Did Idaho Senator Hide Gay Behavior?
BECK: Coming up, President Bush says the entire Middle East soon will be threatened with nuclear holocaust if Iran gets the bomb. Will the world act before it`s too late? Find out in tonight`s "Real Story". Now, for a guy who`s not gay, Idaho`s Republican senator went way out of his way yesterday to repeatedly tell us how gay he is not. For the record, I`m not gay either, although I`ve never been arrested for lewd conduct in airport men`s room, or trying to cop a feel off an undercover cop in the next stall. And not only have I never been arrested for that, I`ve never pleaded guilty to it either. Senator Larry Craig did. Now he`s had a change of heart, gotten a lawyer, figured out what happens, you know, in Minneapolis doesn`t always stay in Minneapolis. Whether Craig is gay or not, however, is not the issue. I don`t really care. It`s whether or not he committed a crime, and according to police reports and the senator`s own plea of guilty, he did. Not to split hairs here, but when you find a guy who`s trying to get some man-on-man action in the bathroom of an airport, doesn`t that set your gay radar off a little bit? I mean, isn`t it guy wanting to do sexual things with another guy one of the main criteria for being gay? Believe it or not, in today`s world, no, not necessarily so. This according to my next guest, J.L. King. He`s the author of "On the Down Low", a journey into the lives of straight black men who sleep with men -- J.L.</s>J.L. KING, AUTHOR, "ON THE DOWN LOW": Hello, Glenn, how are you?</s>BECK: Good. I`m having a really hard time imaging a straight man having sex with men.</s>KING: You know, it`s funny that you say that, because I`ve traveled on the road talking about sexual behavior, sexual orientation. A lot of people want to call a person who has sex with men and women gay. I have a lot of gay friends who are comfortable in their skin, who exclusively only have sex with other men. But you have a lot of men who are bisexual, and who don`t live a gay lifestyle, who don`t necessarily buy into the gay culture. They just enjoy having sex with men, and they hate being called gay.</s>BECK: OK. So you`re saying that -- well, first of all, let me ask you, is Craig -- did you believe him, that he didn`t do it? Or -- I mean, it seems very hard to believe.</s>KING: You know, he`s guilty. You know, and that`s not the first time. He just got caught. You know, a lot of times a man will try to continue to hide the fact that he likes having sex with men, until they get caught. And then they get caught.</s>BECK: See, this is the hard thing I have here, so to speak. I don`t understand how you can say, "I like having sex with men," and not be gay. Wait, wait, wait. Are you just saying that I -- if I said I like having sex with men, and I don`t women, that`s gay?</s>KING: That`s gay. There`s nothing wrong with being gay if you`re comfortable in your skin. But a lot of men are so afraid of being called faggot, queer, and all those other negative terms that come with that orientation. And a lot of men hate the fact that, when they do get caught, then they`re going to be considered being a sissy punk.</s>BECK: Here`s -- here`s the really -- this is the -- this is the biggest problem I have with this story, and this is the problem that I had with what`s his name, the governor of New Jersey.</s>KING: Right. Exactly.</s>BECK: I don`t care if you`re gay. I don`t care if you`re straight. You`re married. And whether you`re -- whether you`re a monogamous with -- or with a partner who happens to be the same sex, or you`re married in a traditional sense, you know what? You don`t cheat on them.</s>KING: Exactly.</s>BECK: I think these guys are endangering the lives of their wives, or their partners, and that puts you into a whole different category.</s>KING: In more ways than one. Even if their woman does not get infected with an HIV or STD, the emotional damage would destroy her.</s>BECK: Now, you did this.</s>KING: Yes.</s>BECK: You were living this life. You were going to airport bathrooms, which I hear is much more common...</s>KING: No, I never went to an airport bathroom.</s>BECK: OK.</s>KING: I knew a lot of men who go to airport bathrooms, gyms and public parks.</s>BECK: OK. OK.</s>KING: I never stooped that low to satisfy my need. But I did cheat on my wife.</s>BECK: OK.</s>KING: And she did not know. And I was wrong.</s>BECK: OK.</s>KING: It was not her fault; it was my fault. And just like the senator, I tried to blame everybody but accept my own responsibility. And he needs to accept the fact that he`s wrong, he`s guilty, he`s -- loves having sex with men and to let his family go. And let them make a choice if they want to be with him or not.</s>BECK: This is -- this is in airports from coast to coast.</s>KING: Yes.</s>BECK: I can`t believe how many phone calls I`ve gotten on this today saying, oh, my gosh. I didn`t have any idea. This is really out of control, is it not?</s>KING: Oh, my gosh. It happens every day, all day.</s>BECK: Anybody -- anybody trying to do anything, trying to stop this?</s>KING: How can -- you know, when you have a sexual addiction, that`s a position...</s>BECK: But this is happening to guys doing this to women in bathrooms, it`s harassment. I got a lot of people who are not interested in this culture that said they were hit on. This is sexual harassment. Airport, you know, the airplanes that would be pulling into those particular tarmacs with those bathrooms, I`ve got to tell you, if it was happening with women, they`d be shut down on lawsuits. J.L., I`d love to pick this up with you again. I`m sorry. I just got the cue that we`re out of time.</s>KING: Any time.</s>BECK: Thank you. Coming up, Fidel Castro declares Clinton-Obama the winning ticket for the 2008 election. Do you remember -- do you remember the time when an endorsement from a ruthless dictator was a bad thing? Oh, those were the days. President Bush says Iran`s pursuit of atomic weapons threatens to put the entire region under a threat of nuclear holocaust. Scary thought, real possibility. The latest around the corner.