Governor James E. McGreevey of the eastern US state of New Jersey announced his resignation Thursday and acknowledged that he was a gay.

"My truth is that I am a gay American," McGreevey said at a news conference in the state. He admitted that he had engaged in "adult consensual affairs with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony."

McGreevey, a Democrat, said the resignation would be effective as of Nov. 15. State Senate President Richard J. Codey, also a Democrat, would serve as acting governor during the remainder of McGreevey's term, which ends in early 2006.

McGreevey, 47 and a father of two children, said that staying in office and keeping the affair and his sexual orientation secret would leave the governor's office "vulnerable to rumors, false allegations and threats of disclosure."

He said that given the circumstances surrounding the affair andits likely impact upon his family and ability to govern, he had decided the right course of action was to resign.

The man involved in the affair, a former government employee, demanded "an exorbitant sum of money to make it go away," a news report quoted a high-ranking administration official said.

McGreevey has become the second US governor to announce resignation in two months, following the resignation of Connecticut Republican Governor John Rowland amid corruption investigations and threats of impeachment in June.

Source: Xinhua