James McGreevey
James McGreevey
James Edward "Jim" McGreeveyis an American seminarian, politician and member of the Democratic Party, who served as the 52nd Governor of New Jersey from 2002 until his resignation in 2004. He served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1990 to 1992, as the Mayor of Woodbridge Township from 1991 to 2002 and in the New Jersey Senate from 1994 to 1998. He was the Democratic nominee for Governor of New Jersey in 1997 but was narrowly defeated by Republican...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth6 August 1957
CountryUnited States of America
for being a gay American but rather for having let personal feelings impact my decision-making.
My truth is that I am a gay American,
The arc of American history almost inevitably moves toward freedom. Whether it's Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, the expansion of women's rights or, now, gay rights, I think there is an almost-inevitable march toward greater civil liberties.
Being gay is a fundamental part of my being - the core of who I've always been, and the thing that I had repressed and run from all my life.
When I came out publicly, some photo editors had a field day searching for pictures of me with a limp wrist or some other stereotypical gay signifier - as though, after decades in the public eye, they'd suddenly come across a trove of shots where I looked like a Cher impersonator.
You know for many elected officials they all started in the same place. You know marriage is between a man and a woman, but they understand that they are moving inevitably, catching up to the American public.
Given the circumstances surrounding the affair and its likely impact upon my family and my ability to govern, I have decided the right course of action is to resign,
When you're a young kid and you're gay, you're out there on your own. And you're trying to figure this thing out. And your parents typically aren't gay.
Firefighters, police officers and state troopers place themselves in harm's way every day, every week, every year,
It makes little difference that as governor I am gay.
There is no more fundamental obligation of a government than to protect those who cannot protect themselves -- namely, our children. The failure of government in this instance to safeguard the health and welfare of these children is beyond excuse, it is sickening,
I was convinced I was worth less than my straight peers. I was at best inauthentic, and the longer I went without amending that dishonesty, the more ashamed I felt.
I kept a steel wall around my moral and sexual instincts - protecting them, I thought, from the threats of the real world. This gave me a tremendous advantage in politics, if not in my soul. The true me, my spiritual core, slipped further and further from reach.
When I first ran for public office, it was with the passion and idealism of a young man who believed that government could help make our lives better, that public service was a calling and that citizenship demanded responsibilities. There was a greater good.