admin @ Fri, 2006-09-22 11:00
UNLESS NATE BERKUS is making someone’s home fabulous or Andre Leon Talley is talking about his time in fat camp, Oprah Winfrey usually only addresses gay issues when she’s talking about closeted gay men and how they injure women. The most recent examples are her shows with J.L. King, author of “On the Down Low: A Journey into the Lives of ‘Straight’ Black Men Who Sleep with Men” and author Terry McMillan, who was accused of harassing her ex-husband after he told her he is gay.
That’s why it wasn’t surprising that the queen of daytime was interested in doing the first interview with former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey about his new book “The Confession,” in which he talks about his life in the closet and his very public coming out. The episode aired Sept. 19, the same day the book hit stores.
It’s also not surprising that the first line of questioning in the episode was about McGreevey’s wife and how she was treated in the whole ordeal. “If you’re gay, why do you marry someone knowing that you’re gay?” Winfrey asks, somewhat accusatorily.
Winfrey also says on the show, “I can’t imagine what it’s like to live this lie,” and that is the reason that, no matter how many shows she does about women harmed by closeted husbands, she will never understand this issue.
Not that McGreevey is without blame, but those who haven’t lived in the closet can’t understand its tortured logic or the harried compulsion to keep the secret at any cost, including the emotional well-being of friends, family and spouses.
And the reason “gay Americans” feel compelled to stay in the closet and hurt themselves and others is because we still live in a society rampant with homophobia, especially for someone choosing a public career like politics.
Maybe this year, Oprah should make one of her “Favorite Things” ending homophobia. By doing more to foster the acceptance of gay men and women in this country, people will stop feeling the need to hide their homosexuality and get married to people of the opposite gender. Wouldn’t it be so much easier to stop the mess from happening than to be endlessly cleaning it up?
While interviewing McGreevey, conservative co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck was waiting for any excuse to fly off her handle at the former governor, whether it was about including salacious details about his trysts in the book, not using a condom while having extra-marital affairs or not supporting same-sex marriage while in office.
Not only did McGreevey defend himself well (even though his constant evocation of “godliness” proved annoying) but O’Donnell had his back, explaining that he couldn’t support same-sex marriage because he was afraid that it would expose him.
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