I'm enjoying prison ministry, particularly with the women in Hudson County Jail who have suffered tremendously in their lives.

But being in the closet uniquely assisted me in politics. From my first run for the state legislature until my election as governor, all too often I was not leading but following my best guess at public opinion.

Being gay is a fundamental part of my being - the core of who I've always been, and the thing that I had repressed and run from all my life.

When I came out publicly, some photo editors had a field day searching for pictures of me with a limp wrist or some other stereotypical gay signifier - as though, after decades in the public eye, they'd suddenly come across a trove of shots where I looked like a Cher impersonator.

I'm enjoying prison ministry, particularly with the women in Hudson County Jail who have suffered tremendously in their lives.

Civil union is less than marriage. Marriage is a sacred and valued institution and ought to be afforded equal protection.

No relief was forthcoming from my then-Catholic faith, which said the practice of homosexuality was a 'mortal sin' subject to damnation.