So terribly unfortunate
…and the whitewashing of James McGreevey’s coming out story is apparently complete. This is from The Washington Blade:
Former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, who resigned after revealing that he was gay, says culture is outpacing politics in the acceptance of homosexuality.
McGreevey, who was in Santa Fe this past weekend to speak at a fundraiser for the Human Rights Alliance, called his decision to come out “one of the most painful but honest decisions of my life.”
Even though the revelation of being gay can hurt family and friends, McGreevey said Friday that people must learn at an early age to be open about their sexuality.
“Hopefully, this generation will be the last generation of American youth that has to choose between their heart and their career, between love and acceptance,” he said.
Hmm…”resigned after revealing he was gay” certainly gets the temporal order of the two events correct–give the reporter that. But the whole “amid allegations that he’d used his position to give an unqualified but hot foreign national a key counter-terrorism post” isn’t part of the story anymore, I guess?
I don’t think the entire distasteful saga needs to be recounted in detail every time McGreevey’s name is mentioned in the media, but is it too much to ask that the gay press not uncritically let pass remarks about how his “decision” to come out was all “honest”? Coming out doesn’t cancel out corruption.
Added later: It’s perfectly obvious from the dateline on the article, but just in case the citation above is misleading, the Blade was reprinting an AP story. I did notice that initially but apparently forgot–this’ll teach you to post at midnight–in the process of typing and magically converted the AP into the “gay press.” (It’s rare to see addenda given on wire service stories.)
Come to think of it, maybe it’s even more disturbing that the non-gay press is buying the line that McGreevey’s resignation was a gay issue.