Larry Craig and 8 gay men

8 Gay Men Tell Of Dealings With Sen. Larry Craigby
December 2, 2007 - 3:00 pm ET
(Boise, Idaho) A total of eight gay men have told a Boise newspaper that they have been hit on by U.S. Sen. Larry Craig and have now come forward because they are tired of conservative Republican's insistence he is not gay.
The men allege they either had sex with Craig or he approached them for sex.
Craig is fighting a guilty plea he entered in his guilty plea from a gay sex sting bust. When news of the bust and the Idaho senator's guilty plea became public Craig called a news conference to say he felt pressured into making the guilty plea and "I am not gay. I have never been gay."
The Idaho Statesman reported Sunday that the men came to the paper as result of Craig's statements and his negative voting record on LGBT civil rights.
Two of the men told the paper that they had sex with Craig. A third man said Craig had made a pass at him and the fourth said he had what the paper called "unusual attention" from the senator.
David Phillips, a 42-year-old information technology consultant in Washington, told the Statesman that that Craig picked him up at a gay club in 1986 and that they subsequently had sex.
Mike Jones, the onetime hustler prostitute who outed the Rev. Ted Haggard tells the paper that Craig also was a client and had paid him for sex in late 2004 or early 2005.
A third man told the Statesman that in 1981, when he was in a college GOP group he turned down an advance made by Craig at a Republican meeting in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
The fourth man told the paper that his "encounter" with Craig occurred at Idaho's Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area in the early 1980s.
The Statesman also reported that four other men who did not agree to be identified described for reporters sexual advances or encounters involving Craig.
In the Senate Craig has consistently voted "anti-gay".
He voted twice for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, voted for 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' the ban on gays serving openly in the military, and has opposed both a bill to ban job discrimination against gays and a bill that would add gays to federal hate crime law.
Craig initially said he would resign his Senate seat September 30. He later said he would stay on while fighting the guilty plea but will not seek re-election. His term ends in 2009.
On June 11, an undercover police officer was the men's room at the Minneapolis Airport when Craig allegedly tapped his feet and swiped his hand under the divider in a way authorities said was a signal for someone wanted sex.
Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, but when the incident became public, he denied ever seeking sex there and said the officer misunderstood his actions. Craig then sought to withdraw his guilty plea to the misdemeanor.
In October a Minnesota judge refused to allow Craig to withdraw his guilty plea. Hennepin County Judge Charles Porter in a written ruling said that Craig's guilty plea was made voluntarily.
The case is now before the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
Craig, who has had a long battle with the Statesman, declined to comment on the story but in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press, the senator said the newspaper's report was "completely false".