Aug 15th, 2004
Quoted in NYT Article about McGreevey
Today’s edition of the New York Times quotes me under the headline, “Sex, Ambition and the Politics of the Closet: A Double Life” by Michael Slackman and Andrew Jacobs.
The article puts Governor McGreevey’s disclosure in context of the overwhelming homophobia that pressures public figures to remain in the closet.
According to experts, the often elaborate mechanisms employed to sustain the double life only make it more difficult for the closeted public official to find a way out of fear and guilt.
And when the truth finally does come out, many people stand to get hurt, said Abigail Garner, a writer whose father revealed that he was gay when she was a child.
“The children have to rethink their whole understanding of what their families were,” said Ms. Garner, the author of Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is. “They wonder if the very foundation of their family was based on an untruth. It turns everything else upside down.”
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Additional reading about coming out of a marriage is online at Answers from Abigail:
Married 45 years, a 75-year-old husband might not be straight after all.
Read more…
A man is shocked to learn his wife of 27 years is lesbian.
Read more…
Always good to see you in print, Abigail.
I’m pretty conflicted about the whole McGreevey issue. While I think it took guts to come out, it really as just a smoke screen to cover up his other scandals.
The man was a corrupt politician. Rallying around somelike like that to be the gay role model ain’t that great.
I also find it interesting that the article talks about how it’s easier now to be out in politics. I can’t imagine, even now, that an openly gay candidate would ever win a govenership.
I’d be interested to see if McGreevey reappears in a few years in politics and how he’ll position himself.
That’s awesome you made the new york times. you should frame that one. my guess is you’ll be getting even more calls from reporters as an expert…
Personally, I think this McGreevey thing is pretty great. All this tragedgy stuff is pure spin.
It may be a media manipulation, but it will do us all good. People are talking about this, thinking about the tragedy of him living a lie, empathizing with him. And even if it is spin, the story is a story i have heard a million times. It’s my father’s story. It’s Barney Frank’s story — and he does have a good chance of getting elected to the senate. and that is statewide office just like governor. so i disagree that the country isn’t ready for a gay governor.
As for corruption, that is nothing new in New Jersey.
I saw this over my Sunday breakfast and was so excited. I was just thinking that McGreevey needs your book and then there you were in print.
The book is creating a life of its own which is a testament to its value and excellence. Yay!