Why the Larry Craig Scandal Matters

Rumors Swirling for Years
The revelation that Larry Craig engages in homosexual behavior shouldn't come as a shock to anyone. Stories and investigations have been circling for decades. The phrase "where there's smoke, there's fire" has never been truer with this closet flamer. It's only been through sheer luck and good legal wrangling that it's been kept under wraps for as long as it has. From unofficial reports, Sen. Craig has never been terribly discreet.

Anti-Gay Agenda to the Core
Sen. Craig has, time and time again, supported measures designed to limit the equality of gay men and women. Federal Marriage Amendment, Don't Ask Don't Tell, and the Defense of Marriage Act were all pet projects. Obviously after this conviction we see that his decisions weren't based on personal morality. Rather perhaps he sees them as a way to atone for his own behavior or to protect some skewed vision of homosexuality. In his elected role, he couldn't ignore these issues, but he had years of opportunity to shape the conversation for more positive public policy. For him to not only go along with this anti-gay agenda, but specifically support it is unconscionable.

One of Many
As we see with Ed Schrock, David Dreier, Bob Allen, David Vitter, Mark Foley, Glenn Murphy, Jr., Tommy Tester, Ted Haggard, etc. Republicans and conservative ranks are filled with influential individuals willing to sell out moral, upstanding gay men and women while still indulging in their private, and sometimes illegal, behavior. That's not including the host of other well known Republicans and conservatives with convictions or skeletons rattling around of heterosexual or financial misconduct.

Religious Conservatives
It's really time for the general public to understand that religious and/or conservative values aren't necessarily morally upstanding values in a modern context. Frankly, I'd argue just the opposite. A political party and movement that prefer to keep society as it is, or more preferentially as it was, represents even more strongly the negative aspects of the past. Worse yet, these individuals not only prefer it, they advocate it. Think of the kind of society we'd be without secular progressives leading the way in social reform, education, science, medicine, etc. Now think of the society we'd have after religious conservatives had devolved those advances. A society is defined more by what it aspires to be than what it safely protects.

Individual Advocacy and Government Reform
It's clear that on an official level, individuals like Craig et al. will never be seriously investigated when allegations like this arise, and I say this impartially as we see scandals and crimes continue to happen on both sides of the aisle. As we see so clearly, like with the Foley scandal, officials will obfuscate, deny, block, and often lie to protect their own, and most effectively. Imagine if Larry Craig's behavior had been dealt with once and for all in 1982. It's so important then to promote and protect the rights of citizen advocacy and demand government transparency to shine a light on hypocrisy and outright illegal behavior from our elected officials. Institutions that police public officials also help politicians help themselves. Government law enforcement needs to again become unpoliticized. And we need real reform in government that stems from re-envisioning government as a service, not a career.