Crapo Arrest Draws Attention to Anti-Gay Record
January 3, 2013 1 Comment
To say that Idaho Senator Mike Crapo’s DUI arrest last month was directly due to his stance on marriage equality would be kind of like Pat Robertson blaming “the gays” for every natural disaster in the past thirty years. We aren’t going to do it. We aren’t even going to throw out the “karma” label. We will, however, point out that with both the media’s and presumably his arresting officer’s spotlight shining on him, there is a bit of a renewed interest in his lack of compassion for the LGBT community going on in the blogosphere.
As Andrew Belonsky over at the hugely popular Towleroad blog reports,”Crapo is one of the nine Republicans who filed an amicus brief to sustain DOMA earlier this year. He also also voted against repealing DADT, against a comprehensive hate crimes law and for a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage.”
On Top points out that,”Crapo, is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are prohibited from using alcohol, had a blood alcohol level of .110 at the time of his arrest, higher than the allowed .08 level for drivers in Virginia.”
KBOI-TV reports that the former eastern Idaho Bishop, who has since apologized for his intoxicated behavior, says he doesn’t plan on fighting the charges. He will likely, however, be required to install an ignition interlock device in his car to test his breath for alcohol as a result of his drunken driving arrest in Virginia.
Belonsky wonders if, “we’ll ever get an apology” for the Senator’s anti-equality voting record. Given the past performance of other anti-gay Idaho Republican lawmakers with an arrest record, I wouldn’t hold your breath. Unless, of course, you’re Mike Crapo, in that case you should probably save it. You just might be needing it to start your car.
Crapo isn’t likely to ever apologize for the damage he has done unless it ever effects him personally or politically. With the buffer of support from folks here in Idaho and the power he wields in Washington, even after this debacle, he has no need to require anything more of himself than to put this incident behind him and continue on in his usual manner (empathy comes when you actually figure out that you need to care about others). When the church that now espouses to wanting equality, at least in basic human rights, tells him to lay off the anti-gay stance, then he’ll change, but, even then, we’re not likely to hear an apology.