Infinite Monkeys

Seems like you, John Podhoretz and Jonah Goldberg are on the same page.

Actually, I don't think so. I disagree with JPod. Unlike him, I do think what Craig did (if he did it, and right now I'm inclined to think he did)) should be illegal. I'm at a loss to understand why conservatives (like JPod, Jonah, and Cap'n Ed) don't see that soliciting sex in public restrooms is or should be illegal.

Well, should soliciting sex in public bars be illegal, gay or straight?
I see where they are coming from a bit, but the central problem here is not the solicitation, it's having sex in a public place. Yes, the solicitation has to be illegal, because undercover cops can't go any further, but the key point is that anonymous sex in a public place should be illegal. It not only subjects people to unwanted advances; it exposes people of all ages to something that should not be seen in public (plus, it's unsafe in many health-related ways).
This behavior does seem to be primarily (though not entirely) the province of closeted gay people--the types of people who live lies and wreak devastation in their families. It should be gay people denouncing this behavior most of all.

I'm tempted to be persuaded by the "If you arrest Craig, start raiding singles bars" argument. Cute, and thought-provoking, but inapt.

Soliciting sex in a bathroom is illegal for the same reason soliciting sex out of the window of your car on the corner of Hollywood and Vine is illegal. It's a matter of legislating certain standards for our civilization.

If prostitution was legal, a concept I am sympathetic to on personal freedom/victimless crime grounds, it should be regulated. Go to the Bunny Ranch if you want to hire a prostitute. That's the proper place for it. A place you'd send your 12-year-old when he has to pee because your flight is delayed is not the place in a civilized culture.

Jonah readers make some excellent points. Among my faves:

Not to defend Craig in anyway, but wouldn't a better, and significantly less constitutionally dubious, way to "stop random men from using a public men's room at their airport as a den of iniquity" be to have uniformed police patrolling the men's rooms at the airport? I highly doubt too many people would be playing bathroom bordello while a uniformed Minneapolis cop was using the hand drier: same amount of resources allocated and the crime is still prevented....and, as a plus, people wouldn't be arrested for toe-tapping or toilet-paper snatching...

And this:

What I think is bothering many people intuitively, however, and what bothers me as an attorney, is that he was arrested for conduct that, if viewed on its face, simply can't be called criminal. Tapping your foot and waving your hand under the stall? Very creepy and very much unwanted by most men in a men's room, but criminal? ...

Whoops. I misread your post. I thought you wrote, "Why are there NOT GOP/conservative ... etc..." Well, so much for that. Never mind.

Don't feel bad, H.L. We can still talk about the folly of conservative/GOP types saying that the sting was flawed.

Those people have a point. But if you're going to make a point about proper police practices, perhaps one can find another example to raise — especially if one is a conservative.

I don't understand why the officer conducting the sting isn't equiped with a video camera. That way there would be no claim of "he said, he said," ambiguity and there would be hilarious YouTube spin-off's. (I know, there already are, even without an original video.)