Tue. August 28, 2007
Boise, ID -
Republican Idaho Sen. Larry Craig said Tuesday that he did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport in June despite his guilty plea this summer in the men's room police sex sting.
"I am not gay. I never have been gay," Craig told reporters during a press conference in Idaho.
Craig was arrested in June and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge this month in a Hennepin County, Minn., court after being arrested in a men's bathroom.
A police report of the incident said Craig tapped his foot several times in a stall next to the police officer and touched the cop's foot, an action that the police officer interpreted as a signal used by people seeking a sexual encounter. (Read the police report)
The married Craig, 62, who has faced unsubstantiated rumors about his sexuality since the 1980s, said Tuesday that he is not gay but was under stress when the incident occurred.
Craig has represented the conservative Western state of Idaho in Congress for more than a quarter-century and has voted against homosexual marriage and special protections to gay and lesbian crime victims.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Tuesday compared Craig to former Republican Representative Mark Foley. Foley left his office last year after sexual overtures to male pages was revealed. Romney said he would review whether to call for Craig's resignation from the Senate.
Craig is up for re-election in 2008 but has not said whether he will run.
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