ACLU Backs Sen. Larry Craig

The ACLU are ready to polish up their Conservative credentials. In a new twist to the Larry Craig story, that liberals are sure to eat up but swallow hard, the ACLU is coming to his rescue.

The strange case of Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig is about to take another interesting turn. Craig is getting support today from what many might consider to be an unlikely ally — the American Civil Liberties Union.

Craig was arrested in a men’s restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport in June and pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct last month.

“We believe the sting operation used to apprehend Mr. Craig was unconstitutional. The statute the government is relying upon makes it a crime to use certain offensive words,” said Anthony Romero, the executive director of the ACLU.

Police say Craig solicited sex from a police officer by tapping his foot and waving his hand under the stall divider. The arresting officer also says Craig peeked into his stall.

Craig denied at the time and continues to deny that he solicited sex from the officer through his gestures. He contends his actions were misinterpreted and he has adamantly denied that he is gay.

But the ACLU says it doesn’t matter whether he solicited sex because that’s not a crime.

“It is a crime to have sex in public. It is not a crime to propose or solicit sex in public, whether it’s in a bar or in a bathroom,” Romero said.

Guess what? I think the ACLU are probably right and have their loose ends tied up on this legal argument.

Of course, for the “non-partisan” organization, this is more about protecting perversion than politics or privacy. As much as the media will make a day out of a conservative getting support from the ACLU, its really the solicitation for sex that is being defended.

By the way, disorderly conduct is a crime. Peeping through the crack in a stall door is an invasion of privacy and soliciting a stranger for gay sex is harrassment. This is the disorderly conduct that Senator Craig confessed to.

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