NEW YORK — I couldn’t decide today about whether to write about former New Jersey governor James McGreevey or polygamy. Both stories making big headlines. But they have something else in common. Both are cases about people living outside the mainstream, at great personal cost.

For the fundamentalist Mormons, plural marriage is God’s will. And as for Mr. McGreevey, he quote “looked deeply into…his soul to decide his unique truth in the world,” and his truth is that he is a gay American.

So what’s our truth? What’s the truth behind our interest in Jim McGreevey, his wife, his sex life? Well, it is unusual for a governor to admit that he’s gay. McGreevey was the first. In fact, it’s still out of the ordinary, in most parts of this country to be gay. And it’s downright strange to practice polygamy. All of which is ironic since this country was founded on freedom of religion and the right of individuals to live free from state interference.

Oh sure, like McGreevey, polygamy is premised on, both cases, allegations that somebody did something wrong. Laws were violated. But to tell the truth, the cases are really about society using the law to punish folks who are different.

–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor