N.J. Governor to Resign Amid Lawsuit

Aug. 13, 2004 -- New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey rocked the political world Thursday by announcing that he is gay and will resign in November. ABC News has learned that a male former aide is filing a sexual misconduct lawsuit against the governor in a New Jersey court.

McGreevey, who is married, acknowledged he "engaged in an adult consensual affair with another man." He said he will resign effective Nov. 15.

"My truth is that I am a gay American," he said at a hastily called news conference, his wife at his side.

Even as he made the announcement, a lawsuit was expected to be filed by his former homeland security adviser, Golan Cipel, in Mercer County, N.J., Court, sources told ABC News.

"Shamefully, I engaged in an adult consensual affair with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony," McGreevey said, without mentioning the lawsuit. "[It was] wrong, foolish and inexcusable. I ask the forgiveness of my wife. She has been extraordinary throughout the ordeal, blessed by virtue of love and strength."

"Let me be clear: I accept total and full responsibility for my actions. However, I am required to do now what is right, to correct the consequences of my actions, and to be truthful to my loved ones, friends, family and myself."

McGreevey, 47, is married to Dina Matos and has two daughters, ages 11 and 2, one with a former wife. He mentioned all of them in his remarks, and explained that he struggled with his identity most of his life.

"Throughout my life, I have grappled with my own identity, who I am," he said. "As a young child, I often felt ambivalent, in fact confused, by virtue of my traditions and community."

"Yet from my early days in school until the present day, I acknowledged some feeling, a certain sense separated from others, because of my resolve, doing the right thing," he said. "I forced what I thought was an acceptable reality onto myself, a reality which is layered and layered with all the quote good things and all the quote right things of typical adolescence and adult behavior."