'I am not gay,' says U.S. senator after airport bathroom sting

Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 07:54 EDT

WASHINGTON — U.S. Republican Senator Larry Craig Tuesday vehemently denied he was gay, despite pleading guilty after being arrested by police probing lewd incidents in an airport bathroom.

Craig, a staunch conservative, launched a battle for his political future, making a televised statement in his home state of Idaho, and vowed to explore whether he could reverse a court judgement against him.

"Let me be clear, I am not gay, I never have been gay," Craig said in his combative remarks.

Craig said he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct this month in a Minnesota court in the hope of covering up fallout from the incident, and did not even consult a lawyer.

"I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport. I did nothing wrong," he said.

"I chose to plead guilty to a lesser charge in the hopes of making it go away," he said, and accused a local newspaper of hounding him and his family.

"I am asking counsel to review this matter and advise me how to proceed."

Craig, 62, was arrested in the midwestern city of Minneapolis-St Paul in June by a plainclothes police officer.

He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and had a 10-day jail sentence stayed.

Police documents quoted a plainclothes officer as saying Craig was seated in a stall in the bathroom, and had made gestures consistent with someone "wishing to engage in lewd contact."

Craig allegedly tapped his foot, brushed his shoe against the officer's shoe and repeatedly waved his hand under the stall divider.

His political problems mounted on Tuesday, as the Republican Senate leadership asked the Senate ethics committee to consider whether Craig's conduct had broken any of the chamber's rules.

The senator, first elected in 1980, on Monday withdrew from his post as co-liaison to the Senate for the 2008 presidential campaign of leading Republican hopeful Mitt Romney.

Romney on Tuesday linked Craig's conduct with former president Bill Clinton's affair with a White House intern, as examples of public officials falling short of standards expected of them.

"Frankly it's disgusting," Romney told CNBC.

"He is no longer associated with my campaign ... I am sorry to see that he has fallen short."

Craig's record includes a series of votes against gay rights, and his support of a 2006 amendment to the Idaho Constitution that bars gay marriage and civil unions.


(AFP)