November 10, 2006
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
eveningsout
The pain of the closet is audible in McGreevey's book
by Terri Schlichenmeyer
Do you find it hard to be true to yourself? Can you walk into a room full of people and be who you know you are in your heart? Or are you self-conscious inside, knowing that there's a you that everyone sees but nobody really knows?
What if you tried to deny who you were, until your hidden life
exploded in an unfortunate, messy, public way?
While millions of gay men and women have come out of the closet while living in relative obscurity, what new issues emerge when that coming out process involves national headlines?
In the new audio book The Confession written and read by James E. McGreevey, you'll hear how painful covertness can be.
As he was growing up in New Jersey, McGreevey had the perfect American life. His parents were excellent
felt warmly toward women, but he says he was not attracted to them in the way that other men were.
When he met a woman he loved and respected, he was delighted. They were married and had a daughter, but the marriage didn't last. Later, McGreevey met another woman, married again and became a father
once more.
The Confion
JAMES E MCGREEVE
role models who stressed education and encouraged excellence in McGreevey and his siblings. McGreevey's father was a veteran and taught his children staunch patriotism. Theirs was a secure home in a solidly middle-class neighborhood.
McGreevey says that his religion was one of the most important things in his life, and attending Mass was something that he loved to do. He went to a Catholic school, taught by nuns and steeped in tradition and morality. McGreevey says that he entertained thoughts, at one point, of becoming a priest.
Throughout his growing-up years, McGreevey felt a pull toward other boys and men, an attraction that he didn't particularly feel toward girls. Still, he dated female classmates to the point of gaining a reputation as somewhat of a ladies' man. He
And then he fell in love-real-live, headover-heels, smitten, silly-grin-on-his-face in love with another man who worked in his office.
time,
By this McGreevey was governor of the state of New Jersey. Although he initially denied his homosexuality and hid his relationship with his lover, the whispers of scandal soon became a roar. In August 2004, after much soul-searching, McGreevey finally told the truth to his constituents and himself and resigned his political post.
Although it's nice to
use your imagination when reading, some books are better listened-to. The Confession is one of them. McGreevey narrates this political memoir himself, which adds so much more to the meaning and feeling behind what he's written.
The pain he endured comes out so clearly in this audio book, that you can almost see it in the air around your car speakers. No mere performer could have conveyed the real emotions that McGreevey displays himself, nor the sharp internal conflict between his religious belief and his personal desires. I was extremely glad he did the voice work on this honest and raw memoir.
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows. You might want to add "religion" into that mix and pick up a copy of The Confession in audio. It is truly fascinating.
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