Hi. Are you with somebody?

So, it looks as if Larry Craig is going to resign, and hey, that's fine with me. I'm all for culling the right-wingers by any means necessary. Still, it's a shame that in our happiness at seeing him go, we're kinda missing the point that the law that exposed his hypocrisy shouldn't even be on the books. I mean, there's no reason why adult men shouldn't meet new friends in an airport toilet, is there? Seriously, why should propositioning someone over eighteen, assuming there's no threat or harrassment involved, be a crime?

In fact, it isn't a crime unless it happens between two men. Men hit on women all the time in public places, and nobody, including me, thinks it's a reason to call the police. I've received plenty of offers of intimate friendship from strangers--on the street, the subway, a city bus, in a library and a mall parking lot. There's hardly a woman alive who doesn't have a similar list. Who cares?

And when was the last time you heard about a police stakeout in the ladies lounge at Saks? I know if I wanted to pick up a nice woman that's where I'd go, but the cops don't seem concerned about this potential threat to public decency.

As for the argument that the problem is not the invitation but the act, all I can say is that if you think het and lesbian couples don't have sex in public, you have not been paying attention. I have never heard of anyone other than gay men being arrested for it.

The whole business is just absurd. It would be a better use of tax dollars to pay the cops to hand out condoms.