behind is bleeding. It's destroying us. Can't make no connection with a screw and another screw. The Bible says God made them male and female. The Hebrew word Negade, which means complimentary nature - there is something unique to man and unique to woman and it takes those two things to compliment each other. You can't make a connection with two screws. It takes a screw and a nut! (shouting)..." -- pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church in D.C. (and former mayoral candidate) Rev. Willie Wilson during a recorded sermon (there was applause from the pews).
An even more important goal of the NBJC is to empower the black LGBT community and work with allies to address myriad issues, such as health care, including HIV/AIDS policy and education.
The National Black Justice Coalition envisions a world where all people are fully empowered to participate safely, openly, and honestly in family, faith and community, regardless of race, gender-identity or sexual orientation.
Read more here, or watch the NBJC-TV video below.The NBJC's 2nd Leadership Conference & 3rd Annual Black Church Summit will be held April 24-26, 2008, with a plan to advance the cause of LGBT rights as the 2008 election nears, and there will be yet another push to co-opt community leaders by the bigoted evangelical right.
The NBJC also teamed with the Human Rights Campaign and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights to produce this ad (click to enlarge), which appeared in Roll Call and USA Today in response to conservative black clergy.
