I'm excited to tell YOU, my regular readers, that today I became an officially approved Huffington Post blogger.
You can read my column on Senator Craig's latest announcement here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-debra-haffner/redeeming-senator-craig_b_67348.html
And if you can add a comment there or even tell them I'm one of your favorite bloggers, that would be great.
Have a lovely long weekend.
Showing posts with label Craig. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Craig. Show all posts
Friday, October 05, 2007
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Craig's Last List.
I've just finished my coffee and the Sunday New York Times. It had no fewer than six articles and op ed columns about Senator Craig's resignation and a cartoon. Alberto Gonzales and Tony Snow's resignations last week were barely mentioned.
I wrote on Thursday that I didn't think Senator Craig should resign over soliciting a policeman in a public bathroom. After reading all the calls for his resignation by Republican leaders, it seems to come down to this: homophobia is so entrenched in this party that he had to pay with his career. It's the "Children's Hour" forty years later writ large.
Laura McDonald in today's New York Times wrote a fascinating column about a 1970's research report that found that "policing bathrooms is pointless" and that "blackmail, payoffs, the destruction of reputations and families, all result from police interventions" in bathroom solicitations. And so they still do 35 years later.
Surely it's time for such stings to end. Surely it's time to apply a single standard for straight and gay public leaders. And surely it's time for politicans who struggle with their own sexuality to stop trying to legislate the sexuality of others.
I wrote on Thursday that I didn't think Senator Craig should resign over soliciting a policeman in a public bathroom. After reading all the calls for his resignation by Republican leaders, it seems to come down to this: homophobia is so entrenched in this party that he had to pay with his career. It's the "Children's Hour" forty years later writ large.
Laura McDonald in today's New York Times wrote a fascinating column about a 1970's research report that found that "policing bathrooms is pointless" and that "blackmail, payoffs, the destruction of reputations and families, all result from police interventions" in bathroom solicitations. And so they still do 35 years later.
Surely it's time for such stings to end. Surely it's time to apply a single standard for straight and gay public leaders. And surely it's time for politicans who struggle with their own sexuality to stop trying to legislate the sexuality of others.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Casting the First Stone....
The Senator Craig story has gone from an article in a little know Capitol Hill publication to dominating the news cycle. Calls for his resignation are coming in from every quarter, and today he stepped down from his major committee assignments.
Now, this may surprise some of my readers, but I don't think he should be forced to resign. I've heard some Republicans say that his conduct was unbecoming of a Senator; well, yes, but why aren't these seem leaders calling for Senator Vitter's resignation or at least an ethics committee investigation? Oh, that's right, all he did was use a female escort service on a regular basis.
It's that double standard -- it's okay for Republican men to engage in extramarital sex as long as it's with a woman (I can't help but think of Rudy Guiliani who announced he was divorcing his wife and seeing another woman at a press conference to his wife's surprise) but soliciting a possible sex act from another man means a call for your resignation? Surely using escorts is unbecoming conduct, and in both cases, I wonder about the judgement of a public elected figure taking the risk to engage in the behavior. If Craig had solicited sex from a woman in the airport bar would anyone have cared?
I don't believe that Senator Craig acted ethically or morally, but with all those Republicans asking him to resign, I can't help but think about Jesus suggesting that he who was without sin should pick up the first stone. If you recall, they all went home.
***
Now, this may surprise some of my readers, but I don't think he should be forced to resign. I've heard some Republicans say that his conduct was unbecoming of a Senator; well, yes, but why aren't these seem leaders calling for Senator Vitter's resignation or at least an ethics committee investigation? Oh, that's right, all he did was use a female escort service on a regular basis.
It's that double standard -- it's okay for Republican men to engage in extramarital sex as long as it's with a woman (I can't help but think of Rudy Guiliani who announced he was divorcing his wife and seeing another woman at a press conference to his wife's surprise) but soliciting a possible sex act from another man means a call for your resignation? Surely using escorts is unbecoming conduct, and in both cases, I wonder about the judgement of a public elected figure taking the risk to engage in the behavior. If Craig had solicited sex from a woman in the airport bar would anyone have cared?
I don't believe that Senator Craig acted ethically or morally, but with all those Republicans asking him to resign, I can't help but think about Jesus suggesting that he who was without sin should pick up the first stone. If you recall, they all went home.
***
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