Jean Coaxum, one of the staff members of Exodus Transitional Community, stands outside the Church of Living Hope in East Harlem with Jim McGreevey.

Former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey, who riveted the nation when he came out as a gay American in 2004, is now the symbol of fallen Governors.  When Eliot Spitzer stepped down from the New York governorship in the midst of his own sex scandal, Spitzer and his wife were even charged with copying the McGreeveys’ fashion (it is uncanny).

The comparisons between Spitzer and McGreevey were apt, since they were both active Democratic politicians in neighboring states around the same time, both were frequently mentioned as strong Presidential contenders, and both of their sex scandals were seen as hubris personified.

With South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, whose Argentinian affair is not only hubris but also hypocrisy personified, McGreevey emerged again to offer advice that he should proceed with humility.

“I’m filled with a sense of pain and anguish for him and for his family,” McGreevey said in an interview. “I think it was a very human moment.”

Sanford is only one in a recent list of “Love Govs” who have admitted to affairs.  They include the aforementioned McGreevey and Spitzer; Jim Gibbons of Nevada; and David Paterson of New York.

I have known Jim McGreevey since 2007, when I photographed him as part of my public art project that Wikipedia hosts.  At the time I was attending Saint Bartholomew’s in Manhattan on one of my many failed quests to find spirituality.  St. Bart’s also happened to be where McGreevey, his partner Mark O’Donnell and his daughter Jacqueline attended service.  One day I approached him to ask if I could do his portrait.  He still possessed the boyish good looks and charm that were evident even at the height of his scandal.

However, he possessed more than that: he also displayed humility and an inner peace.  He is in a healthy, happy relationship with Mark as he studies to become an Episcopal priest.  He is giving back to others who have made mistakes, often because they were caught up in the circumstances of their lives.

Jim McGreevey and black Jesus at the Church of Living Hope in East Harlem. Click on the image to see more.

Gay people mostly forgave McGreevey for his affair when it came to light five years ago.  We are well aware of the many ludicrous situations that occur because men, particularly in McGreevey’s generation, have been forced to live their lives in the closet.  That he is living such an honorable and giving life freed from the shame of the closet is testament to the real Jim McGreevey.

McGreevey volunteers at Exodus MinistriesTransitional Community at the Church of Living Hope in East Harlem, New  York, which tries to help newly-released prisoners learn life skills and handle the significant challenges that ex-convicts face.   It’s not just job-hunting.  One of the photographs below shows Jim helping one young man figure out how to set up a free e-mail account on Yahoo.  With limited access to computers, the guy had no idea how to do this.  This is not atypical.  We take this kind of knowledge for granted, assuming everyone knows how to set up free e-mail.  They don’t.

The gifts that McGreevey brings to these formerly-incarcerated men and women are vast.  He still retains many of the contacts and friendships in government that he had when he was Governor, which has been a Godsend to a program that needs state assistance to function.   McGreevey knows  how the system works; he knows resources that are available to these people; and he is gifted with an ability to teach and reach them.

Many of these men and women don’t know who McGreevey is; they were not exactly following politics before their imprisonment.  Nevertheless, it was obvious that they sensed in Jim that he knows tremendous mistakes, and he knows how to overcome them.

Of course, the tabloids, the Mark Sanfords and the Larry Craigs of the world will probably never forgive him.  But who cares.  Certainly not the men in these photos below, who see the same McGreevey that I see, and not the caricature who exists in the pages of the press.

UPDATE:  The correct name is Exodus Transitional Community.  There is a Dallas-based group named Exodus Ministries that does prisoner rehabilitation as well (You may remember Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers served on the Dallas group’s board, which was mistakenly thought to be the ex-gay group Exodus International).  I was told they are affiliated with Dallas, but then later told that they are not.

Alvin Williams, one of Exodus’ intake counselors, talks to newly-released men about readjusting to life outside of prison, and the services that Exodus has to offer them.

McGreevey talks to the young men about life skills and how to re-engage society.

McGreevey and an Exodus counselor help a young man set up a free e-mail account.  Many of these people have challenges, such as lack of access to computers, that many of us can not fathom.

McGreevey stands in front of James de la Vega‘s East Harlem mural of legendary Nuyorican poet Pedro Pietri.

These images are licensed Creative Commons and are part of a public art project.  Click here to learn more.

“There is a right to privacy but not a right to hypocrisy,” openly gay Rep. Barney Frank ( D-Mass.)

Florida Governor Charlie Crist is gay, in the closet, votes against his own interests–surprise, he’s a Republican–as a gay man, and he recently announced that he is running for the U.S. Senate.  Wow.  So says a new film (and the gay press for years).

My most-read post is the one where I became the second person to out Fox News anchor Shepard Smith as gay; Smith hit on me at a bar in 2002 after we were introduced through a mutual friend.   Now the film Outrage, by Academy Award-nominated director Kirby Dick, confirms what I wrote: yes, the prime time anchor of the anti-gay Fox News is in the closet, and afraid to come out. Watch the trailer to the movie:

Conservatives who hate are in quite an uproar about the recent spate of outings of their top political figures in Dick’s film.

This is known as chickies coming home to roost.

When politicians continually effort to be elected based upon moral crusading, and their party continually codifies hate into its platform, they should not be surprised when the public exposes their hypocrisy and dishonesty when those politicians tow the party line whilst living double lives.

See related story: Photos of former NJ Gov. Jim McGreevey and his former prisoner ministry in Harlem.

Most Republicans are upset about this revelation of truth, more than they are upset that they have leaders who don’t follow what they purport to believe.  It’s getting tougher to be a Republican today: they don’t know what to believe nor the reality of those for whom they are voting.

That the mainstream media laps up and reports any hint of drug or sex scandal about public officials, but lets them remain in the closet when their hypocritical anti-gay votes hurt many people, is a scandal in itself.

David Shankbone and Ed Koch in 2008. Koch, long known for his refusal to admit that he is gay, is outed for the billionth time in the film Outrage.

Here’s the gay hypocrites parade:

• Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho – 2007 arrest on suspicion of lewd conduct for soliciting gay sex in a Minneapolis airport men’s room ended his political career.
• U.S. Rep. Edward L. Schrock, R-Va., who retired in 2004 after he was outed by the Advocate.
• Governor Charlie Crist, R-FL – a supporter of the state’s ban on gay adoption.  The film notes a long-ago six-month marriage to a woman now living with a female partner; two sources who separately told a reporter about two different men who claimed relationships with Crist; 2006 gubernatorial rival Max Linn saying Crist told him years ago that he was gay; and a former girlfriend, Kelly Heyniger, who responded when contacted by the filmmakers: “I think I should just keep my mouth shut … call me in 10 years and I’ll tell you a story.”
• Former Mayor Ed Koch, D-NYC – remains closeted while publicly opposing legislation on issues such as same-sex marriage, HIV/AIDS funding, and gays in the military.
• Rep. David Dreier, R-CA – In the last Congress, Dreier received a 10 percent rating from the gay advocacy group Human Rights Campaign. Over his career he has opposed, among other things, measures to protect gay people against job discrimination and to add sexual orientation as a federal hate-crime category, which would enable prosecution of such offenses by federal authorities.
• Ken Mehlman, former Republican National Committee Chairman
• Jim McCrery, former Republican Louisiana congressman.  Scored 0% by the HRC on gay rights.

Kirby Dick also outs Shepard Smith.  When asked why he focused on this one journalist amongst all the politicians, the filmmaker’s answer to the Huffington Post reflects my own reasons for outing Shepard Smith:

And if you do out closeted politicians, what about other folks in the public sphere? Actors? Television personalities? Journalists? Pundits? When is it not okay to out someone?

My film focuses primarily on hypocrisy of politicians who are entrusted to uphold the rights of all citizens equally. Closeted gays and lesbians in the other professions you mention have not been elected to enact laws that affect the entire citizenry, and they are not usually acting hypocritically. The film does report on one journalist, Shepard Smith, who was first reported on by Kevin Naff of the Washington Blade. Shepard Smith works for Fox News, which has been a major factor in the rise of anti-gay hysteria in this country over the past two decades. As one of the most prominent people in Fox News—according to the New York Times, Smith makes 7 to 8 million dollars per year—his complicity with the network’s homophobic agenda rises to a level of hypocrisy that I felt was worthy of reporting.

So what about it, Republicans?  Are you going to nix popular Governor Charlie Crist, who recently announced he is running for the US Senate in Florida, because he is not honest about who he is, and because gay people are bad?  Is Crist going to finally come out of the closet, accept who he is, and run as a gay man?  Are the Republicans going to get over their moral crusades, the same ones that are helping them to remain losers at the ballot box as voters tire of their culturally divisive campaigns?

The questions over who is “questioning” remain unresolved as we prepare for the 2010 election, but it’s time for the media to stop letting the dishonesty and hypocrisy go unchecked.  Live up to your Fourth Estate responsibilities, mainstream media.