In the early 1990s I was driving down I95 near DC with an army buddy of mine. An SUV pulled along side of us and the driver began waving wildly at us as though he knew us. He also had a very large, clownish smile on his face. (His mouth was wide open while grining.) We recognized him as Sen Larry Craig.

As he passed us, we noticed either an NRA license plate or NRA bumper sticker. We assumed he saw us coming out of a gun shop and that was why he was waving at us. It really never occured to us that he's a queer.

This was about the same time that the furniture store, Ikea, was running a pro-queer television ad. (Two queers thinking about "adding a leaf to the kitchen table" as I recall.) Every queer on the east coast flocked to the area to "buycott" Ikea, which has a store in the area.

Two reasons that I remember it so well as being Craig are 1) we talked about what a good NRA rating that he had and 2) he was and is the only famous person [national political figure] that I have ever seen around the DC area. You really never see famous people around. (I don't, anyway.)

It was a long time ago, but I seem to remember that others were in the SUV with him. Maybe his family, maybe his staff. I don't know. I doubt that his bathroom arrest was a surprise to those who know him best.