Rarely has political theater felt as dramatic as on Aug. 12, 2004, when James and Dina McGreevey stood behind a glass podium that bore the state seal of New Jersey, and for the first time in the nation’s history a sitting governor said, “My truth is that I am a gay American.”
James McGreevey’s stunning departure from the closet drew immediate support from national gay rights groups, but also left many people — gay and straight — wondering whether McGreevey cloaked himself in a gay identity to distract attention from a governorship beleaguered by allegations of shady campaign contributors and ethical lapses within his administration.
McGreevey, a Democrat, shies away from being considered a gay hero, but insists that his biggest transgression during his two-and-a-half years as governor was deceiving himself, his family and the residents of New Jersey about who he truly was.
“I consider myself the anti-hero, the anti-role model,” McGreevey told Southern Voice. “For me, [coming out] was a matter of necessity, and it would have been a far healthier, more balanced existence had I come out as a youth.”
McGreevey reads and signs copies of his new memoir, “The Confession,” at Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse on Oct. 6.
On the same day as McGreevey’s bombshell announcement, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman issued a statement heralding McGreevey for having “a great deal of courage to be so honest and straightforward.”
“Many of us who spent time in the closet know how profoundly damaging that experience is, and on a very personal level my heart went out to him,” Foreman said in an interview this week. “I’ve had the privilege of meeting Gov. McGreevey on several occasions since then, and it’s only made me feel more strongly about our initial statement.”
But not all gay commentators have been as sympathetic toward the former New Jersey governor.
“I’m really just hoping McGreevey goes away,” wrote Bruce Carroll on his “Gay Patriot” web log. “He doesn’t serve our community well and now he’s just using us (again) to hock his memoirs.”
The gay blogosphere has been particularly unforgiving of McGreevey, who put his gay lover on the New Jersey payroll and admitted cheating on his second wife shortly after she delivered the couple’s first daughter.
“As a gay man who spent many years in the closet, I can say with confidence that cheating on your hospitalized wife in her home with an employee is not a manifestation of the closet — it’s the behavior of a corrupt and immoral human being, straight or gay,” wrote Richard Rothstein, of “Proceed at Your Own Risk.”
New York Daily News writer Greg Hernandez doubted that McGreevey was truly being “authentic” while promoting his supposed tell-all book.
“Would he be so ‘authentic’ now if his former lover … [had] not threatened to file a sexual harassment suit against the then-governor?” Hernandez wrote on his “Out in Hollywood” blog.
But Foreman believes gay people who are quick to criticize McGreevey are likely forgetting some of their own experiences before they were fully honest about who they are.
“The closet warps people, and I challenge anyone who’s been in the closet to say they haven’t hurt, or deceived someone, or let someone down because they were terrified about coming out — that’s what the closet does,” Foreman said. “I think it’s completely hypocritical for our movement to say we want people to be out, and then when they do come out, not to embrace them.”
Recognizing McGreevey’s personal and political shortcomings doesn’t diminish the lessons that can learned from his coming out, said Denis Dison, vice president for communications at the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which works to elect openly gay candidates.
“The sort of silver lining to this story is that he is sort of the poster child for being out, open and true in politics,” Dison said.
McGreevey must be held accountable for his individual actions, including refusing to support gay-friendly legislation while in office, but his predicament shines a light on societal pressures that push even powerful people into the closet, said John Marble, communications director for the National Stonewall Democrats, a gay partisan group.
“I think that his closeted lifestyle, which caused much undo pressure to his family, is an example of the consequences of the anti-gay policies that many states and the federal government employ,” Marble said. “I think it’s a classic example of a closeted politician who pursues unhelpful policy positions — when you’re in that position, you tend to overreact and do things to cover for who you are.”
McGreevey’s initial coming out statement was courageous, but his new book “rubs salt in the wounds” of many of the people he hurt while in the closet, said Amity Pierce Buxton, executive director of the Straight Spouse Network, which offers support to people whose spouses come out as gay or lesbian.
“To have a whole confession out there just opens all of the wounds for his wife,” Buxton said. “It may make him feel better, but I don’t think it will make his wife — his two wives — feel any better.
“I don’t think he’s a role model for the gay community,” Buxton added. “To misuse his office to satisfy his same-sex attractions is not a good model.”
Ryan Lee can be reached at rlee@sovo.com.
