Free Republic

I recently ran across the following passage which is taken from the Chronicle of John Malalas: "In that year [A.D. 528] some of the bishops from various provinces were accused of living immorally in matters of the flesh and of homosexual practices. Amongst them was Isaiah, bishop of Rhodes, an ex-praefectus vigilum at Constantinople, and likewise the bishop from Diospolis in Thrace, named Alexander. In accordance with a sacred ordinance they were brought to Constantinople and were examined and condemned by Victor, the city prefect, who punished them: he tortured Isaiah severely and exiled him and he amputated Alexander's genitals...

Reaction to the gay coming out of New Jersey Governor James McGreevey has ranged from viewing his actions as heroic to hypocritical to irrelevant. Some have focused on the aftermath of his deceptions and coming out on his wife and children. These are natural reflections. It continues to be a surreal scene in my memory seeing the soon-to-be former chief executive declaring his sexuality in nationalistic terms—"I am a gay American"—along with his wife, the mother of their two year-old. However, in all of the opining, I cannot recall a commentator reflecting insightfully on any other option available to the...