Perhaps. But I do think it’s strange that he’s arguing about whether McGreevey is bisexual or gay. That’s just odd.

And I do think it seems more about him than McGreevey. Feel free to disagree.

As for the claim that bisexual men are usually just gay men who are lying to themselves, might I suggest that this view reflects the hostility of some gay men to any men not completely on their team, as it were?

Well I am sensing hostility but it isn’t from me. 🙂

Actually the joke is based on personal experience. Most gay men my age were “bisexual” (though never remotely attracted to the opposite sex) on the way to acknowleging their attractions. The social risk was lower.

I understand that’s not so much the case anymore. And I suspect that the percentage of “bisexual” men who are really bisexual has increased.

As for the claim that bisexual men are usually just gay men who are lying to themselves, might I suggest that this view reflects the hostility of some gay men to any men not completely on their team, as it were?

I don’t think either man is particularly truthful. The point that supports McGreevey over Cipel is that Cipel is going around arguing about his sexuality rather than about the fact that he has been accused of the crime of extortion. The man seems to have skewed priorities.

As to McGreevey’s orientation, it’s pretty clear that he is either wholely or significantly attracted to the same sex. And this distinction appears to be important to no one other than Cipel. Cipel seems insistent that the ex-gov be bisexual rather than gay, a distinction that he’s not qualified to make, and one that seems motivated by a reflection on himself rather than McGreevey.

The book talks at length about the McGreevey’s sexual liasons with women and of his own motivations. There is no doubt about his sexual activity with women. As to his motives, considering his record with dishonesty, I neither believe nor disbelieve his claims.

But I do think it interesting that Cipel is insistent. He could has simply said, “I didn’t know Jim was gay and I certainly never was involved with him in any sexual way”. But he seems to think McGreevey’s orientation is a reflection on him and feels that he needs to downplay McGreevey’s same-sex activities and promote his opposite sex ones.

It is this insistence that makes me suspect that Cipel is lying. It sounds too much like those who cannot admit to themselves that they are gay and so they say they are bisexual – or in this case that McGreevey is.

It reminds me of the old joke that the definition of a bisexual is a gay man on his way out of the closet. And while I don’t argue that bisexuality doesn’t exist, there is some truth to the joke.