Gay Pollies

I think I developed a slight crush tonight on the American politician, Jim McGreevey, who featured prominently on a documentary on SBS television about American politics and homosexuality.

He was the Governor of New Jersey who resigned after admitting to an extra-marital relationship with a man, thus ending both his political career, as well as his marriage. He’s quite charismatic, and physically, he’s of that clean cut, slightly nerdy look that I quite like.

The focus for the documentary – called “Outrage” – was on “closeted” American politicians.

The main narrative concerned the outing of a number of mostly conservative American politicians whose voting record was at odds with their personal lives. That is, they voted against a whole range of pro-gay legislation, and often spoke openly against gay issues, but in their personal lives were either married to a woman, or remained single, but who still engaged in same-sex sexuality activity.

It wasn’t entirely judgemental, though. There was a degree of sympathy for these men who, for a range of reasons, chose to live lives which may not have been at the essence of their core as an individual. They were of a different time. They had religious beliefs. There again, you have the simple life choices that we all make. There were many reasons offered to explain why they were the way they are, so it wasn’t entirely polemical.

I thought it was a really great documentary. I was amazed by the honesty and the way the documentary featured people who spoke openly about their relationships – including some sexual detail – with politicians. I doubt Australian defamation laws would have coped all that well with a documentary like this one.