Craig vs. ENDA: Time to Focus

At the Montessori school my son started Tuesday, they emphasize helping children to focus on the task at hand. It’s a lesson we could all benefit from revisiting.

The media has been awash in tales of Senator Larry Craig this week. As Yasmin Nair says at The Bilerico Project, however, “what we have here is yet another weapon of mass distraction.” I’m not denying that Craig is a hypocrite if he did solicit sex from a man after opposing LGBT rights for so long, nor that it’s important to counter the image of all gay men as cruising for sex in public restrooms. It’s just that it’s time to do a little triage. Is dealing with Craig really more important to LGBT rights and the future of our families than the House hearings on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) this week? Matt Foreman, head of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, comments:

I, for one, believe it when they say the Senate will take up ENDA soon after the House. But I’ve also been around long enough to know how fast the sand can shift on Capitol Hill and how often our issues have been pushed down because there’s “more important” business to take care of.

As of this week, however, there can’t be any acceptable reasons for inaction. We’ve waited too long. Now is the time, Congress: Show us what and who you stand for.

That means we have to stop spending our collective energy wondering what Craig sat for.

Here are some metrics of the current situation: Google News shows 13,047 results for the term “larry craig,” vs. 74 for “employment non-discrimination [nondiscrimination] act” and 11 for “enda hearing[s].” (It’s hard to search for “enda” alone, since it can also be a first name and means “yet” in Norwegian.) That’s a win for Craig, 12,047 to 85. Technorati shows 19,196 blog posts about “larry craig” vs. 1,249 about “employment non-discrimination [nondiscrimination] act” and 190 about “enda hearing[s].” Again, Craig wins, 19,196 to 1,439. Google BlogSearch shows 52,715 for “larry craig,” 323 for “employment non-discrimination [nondiscrimination] act,” and 371 for “enda hearing[s]”—Craig 52,715 to 694.

These numbers aren’t scientific as they are constantly changing, and would require a more thorough exploration of possible search terms to be conclusive. I think the overall trend is obvious, though. We in the LGBT community have let Craig dominate the news cycle at a time when we knew ENDA would be coming up for a vote. It would be interesting to do a search of just the LGBT blogosphere, but that’s beyond my means at the moment. My sense is we’ve been focused on Craig. Regardless, the fact remains that we as a community should be doing more to shift the focus of all the media. No, it’s not entirely our fault the blogosphere and mainstream press have run with the Craig story, but that’s no excuse not to do what we can to move them on to other matters. Craig does raise many issues of importance for our community, but do we have the luxury of hashing that all out now? Let’s concentrate instead on spreading the word about the positive effects of ENDA for our families and children, and urging people to contact their members of Congress in support of the legislation.

There is a connection between ENDA and Craig, however. If ENDA passes, it will be easier for LGBT Americans to be open about who they are. As Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) said in his ENDA testimony today, “Congress [should] be especially sensitive to fair employment practices regarding GLBT workers since the ‘institution is very well served by a large number of gay and lesbian employees.'” That means ENDA will make it easier for Congressional employees to come out, and we’ll likely have fewer Larry Craigs in the future.