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 Apr. 24,2007 at 8:50 AM EST by Andy Towle in James McGreevey, New Jersey, News | Permalink
MJ, everything you say just sounds nutty. Are you Irish yourself? Have you had some kind of bad experience? You keep writing in these circular wasy that are just confusing. If there are specific incidents you can refer to then I might have a better grasp of what you're on about but it just sounds irrational. And if people hate the Irish I don't think my mixed blood would make them like me--I have an Irish last name and look like a stereotypical Irishman. I've never encountered racial hatred for my background in New York or, for that matter, anywhere.
Posted by: Daniel | Apr 25, 2007 8:12:31 PM
Daniel, don't pay attention to MJ. He's just another troll who was making a comment in the Rudy "Patriot Act" Giuliani thread about gay men being juvenile for not endorsing the fear mongering platform of his favorite republican candidate.
MJ, mattsanchez.com is that way >>
Posted by: Anon | Apr 25, 2007 8:39:17 PM
No, I'm not Irish, Daniel, so I hear what is said amongst New York gays when the Irishman leaves. Repeatedly. Over years. Now, I'll grant you, there could be other things involved. As I pointed out above, the anti-Irish hostility was almost entirely from gays of Protestant background, and rarely from those born and raised right in NYC. Did you go back and read the Finnerty post I referenced above? If not, if you're going to ignore evidence, you can't fairly say what I'm saying is nutty. (Anon.: Yes, I'd like everybody to go read my Giuliani posts. Thanks). -MJ
Posted by: MJ | Apr 25, 2007 9:13:27 PM
What do people say when an Irishman leaves the room? And now you're saying it's not all the gays in New York, it's only the Protestants and those who weren't born and raised in NYC. How often have you heard gay men bashing the Irish? In what situations? And again, as you accused me of doing, you're applying your own experiences to everyone else. Maybe it's just the people you hang around or the bars you go to. Also, if you're not Irish why do you care so much?
Posted by: Daniel | Apr 26, 2007 1:54:18 PM
In looking at the Finnerty comments--yes there were ugly statements (though it seems that the one making most of them was of Irish desent himself) but they were nothing compared to the ugliness of the racist statements that were pouring out about Isaiah Washington or some of the sports figures on this site.
You can't take what people type on a website as proof of a whole community's bias. First, on a website you will to a certain extent attract people with these kind of hatreds. Second, because of the anonymity people will express things they wouldn't in a normal situation.
Posted by: Daniel | Apr 26, 2007 2:07:06 PM
Dan : "The Irish are stupid." "The Irish are primitive." "The Irish aren't very good horsemen" (totally untrue). "All the Irish know how to do is drink and fight." "Irish Catholics are the worst. The only Catholics as good as us (Protestants) are the French ones." "All the firemen in NY are Irish" (this is meant as a double put down of firemen and Irish). "All Irish guys are soooo ugly." (at that point I'd shut them up by bringing up Tony Dow or Paul Walker, etc) The reason I care a lot is because I've seen so many very hot and very nice queer Irish-American boys from Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, etc., who don't have anything to do with the "gay community" in Manhattan because of the unfriendliness, so a guy like me who likes them had to miss out on their company. And yes, I never said some gays weren't racist against blacks too, but that's a known thing. So if that's fair to talk about..then why not the peculiar anti-Irish hostility? Keep in mind, Finnerty was vindicated of any rape, and the "queer-bashing" was nothing more than throwing air-punches. Yet, even regarding other queer-bashings that are real and involve murder, we never ever see ethnic slurs about a Caucasian, a Russian, an Italian, a Hungarian-American, etc, with the anti-Irish hostility for Finnerty. So those "few" posts on the Finnerty thing are highly reflective of the community at large. Look, I'm not happy about trying to convince you of this. I wish it wasn't so. And, if you haven't experienced it, maybe it's a good sign that things are changing. And my mentioning that it was primarily gay upper crust white Protestants (or wannabes) who expressed such anti-Irish sentiments is just myself (and others) searching for the reasons behind it: is it a snobbery thing, is it a Protestant thing, a resentment over the natives from those who move to New York from elsewhere, part of the general dislike "ghetto gays" have for men and boys who appear straight (a little too hetero, a little too tough and bruisery) which is what most of their Brooklyn and Queens "rejects" were. I'll leave it at that, and just keep my eyes open as an observer. I certainly don't mean any hostility or battle with you here. I'm sure you're a cool, and probably cute, guy. I'm just telling you and others, Irish and non-Irish, to keep your eyes open, make your own observations, even about the topics and posts you'll see on blogs like Towleroad, and....you'll either see that I'm right, partially-right, or wrong.
Posted by: MJ | Apr 26, 2007 4:11:53 PM
I still don't see what you've written here as evidence of wide-spread anymosity towards the Irish by the gay people of Manhattan. You still haven't told me the circumstances you heard these things--and was it only one time or repeatedly?
My partner is Irish, I'm part Irish and we've never encountered any problems while in Manhattan.
I'm sorry you had to hear this kind of racist speech, and as a Celt I'm glad you stood up to them, but I don't see it as a reason to paint every gay man in Manhattan as anti-Irish.
Posted by: Daniel | Apr 26, 2007 6:33:56 PM
Also, I find it amusing that anyone would say use "they aren't good horsemen" as an insult (I mean--really?) And considering all of the great art and literature produced by the Irish I can't take these people seriously.
Posted by: Daniel | Apr 26, 2007 6:51:33 PM
I'm sure I'm repeating what many have written already, but if he's claiming that she knew he was gay, then the implication is that he would out to himself....so why the hell did he marry her? He's really looking like a slimeball.
Posted by: Greggie | Apr 28, 2007 5:34:37 PM
This guy is so gross to me. How fucking childish is it to put all-caps in a sworn legal document.
I can understand the pressures that keep people closeted late in life, but his kind of self-serving duplicity is pretty hard to respect, and jumping on the activist bandwagon after he had to be forced out looks like nothing but opportunism.
Again I say gross.
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