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
closet conscience family growing happens loving mean nurturing problem sick
I think - I think you have a conscience growing up in a loving family with a nurturing community. And I think what happens is, and that's part of the problem of being in the closet which is a very sick place. I mean it's self loathing. It's self denial. And you keep that separate.
ability action affair course decided family given impact likely
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,
beyond cannot children failure government health instance obligation protect safeguard themselves welfare
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,
officers police state themselves
Firefighters, police officers and state troopers place themselves in harm's way every day, every week, every year,
best convinced less longer straight
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.
advantage further gave instincts kept moral politics protecting sexual steel threats tremendous true wall
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.
believed calling citizenship demanded good government greater help idealism lives man passion public ran
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.
feelings gay impact personal rather
for being a gay American but rather for having let personal feelings impact my decision-making.
catching elected marriage officials understand
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.
cannot decision intensely personal public
For this is an intensely personal decision and not one typically for the public domain, ... Yet, it cannot and should not pass.
difference governor
It makes little difference that as governor I am gay.
america civil expand freedoms history liberties wonderful
The history of America is to expand civil liberties in a responsible and civil manner. We need to remember that our wonderful Democracy with its freedoms has been working.
career closet crowded endemic equally hoped life lived personal political politics spent strangers truths
Inauthenticity is endemic in American politics today. The political backrooms where I spent much of my career were just as benighted as my personal life, equally crowded with shadowy strangers and compromises, truths I hoped to deny. I lived not in one closet but in many.
age eighth everybody guess knew seventh six
I knew I was different when I was about six years of age but I just knew that I wasn't like everybody else. I mean I wasn't like the other kids. I didn't know what that was. But I guess it was when I was in seventh or eighth grade, I'm like, 'Hey, something's wrong here.'