Adieu, Adieu...

Activists in the GLBT communities were having a schadenfreude feast as of late, watching the rapid fall from grace of newly-disgraced U.S. Senator Larry Craig -- hoisted on his own petard, busted by a undercover vice cop whom Craig allegedly tried to hit up for quickie sex.

What would you expect from a politician who takes a taxi to the toilet for a quickie with another man, then heads off to the Senate floor to vote for anti-gay legistation? There's no doubt in my mind that Larry Craig is a psychologically unstable man with problems that need to be worked out with his pyschotherapist, not acted out on the Senate floor. He cannot reconcile his sexual desires, has poor impulse control, is full of self-loathing, tried to superimpose upon himself a plausible facade at odds with his true self, and he projects his self-hate onto others, taking it all out on those who are able to differentiate sex acts from sexual orientation.

Public discourse can be very ugly and very cruel, particularly when you are outed as a pretenteous hypocrite. Yes, Larry Craig exercised poor judgment and an obvious lack of self-control. Yes, he abused his position as a elected official to get out of a sticky situation. Yes, he used his position as an elected official to impose second-class citizenship on a class of people who don't fit the Christianist ideal. Yes, he opposed gay equality and dignity even as he was hiding deep inside the closet in abject terror. But why has it taken what was essentially a victimless misdemeanor crime -- one in which no one tried to harm anyone else -- to finally rip the mask off the proverial Phantom of the Opera to reveal the deformed yet tormented soul that Larry Craig revealed himself to be?

Larry Craig is clearly a conflicted individual. He needs support, help, and compassion even as he struggles to reconcile himself and become healthy and whole.

And while we're at it, wouldn't it make more sense for our our government to keep their leering eyes out of our bedrooms? Should it concern them as to who sleeps with whom, when, where and how?