FNC's Dhue Charges Any 'Shame' of Homosexuality a GOP Creation

September 10th, 2007 11:31 AM

Touting it as a “Geraldo at Large investigation you won’t soon forget,” FNC’s Laurie Dhue filed a report from inside a men’s bathroom on what supposedly happened last June between Senator Larry Craig and an undercover police officer, with actors in separate stalls rubbing their feet together.

After pointing out that the chances that Craig’s conduct was simply misunderstood by the police officer were “extremely low,” Dhue suggested that any stigma on homosexual behavior was the fault of the Republican Party.

Dhue declared: “I think the sad part about all this is that Larry Craig had to go to a public place — if it’s true, if he is gay — he had to go to a public place, and that’s the shame of homosexuality in this country right, today — at least the shame that the Republican Party puts on it.”

The segment headlined “Lavatory Lust” aired at about 8:43pm ET on Saturday’s Geraldo at Large. Host Geraldo Rivera set up the segment: “What is it about powerful men, with celebrities like George Michael who risk everything to have anonymous sex in public and perilous places, like airport restrooms? Laurie Dhue checked into the men's room to find out.”

After running clips of Craig defending himself, Dhue popped up in a men’s bathroom: “A staunch defender of family values takes a fall from grace over that now infamous incident in a men’s room....So was veteran Idaho Senator Larry Craig looking for love in some very wrong places? Or was he simply the victim of an embarrassing misunderstanding? It’s a Geraldo at Large investigation you won’t soon forget....”

After a staged re-enactment in which actors (viewers mainly saw their feet) playing Craig and Sgt. Dave Karsnia showed how Craig rubbed his foot up against Karsnia’s and repeatedly waved his hand under the stall, Geraldo asked the reporter: “So, Laurie, the odds are of this happening by chance — pretty low?”

Dhue, standing beside Geraldo in an outdoor plaza, put the blame on the GOP: “Extremely low. But I think the sad part about all this is that Larry Craig had to go to a public place — if it’s true, if he is gay — he had to go to a public place, and that’s the shame of homosexuality in this country right, today — at least the shame that the Republican Party puts on it.”