Governor McGreevey Comes Out; Steps Down
Holy Cannoli, Batman! Your blogstress could barely believe her ears, listening to the governor of her home state come out, at the age of 46, on national television (video here).
No, James McGreevey is not the first politician to admit to being gay when the wolf was at the door (with some sort of seedy evidence, no doubt, of a same-sex tryst). But it's a first for Jersey, where your cybertix knows from personal experience that ethnic queers generally marry members of the opposite sex in order to stay members in good standing of the quaint, foul-mouthed, family-centric, corrupt, congested, multi-cultural culture that has spawned such fantastic figures as Queen Latifah, Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan, to name a few.
Now, your blogstress never was a big fan of McGreevey's, though she did appreciate his support for Jersey's domestic parnership bill. You see, she spent much of her adult life in the county of her birth--Hudson County (pronounced 'Uds'n Counny)--and came to have a certain affection for the Hudson County Democratic machine. (Even dated a guy who was one of the machine's better machinists--see what I mean?)
When McGreevey came into office, he didn't forget that the Hudson County boys weren't too keen on him earlier in his career--even though they did help him win the governor's mansion--so he put them all out of business when they finally won back the majority in the legislature, and replaced them will his fellas from the Middlesex County. (Full disclosure: your écrivane spent the first half of her idyllic childhood in Middlesex County.)
So, like, after spending those eight Whitman years in the minority wilderness, your cybertrix's ex-boyfriend winds up pushed out of government just as his side wins. I mean, that'd piss anybody off, right?
But tonight, watching the governor discuss, up front, his "confusion" about issues concerning his "identity", your blogstress sat clutching her heart. When he spoke of his marriage being founded on love and respect, she believed him. Hers had been, too. When he wondered aloud whether, at 46, it was too late for him to come clean, she recalled her realization, at last, at the age of 42, that she was not a straight girl.
In reality, more than a a realization, it was a sense of resignation to a fate she never wanted that drove your blogstress. But for her to get there, she had to leave New Jersey, which was not anything she had ever really wanted to do. Now that he has gotten there, one suspects that Gov. McGreevey may leave our besmirched but beloved homeland, as well, but likely to attend to greener pastures.
For as moving as the governor's confession was, it was a brilliant move, as well. If there was ever a moment to be a gay politician--a gay anything, for that matter--it's now. By stepping out in front of the news, McGreevey becomes a de facto spokesman for a thriving movement. We haven't heard the last of him; of that there's no doubt.
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