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01/10/09-01/12/09

Craig Ends Legal Fight Over Bathroom Incident

Former Idaho senator Larry Craig, busted for cruising for sex in a men's bathroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport in 2007, has ended his legal fight over the matter. An attorney for the Republican announced today that Craig will not appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court to void his conviction for disorderly conduct, the Associated Press reports.

Though he pleaded guilty and paid a fine for the incident, Craig has sought to have his record cleared, most recently at a state appeals court, which declined to rule in his favor. Thursday was the last day the senator could petition the state supreme court to hear his case, but his attorney, Tom Kelly, told the AP that the court was unlikely to do so, and therefore, Craig will not push on. That means the senator has exhausted his legal options.

Craig, who's consistently denied that he's gay, did not run for reelection last year. (Advocate.com)

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

  • Name: RonK
    Date posted: 2009-01-13 10:57 AM
    Hometown: Clifton, NJ

    Comment:

    I think it’s human nature to protest a wrong done to oneself. Especially in a case such as this, if Mr. Criag had held a press conference on the court house steps after his arraignment surrounded by his family and with outrage, denounced his entrapment, one could have believed that his later cry of a miscarriage of justice held an ounce of truth. Instead, out of stupidity or bad legal counsel, he opted to plead guilt to disorderly conduct because he was under the impression that this plea would be hushed up and no one would find out. The ounce of truth that once may had existed has become a bucket-full of lies and hypocrisy, one that Mr. Craig must now carry with shame and regret.


  • Name: anto
    Date posted: 2009-01-12 6:01 AM
    Hometown: dublin

    Comment:

    I saw this guy ranting his homophobia many times prior to being caught with his pants down, some responces on this page have given him the benifit of the doubt, but you must remember that it is people like him who pushed into legislation anti gay laws which led to him being caugh in the first place, he was and is a mean son of a bitch, a nasty hateful Republican who, like Rodger above says shuld be outed, I have no time for his like, anto


  • Name: Peter
    Date posted: 2009-01-09 8:45 PM
    Hometown: Tampa

    Comment:

    It would be wonderful if Craig could finally come out and tell the truth, about how living in a repressive society had forced him into a world of lies and deception for which he now regrets. I doubt he'll ever do it though for fear of rejection from the family he carved out for himslef as a shield from the truth.


  • Name: Morgan
    Date posted: 2009-01-09 8:05 PM
    Hometown: Silver Spring, Maryland

    Comment:

    I would never have bathroom sex because of the entrapment issue and also because young boys and young men have a right to use a bathroom with the expectation that they are not going to be finding sex in that inappropriate place. Sex belongs in the privacy of one's home nowhere else.


  • Name: Joe Allen Doty
    Date posted: 2009-01-09 5:12 PM
    Hometown: Tulsa, Oklaoma

    Comment:

    In the 1990s, here in Tulsa Oklahoma, two vice cops tried to entrap me in a River Parks Restroom next to the Arkansas River. If a video camera had recorded their behaviors, it would have looked like they were the ones cruising for sex. I did not know they were cops and I just ignored them since I had a friend waiting for me outside. About 30 minutes later I found out that they were cops. They did not like that and did not want me to inform other whom they were. They even told some other vice cops and if I happened to be in the park but even blocks away from where they were going to do the entrapment, and they saw me they would tell me to leave. But, an ACLU lawyer told me that they had no legal right to do that since I was not breaking any laws.


  • Name: Joe Allen Doty
    Date posted: 2009-01-09 5:06 PM
    Hometown: Tulsa, Oklaoma

    Comment:

    I seriously doubt that Larry Craig is even bisexual. No one has actually proven anything. I say that he was a victim of entrapment from undercover vice. Several well known openly gay columnists have commented on this situation and they all have said it was a set up because what Mr. Craig did in that bathroom stall in the airport was not normal cruise behavior for gays. I have been a victim of entrapment on time in the 1980s and it was in North Hollywood, California. It there had been a video camera taping how the cop acted, it would have shown that he was the one looking for sex.


  • Name: Joe Allen Doty
    Date posted: 2009-01-09 5:06 PM
    Hometown: Tulsa, Oklaoma

    Comment:

    I seriously doubt that Larry Craig is even bisexual. No one has actually proven anything. I say that he was a victim of entrapment from undercover vice. Several well known openly gay columnists have commented on this situation and they all have said it was a set up because what Mr. Craig did in that bathroom stall in the airport was not normal cruise behavior for gays. I have been a victim of entrapment on time in the 1980s and it was in North Hollywood, California. It there had been a video camera taping how the cop acted, it would have shown that he was the one looking for sex.


  • Name: Roger Burr
    Date posted: 2009-01-09 11:26 AM
    Hometown: Marble Hill, MO

    Comment:

    Scratch one queen who actively worked against us; all the while as one of us. Any such politicians or other public figures who act as he did SHOULD be outed if for no other reason than to expose their hypocrisy.


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