Ever since New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey held a press conference in which he solemnly admitted to a homosexual extramarital affair, and with visible relief announced, “My truth is that I am a gay American,” there has been a photo circulating that makes me laugh and ponder.

The photo, taken at the press conference, is of the governor. His jaws are tight. He is grimacing. His eyes are cast downward as he makes his heard-around-the-world admission. To his right is McGreevey’s wife, Dina, with a smile/smirk plastered on her face. She is looking at her hubby with apparent disdain and a hint of disgust.

Her priceless expression appears to say: “If I could kill you and get away with it, Jimbo, you’d be dead right now, sucka!”

To Dina’s right is the governor’s mother. She appears petrified. Stone-faced. Catatonic.

To McGreevey’s left is his father, arms crossed in front of his body with the rigidity of two steel beams. Dad is looking upward, resembling a bug-eyed Rodney Dangerfield, staring toward the ceiling or – or maybe the heavens.

The look on his face appears to say: “Can you believe this! I gave him footballs and everything any boy could want as a kid! This is some bull manure! I don’t believe my son is announcing that he had a homosexual affair with a guy who says he ain’t even gay! And Jim’s been married twice!”

The photo – which for my money has Pulitzer Prize written all over it – moved me to consider just how different the local and national reactions would be if Gov. McGreevey were a married African American elected official who admitted to a consensual homosexual affair while he was under a cloud for scandal after ethical lapse.

Despite pledging to “change the way Trenton does business,” as the governor promised in his inaugural address, apparently he simply changed the way business is done to meet his needs. Meanwhile for the past two decades of his political life, McGreevey adequately beat back rumors about his sexual orientation.

But in a nation that still spins on its race-based socio-economic axis, could a gay black man have lasted as long as McGreevey without being outed? Would his wife have not known that he was attracted to men? For that matter, would he have been elected governor in the first place if the gay rumors flew like ragweed in an industrial park?

The way I see it, if Gov. McGreevey were black, his wife would’ve had more than sneaky suspicions years ago that her husband was attracted to men (perhaps McGreevey’s wife did as well but managed her reactions). Any time the media publicly questions the sexual preference of your husband based on rumors and innuendoes dropped over the transom, most black women – particularly those in the public eye – generally aren’t going to wait until the day before you go public to find out if you like men as much as you like her.

If Gov. McGreevey were black, there’s a strong probability that the national gay community would’ve outed him earlier, and faster than you can say “Little Richard.” For ardent gay activists, what better symbol of sexual, racial and political diversity than a black, statewide-elected, married, Catholic gay man to lift up as your poster child? Talk about five for one. …

If Gov. McGreevey were black, African American Baptist preachers would have already waxed apoplectic from the pulpit. He would have been derided as a symbol of all that’s unacceptable in God’s sight. He would have been privately asked by national black church organizations to repent, divorce his wife, refrain from requesting joint custody of his kids, attend sexual orientation reversal classes – and asked to relocate to the Philippines under a nom de plume.

If Gov. McGreevey were black, he would’ve have single-handedly been responsible for the sale of 300,000 more copies of the book “On The Down Low,” which examines the lives and lifestyles of black men who sleep with other men but don’t consider themselves gay. The black wives of pro athletes, entertainers and politicians would’ve purchased 297,000 copies of those newly sold books.

Black women who can’t get their boyfriends to marry them after dating 13 years would’ve bought the other 3,000 copies.