Being Gay Is One Thing, But Deceitful? That’s A Big Other

Am I missing something here? If being gay is not such a big deal any more, why would the governor of New Jersey have to resign because he had an illicit gay affair? Makes you wonder…would Governor James McGreevey have resigned from office if he’d had a heterosexual affair, even though it was extramarital? (Bill Clinton didn’t resign, after all).

I told myself I’d leave the story about that New Jersey mess right where it is, tawdry, disgusting and sensationalized on the pages of every other tabloid in America, but, as I thought about it, the hackles on the back of my neck started to rise. I’m afraid I couldn’t just let it sit, especially considering my conservative bent regarding gays. Let it be said that I don’t give a heck what you do — or how — in privacy and as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone (Actually, I do give a heck).

With that said, and with the understanding that the public now looks upon the gay thing as (apparently) completely acceptable, how can McGreevey so blatantly tell his constituents that he’s such bad a person because of his affair — so bad that he can’t operate his executive office any longer?

The “wrong-doing” here has nothing to do with sex — male, female, illicit or licit. The contention is that McGreevey confessed to his homosexuality only when he was allegedly threatened to exposure by his supposed lover, Golan Cipel, an Israeli national who McGreevey hired to fill the $110,000-a-year job of homeland security advisor. Cipel had no credentials for the job and was not even able to receive the proper classified clearance from the State Department for the job. As a result, he had to quit, but continued to receive a salary as a general consultant to the governor. Incidentally, he has protested vehemently that he is not gay.

McGreevey said he was resigning because he had apparently let the public down by living the double life. It seems that those who are so eager to “come out” do so because they want to be relieved of the angst associated with hiding their gayness. That would be understandable, I suppose. But to give up that high office because of it? That seems to go against all the so-called “rights” the gay community has been fighting for. If they want people to accept them for what they are, one would think McGreevey would have stayed on — beyond November — in his position, if for no other reason than to spite those who have a tendency to be homophobic.

The fact that McGreevey confessed his homosexuality, therefore, only encourages those who would say his reasons for resigning are otherwise — such as being caught doing one heluva lot more than that. Many fingers point at a number of scandals alleged during his short administration, including a guilty plea from Charles Kushner, one of his top aides and fundraisers, that he hired a prostitute to dupe his brother-in-law so he would tamper with a federal investigation; another top fundraiser was charged last month with allegedly shaking down a land owner of something like $40,000. This is the one where, if McGreevey said the code word “Machiavelli” during a speech, the land owner would get a tax write-off. And, lo and behold, the Guv just happened to say, “Machiavelli.”

What are the odds!!!

Anyway — bottom line — is that he should have quit not because of all that gay malarky, but because he deceived his constituents and put them in danger. Heaven forbid that there had been a New Jersey disaster like what befell New York on 9/11 and his home-land security chief not only did not have a security clearance but was not even a citizen of our country.

View From

The Middle