Fear of a gay planet

It has been somewhat comical watching Congressional Republicans bail on Larry Craig. These folks are running from the Idaho Senator as if he were on fire. I mean, no one is standing up for the guy, with the notable exception of Barney Frank (D-MA). John McCain (R-AZ) called the incident “disgraceful”, much like McCain's own kowtowing to the Religious Right. Norm Coleman (R-MN) called Craig’s “conduct unbecoming a senator". Uh-huh. This from the guy that nearly knocked himself out while dumpster diving. Mitt Romney piled on, stating “He's [Craig] disappointed the American people”. When asked what Craig should do, most GOP lawmakers are saying he should resign.

Now contrast all of this with the response when Senator David Vitter (R-LA) was busted for banging prostitutes in New Orleans and D.C. The Republican establishment basically took the line of, “he has stopped screwing hookers and apologized to his wife, so what’s the big deal? Let’s talk about something important”.

The two reactions could not be any more different. Which leads me to ask the question, why? How is trolling for sex (and failing at it) more lascivious than actually having intercourse, repeatedly, with hookers? To put it another way, why were Republicans so much more forgiving to Vitter than they are to Craig? The answer, of course, is they fear homosexuality. Maybe not on a personal level, but these pols certainly fear a constituency backlash if they were to be perceived as something other than overtly hostile to homosexuality. So really, it is not the sex so much as who you want to do it with.

I draw two conclusions from all of this. First, bigotry fuels a good portion of the modern conservative movement. Second, gay is the new black.