American - Politician | August 6, 1957 -
Inauthenticity is endemic in American politics today. The political backrooms where I spent much of my career were just as benighted as my personal life, equally crowded with shadowy strangers and compromises, truths I hoped to deny. I lived not in one closet but in many.
James McGreevey
LifeTodayPoliticsPoliticalCareer
As I climbed the electoral ladder - from state assemblyman to mayor of Woodbridge and finally to governor of New Jersey - political compromises came easy to me because I'd learned how to keep a part of myself innocent of them.
MyselfMePoliticalEasyNewLadder
As a child, recognizing my difference from other kids, I went to the local public library to try to better understand my reality. Back then, many library card catalogues didn't even list 'homosexuality' as a topic.
ChildLibraryRealityBetterBack
No relief was forthcoming from my then-Catholic faith, which said the practice of homosexuality was a 'mortal sin' subject to damnation.
FaithPracticeSinSaidRelief
But being in the closet uniquely assisted me in politics. From my first run for the state legislature until my election as governor, all too often I was not leading but following my best guess at public opinion.
BestPoliticsMeOpinionElection
For me, living in the closet corroded my ability to have an honest, open relationship with my God, my loved ones, my constituency and myself.
GodRelationshipMyselfMeLoved
I have two extraordinary daughters, who, I can say proudly, are doing very well in school and in piano. Daughters are a father's joy.
FatherSchoolJoyDoingI CanSay
I'm on the board of a national group called Faith in America. It's designed to fight religious-based bigotry.
FaithFightAmericaGroupBoard
I think - I think you have a conscience growing up in a loving family with a nurturing community. And I think what happens is, and that's part of the problem of being in the closet which is a very sick place. I mean it's self loathing. It's self denial. And you keep that separate.
FamilyCommunityGrowing UpSickYou
Being gay is a fundamental part of my being - the core of who I've always been, and the thing that I had repressed and run from all my life.
LifeMy LifeGayRunAlwaysCore
More than anything else I recall being, or trying very deliberately to be, a perfect child. Not a Goody Two-shoes, but a kid who did good, who worked hard and met every expectation. I strove to achieve in the excessive way that psychotherapists tend to regard with concern.
GoodChildTryingPerfectAchieve
When I came out publicly, some photo editors had a field day searching for pictures of me with a limp wrist or some other stereotypical gay signifier - as though, after decades in the public eye, they'd suddenly come across a trove of shots where I looked like a Cher impersonator.
DayMeEyeGayPicturesSearching
Copyright © 2024 QuotesDict James McGreevey quotes