Bob Barr, libertarian for public restroom sex
Lee S. writes:
Sometimes I am convinced that libertarianism is the most infantile of all political disorders. Bob Barr, former congressman from Georgia, now writes a column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Sadly, this foolish man is still thought of by many as a conservative.
Recently, Barr wrote a column in the AJC backing Larry Craig 100 per cent and making the case for allowing Craig to withdraw his guilty plea. Amazingly, Barr also seems to be making the argument that homosexual men have a right to troll public restroom looking to sex partners and any attempt to stop them is wrong and an infringement on their liberty.
Maybe ever worse than this idiotic idea is Barr’s belief that Craig should be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea. This is a United States Senator, a person responsible for making the laws of this nation, who is now saying that he did not know what he was doing when he entered his plea. This is a man who stood before a judge and said he was doing this of own volition, and that he understood the implications of the plea.
This is a man who had two months between the time he was detained and the time he entered the plea, and he is now saying he did not know he had a right to a lawyer. It is beyond belief to me that people like Barr cannot see that this sort of game brings disrepute upon the entire legal profession and the system as a whole.
I have represented criminal defendants in court for 15 years. Some of them do in fact have a certain integrity. Like the ones who say I did not do this and I want a trial. Or the ones who say I did this let’s get it over with. Craig is neither. He is a lying gutless sob who knows he can find support among the defense lawyers and the ACLU types.
I believe a lot of the support Craig has found comes from the belief that the type of offense he is charged with should not be enforced. But that is a different question. If Craig’s defenders believe that homosexual men have right to troll public restrooms looking for sex partners they should petition their legislature or local government to repeal these laws. Frankly, I don’t want to be solicited for sex while I am trying to use the restroom. Apparently, however, many people in this nation believe that to prohibit this activity is an infringement on the liberty of homosexuals.
LA writes:
In the article, Barr calls Craig’s behavior “innocent” and inoffensive.” Imagine if you were using a public restroom and a person outside your stall began to exhibit the behavior Craig exhibited, including reaching his hand underneath the stall divider. Would you consider such behavior innocent and inoffensive? Also, according to articles I’ve read, Craig’s behavior is well-known code in the homosexual world.
N. writes:
You write:
“Imagine if you were using a public restroom and a person outside your stall began to exhibit the behavior Craig exhibited…”
To many who have been on a college campus in the last 25 years or so, there is no need to imagine. It is literally impossible to use at least some men’s rooms in most college libraries nowadays, because of the homosexual activities that either have gone on (leaving all manner of ugly and unsanitary detritus behind), or are going on when one enters the lavatory, or else one is assailed with requests for such activities in the form of foot tapping, banging on the stall door, reaching under the wall, and so forth.
That undercover police officer wasn’t there by chance, I am sure, but rather there because of complaints by heterosexual men who were tired of being propositioned, of being harassed, and of encountering homosexuals engaged in sexual acts in public facilities intended for sanitary purposes only. He wasn’t there to catch Craig specifically, but to reduce the amount of illicit, obnoxious sexual activity in that bathroom.
The fact that homosexuals have created websites just to rate public bathrooms in terms of the sexual liaisons that can be expected ought to be enough to render a judgment on Bob Barr: he is a fool.
Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 21, 2007 10:00 PM | Send