Changing the channel on McGreevey

Former New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey, now openly gay, has been all over the airwaves this week, from "Oprah" to "The Today Show" hawking his new memoir "The Confession."

I've decided that next time I see him on the airwaves, I'm changing the channel because he's already turning my stomach a little.

Living in the closet sucks and I'm for anyone coming out, whether they are in public life or not. But with McGreevey, who dramatically announced on national television in Aug. 2004 that he is a "gay American," is now talking all about being "authentic." But would he be so "authentic" now if his former lover, who, McGreevey had hired for a position in his administration that he was not qualified for, not threatened to file a sexual harassment suit against the then-governor?

A strong Irish Catholic, McGreevey, 49, has been talking about how terrible life in the closet was but admits that had he not had to come clean about the blackmailing lover, he would have stayed in that closet and stayed in the Governor's mansion. So, ambition trumped authenticity.

This is not some young kid afraid of telling his parents or friends for fear of rejection. This is a man then in his mid-40s, married with children, who was living a very public lie and was planning to continue doing so. As governor, he was having sex in alleys and other seedy places and even had sex with the lover he had appointed to a state homeland security post while his wife was still in the hospital after giving birth to their child!

McGreevey was also opposed to gay marriage while he was in office but said on "Oprah" that he is now supporting it quite openly. He did, however, sign one of the nation's first civil unions bills so at least he wasn't totally self-loathing while in office.

His book is already a best-seller (number seven on Amazon.com as of Thursday) and the "Oprah" segment got huge ratings. I just hope that when a true gay American hero like Martina Navratilova writes another memoir, it gets this kind of attention. Talk about authentic!