04/24/2007
Jim McGreevey: Estranged Wife Knew I was Gay
As a counterpoint to yesterday's leaked revelations from Dina Matos-McGreevey's forthcoming memoir Silent Partner in the New York Daily News in which Matos-McGreevey claims that she was convinced her husband was straight, Jim McGreevey filed court papers yesterday which claim just the opposite.
The former New Jersey governor now says that Matos-McGreevey knew he was gay before they were married - a full four years before he came out of the closet before news reporters.
Said McGreevey's sworn statement: "Although it is clear that (Matos McGreevey) knew of my sexual orientation before our marriage, she chose to either ignore it or block it out of her mind, even when questioned by her friends. Now that it's out that I AM A GAY AMERICAN, she will try to rewrite history claiming me to be bisexual. This is homophobia in its worst form."
The New Jersey Star-Ledger points out that even in McGreevey's own book, The Confession, a moment is described two years into their marriage in which Matos-McGreevey asks McGreevey directly if he is gay and the governor does not answer.
Additionally, the AP reports that another claim made in McGreevey's filing is that Matos-McGreevey "'HAS NEVER SEEN THE PHOTOGRAPH' of the nude male model" reportedly hanging in the ex-governor's bedroom.
So where is the truth? Said McGreevey's lawyer: "She knew before they were married that he was gay. That's part of what the trial will reveal."
The Star-Ledger: "The ex-governor's latest salvo is buried in the middle of a 12-page document that caps an increasingly nasty exchange of motions and counter-motions. The first hearing in the divorce case will be Friday in state Superior Court in Elizabeth. McGreevey said his estranged wife has filed 'malicious, misleading papers' and calls her a 'bitter, vengeful woman.'"
McGreevey: Wife knew I was gay at the start [star-ledger]
McGreevey Says Wife Knew He Was Gay [ap - abc]
Posted 8:50 AM EST by Andy Towle in James McGreevey, New Jersey, News | Permalink
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No McGreevey-- the worst kind of homophobia is a gay man marrying a woman to shield him from being outed-- to further his own policital ambitions...
(quote)"Although it is clear that (Matos McGreevey) knew of my sexual orientation before our marriage, she chose to either ignore it or block it out of her mind, even when questioned by her friends. Now that it's out that I AM A GAY AMERICAN, she will try to rewrite history claiming me to be bisexual. This is homophobia in its worst form."
Posted by: Dan | Apr 24, 2007 8:58:30 AM
I don't understand why this is getting so much face time. Is this our (gay community) Anna Nicole story? This won't be the first time or the last time a gay man has married a woman to cover up his sexual orientation or to further himself politically, financially, or socially.
Posted by: Matt | Apr 24, 2007 9:10:07 AM
I'm just waiting for Alec Baldwin to leave her a voice mail!
Posted by: Rad | Apr 24, 2007 9:20:51 AM
Dear Rad,
You owe me a new keyboard. After reading your line I just spit my coffee all over my desk. Very funny line.
Posted by: James | Apr 24, 2007 9:23:03 AM
They are both disgusting opportunists. They have hurt so many people its criminal. He with his deciet to an entire State, and she with her corporate greed and manipulations which resulted in thousands of nurses and health care workers losing their pensions and jobs. They deserve to suffer every bit as much as the people who's lives they have ruined.
Posted by: Crixi Van Cheek | Apr 24, 2007 9:37:39 AM
May be she used him to further her own heterosexual agenda of politics, finances and social climbing. Its hetero-phobia at its best.
Posted by: Jack | Apr 24, 2007 9:40:25 AM
She married a closeted gay man, of course she is bitter! McGreevey is such a lame ass. Call me a prude but I wouldn't have a picture of a naked man that wasn't very artistic to begin with hanging in my bedroom for the kiddies to see. Isn't he suppose to be intelligent? Its good he never became President. When the fight is on, you put your best foot forward and do everything you can to come across as perfect. What a fucking tool.
Posted by: Christopher | Apr 24, 2007 10:00:47 AM
Uuuggghhh!
Stop griev'n us with McGreevey.
Enuff with them. They make me sick.
Posted by: Chapeau | Apr 24, 2007 10:01:32 AM
The anti-Irish (and anti-Irish-American)hatred in the gay community knows no bounds, even when it comes to McGreevey.
Posted by: MJ | Apr 24, 2007 10:47:46 AM
When did this site become a tabloid rag?
This is dirty laundry epitomized; A war of words.
We'd all be better off scrolling past this one!
Posted by: Stephen | Apr 24, 2007 11:05:56 AM
I'm so sick of his I AM A GAY AMERICAN blather. What's his goal in creating this bizarre little catchphrase? To paint himself as some sort of pitiful victim member of a minority group? Can someone enlighten me on this?
Posted by: Chesnut | Apr 24, 2007 11:32:39 AM
He's becomming increasingly less credible, as pointed out in the SL.
Posted by: anon | Apr 24, 2007 11:44:17 AM
Why is his gayness an issue in the divorce?
What difference does it make...she knew, he knew, they knew..unless NJ is one of those barbaric non-'no fault' divorce states like NY.
In CA, we're a little more civilized...gay, straight, adulterous, not adulterous...nobody's at fault...unless, of course, its bigamy.
Posted by: tom | Apr 24, 2007 12:21:11 PM
Why is his gayness an issue in the divorce?
What difference does it make...she knew, he knew, they knew..unless NJ is one of those barbaric non-'no fault' divorce states like NY.
In CA, we're a little more civilized...gay, straight, adulterous, not adulterous...nobody's at fault...unless, of course, its bigamy.
Posted by: tom | Apr 24, 2007 12:22:08 PM
Of course she knew. Most of the New Jersey political elite knew. That's not the point. The point is they had an arrangement...
It was a sick and twisted arrangement where she would provide cover (and a beard child) for him in exchange for the prestige/power of being the governor's wife. But nevertheless, he was the one who caused the break by becoming embroiled in the Cipel scandal.
His subsequent behavior has been equally disturbing, blaming America for all his problems. It's the same sort of "it's society's fault I'm a terrible person" shtick that undermines genuine progress. Couregeous people (like the hundreds of thousands in high school who are out of the closet and fighting for their rights in a hostile environment)...don't need any advice on being gay from James McGreevey. And we can be thankful for that!
Posted by: John | Apr 24, 2007 12:44:00 PM
I'm so bored with this man. I don't think he deserves any warm embrace from the gay community. He lied to and deceived people; in my book that doesn't make someone a hero or courageous. I wish he would go away and stop trying to be the face of gay Americans. Zzzzzzz....
Posted by: Jeff | Apr 24, 2007 12:49:49 PM
MJ--Anti-Irish???? You are completely crazy. As someone of Irish & Scottish ancestry myself I'm here to tell you that that is absolutely nuts.
If what he says is true, she certainly wouldn't be the first straight woman to knowingly marry a gay man. And they do it for lots of different reasons.
Posted by: Daniel | Apr 24, 2007 1:42:43 PM
McGreevy is scum. Period. No more posts about him PLEASE! He is not worth the effort it takes to type his name.
Posted by: soulbrotha | Apr 24, 2007 2:15:33 PM
Daniel : With all respect, you might have missed out on the bigotry because of being half-Scottish, and therefore be unaware. Gays aren't fanatic enough to see Irish blood as a "taint", but if one is solely of that ancestry he falls into the category of one most gays despise, either openly (or surreptitiously). Now, although I'm not anti-Irish at ALL (I love them), I do believe everybody has the right to dislike whoever he wants, but the big question is why it's so prevalent: it's been debated as being everything from the association of Irish with police departments to gays (the so-called "ghetto gays" in areas like NY or San Francisco) feeling the need to adopt it as part of an Anglophile stance. But it's still basically a mystery. (I'm not stating this about anybody on here in particular who disapproves of McGreevey though).
Posted by: MJ | Apr 24, 2007 2:59:42 PM
I think there's a way they can resolve their issues in court, instead of the press.
This made me laugh though..
"Now that it's out that I AM A GAY AMERICAN, she will try to rewrite history claiming me to be bisexual. This is homophobia in its worst form."
^^ You have to admit that it's good.
Posted by: Da | Apr 24, 2007 6:52:18 PM
MJ, I don't get it either. What anti-Irish sentiment are you referring to? For better or worse, the Irish seems to have been absorbed into that culturally meaningless Pan-European category of "white America." I think nowadays any lingering hostility has all but dissapeared into the abyss.
Posted by: John | Apr 24, 2007 6:58:43 PM
You would think they'd just be "other whites", John, but in the minds of much of the gay community it's not the case. The big question is where it comes from. Another theory is that gays in metro areas often have flocked there from other Protestant parts of the country where they were raised to see Irish as that "other" strangely lowly blue collar Catholic breed. (At least gays from Massachusetts were raised that way- lol.) Who knows?
Posted by: MJ | Apr 24, 2007 7:38:57 PM
John : Okay, I found just a tidbit of an example. Go back to the Towleroad 4/25/2006 article on Colin Finnerty and the Duke case and look at the posts. What other Caucasian ethnicity ever receives comments like that? It's a strange phenomenon.
Posted by: MJ | Apr 24, 2007 7:53:55 PM
MJ:
i'm 17 gay and irish.
can you please elaborate on this "anti-irish" feeling you posted about above?
thanks...
Posted by: kieran | Apr 24, 2007 8:47:33 PM
Kieran : I can only speak for U.S. attitudes; primarily New York City gay attitudes or those of Europeans living in NYC. There's no point in rehashing the nastier details of how they profess to see the Irish as unintelligent, alcoholic, primitive and physically unappealing, but..in all honesty..I don't know if they really believe it or just feel it's the way they're "supposed" to feel as "sophisticated city people." But don't you worry about it: there are other guys like me, I'm sure, who adore Irish boys (your accents, handsome faces, bodies, attitudes..) or American or Canadian men of Irish descent. Sometimes I actually think some gays have a jealousy thing going on.
Posted by: MJ | Apr 25, 2007 1:23:32 AM