Rob Frydlewicz: Governor McGreevey Makes a Surprising Announcement, August 12, 2004

It was late on a Thursday afternoon and I was finishing the exit interview of our department's summer intern at the media buying/planning company I worked at. As we chatted I heard the soft "ping" from my computer indicating incoming mail so I casually glanced at the screen and saw a CNN Breaking News alert. It reported that New Jersey's 47-year old Democratic governor, Jim McGreevey, was stepping down upon revealing at a news conference that "my truth is that I am a gay American".

What precipitated this action was McGreevey's admission that he had been involved in an adulterous affair with his former 36-year male homeland security adviser (left). The adviser was planning to press sexual harassment charges and the governor's actions were taken to pre-empt this from happening. The aide, Israeli citizen Golan Cipel, vigorously denied the affair and claimed McGreevey made three advances that were rebuffed.

After a few years of tawdry headlines and talk show appearances in which he and his wife discussed his closeted life (both penned books), McGreevey's life has since settled down. He lives with his well-off male partner in the "gay suburb" of Plainfield, New Jersey. After earning a Master of Divinity degree his request to become an ordained priest in the Episcoopal Church was turned down (for now). Presently he works as a counselor with ex-prisoners at a halfway house in Newark.