Should we crucify Portland's gay mayor?

PORTLAND, OR

A Portland city commissioner called for an investigation and others asked for a resignation Tuesday after Mayor Sam Adams apologized for his relationship with an 18-year-old man.
Adams, a 45-year-old Democrat, admitted Monday that he lied about a relationship with Beau Breedlove, a former teenage intern.

City commissioner Randy Leonard, who defended Adams when the allegations first arose, said he's not happy that Adams misled him and the public. He is especially concerned that Adams asked Breedlove to help in the cover-up.

"The part I'm having trouble with is the thing he did was to ask the young man to lie," Leonard said. "That I'm having a hard time understanding."

In September 2007, undeclared mayoral candidate Bob Ball accused Adams and Breedlove of having a sexual relationship when Breedlove was 17 years old. At the time, Adams and Breedlove denied having a sexual relationship.

Months later, Adams coasted to victory in the 2008 election, making Portland the largest U.S. city to ever elect an openly gay mayor. He was sworn in Jan. 1.
On Tuesday, however, Adams apologized for lying about the relationship. He first admitted the sexual relationship to the Willamette Week as it prepared to publish evidence of the relationship. Adams, 45, said he was concerned that people wouldn't believe him that he waited until after Breedlove turned 18 years old to have sex.

At a news conference Tuesday, Adams was also questioned on the hiring of former Portland Mercury newspaper reporter Amy Ruiz.
Ruiz joined Adams' staff in December as a planning and sustainability policy adviser. At one point, she had confronted the mayor about the relationship with Breedlove. Adams insists her hiring is not linked to her investigation.

Political analyst Tim Hibbitts said it's too early to determine how the scandal will affect Adams' future; however, he said it raises many questions.
"First is the question of the sexual affair -- over 18, under 18," Hibbitts said. "The second is question of judgment. The third is a question of abuse of power, related to the position of Mrs. Ruiz in the sustainability office."

Adams said he did not plan to resign, but said he would consider it if it's in the city's best interests.

Full disclosure - I'm a Portland native who still votes there, and I voted for Sam Adams.

I'm simply having trouble believing that Adams lying about who he's having sex with should be such a serious matter.
People are comparing him to Clinton, Bob Packwood, etc. despite the fact that
(a) he was not married so didn't commit or attempt adultery.
(b) he was only a city commissioner... hardly the kind of power differential that exists when a President or Senator decides they fancy someone.
(c) the things he did to keep this quiet (I would argue) have more to do with his own fears about people's reaction to in-your-face gayness than a 43 year old having sex with an 18 year old... Fears that are in no way unfounded, it would seem.

beau breedlove?

best sex scandal name since licking valley.

one state-commissioned themed porno based on the affair & one week community service acting as butler to heterosexual christian family seems like it should heal all wounds

beau breedlove has to be a stage name or something right

Truth VS Fiction = delight & wonder

What's not delightful or wonderful is the way he's being keel-hauled in Portland right now.

i want to be sympathetic here, but a 40-something guy having sex with a 17- or 18-year-old intern is seriously skeezy, no matter the genders involved.

also, politicians, if your intern's name is BEAU BREEDLOVE, that's god's way of saying, BAD IDEA.

http://www.bgay.com/imnews/Adams_Breedlove.jpg

Local officials ask Ore. AG to probe Portland Mayor Sam Adams

i want to be sympathetic here, but a 40-something guy having sex with a 17- or 18-year-old intern is seriously skeezy, no matter the genders involved.

― tipsy mothra, Thursday, January 22, 2009 12:04 AM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark

Skeezy, agreed, but damn do I just not care at all. I'm fine with my mayor being skeezy if he does good things, which I think he will if he can get past this.

God, what a shitty past three months or so to care about GLBT issues. "Hooray, Obama got elected! Wait, fuck you, Prop 8." "Well, at least you've got Inauguration Day! Wait, fuck you, Rick Warren." "Well, at least we elected a gay mayor! No, fuck you fuck you fuck you."

Just repeal DOMA so my uncles can have affordable healthcare already and I'll call it a wash.

PDX needs a Skeezy mayor! For real.

I just get the very bad feeling that this has waaaay more to do with people being uncomfortable with the idea of hot fags getting it on than it does anything to do with politics or integrity or anything else. You can almost see the moralists popping out of the woodwork to scream "YOU will BURN".

I also get the distinct impression that a good number of the people who are making a stink about this live in the Portland suburbs, and hence can't vote for the Mayor anyway. The Oregonian newspaper interviewed an enraged idiot from the richy-rich enclave of Lake Oswego who came downtown to protest... Guess what? They don't vote for Portland's Mayor. Hence, STFU.

I really hope he just say "I lied about my sex life because it's none of your damn business, investigate me all you want, I didn't do anything wrong and will let it distract me a little as possible from the business of this city" and never says another word.

says

A bump for our PDX people who are just waking up...

http://www.bgay.com/imnews/Adams_Breedlove.jpg

sexay couple

I really hope he just say "I lied about my sex life because it's none of your damn business, investigate me all you want, I didn't do anything wrong and will let it distract me a little as possible from the business of this city" and never says another word.

― en i see kay, jueves 22 de enero de 2009 0:54

I totally agree.

Beau Breedlove has to be one of the porniest names ever invented.

Oh, just wait until Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels (haw! speaking of porn names) gets caught at a bathhouse.

This is such bullshit. I DON'T FUCKING CARE. Dude who was not married and who is prevented from marrying by state law got himself busy with a comically named yet still legally consenting adult. Don't fucking care.

Little skeezy or inappropriate due to age difference? Perhaps, but don't. fucking. care.

Tho I wonder how much of this from other elected officials in city hall is the little bit of resentment from the fact that Sam has been quite popular and a local celeb for years.

not all that substantively different from Bill & Monica, and that fallout was BS, ja?

not exactly a parallel situation

the sexual politics of this make it complicated, but any mayor of a decent-sized city -- even an unmarried straight one -- would get a lot of grief for bonking a teenage intern. there's the age issue and the intern issue. and i actually think public officials screwing teenage interns sort of is a matter of public interest. ok, it wasn't his intern, but it's still someone he met in the course of his official work. i'm not saying it's a resignation-level thing, and i know he's apologized and maybe that's enough. but the knee-jerk "none of our business" thing seems a bit off to me. if this was a straight 40-yr-old politico making a special trip out of town for a girl's 18th birthday, i'm not sure people'd be quite so blase.

We should totally crucify this guy, then he can rise again after three days and shout, "HA! Bet you didn't see THAT coming!" at the fundamentalists before riding off into the sunset with Anderson Cooper.

kingfish otm

dan otm

Play on, playa.

gayor

I assume 17 is the age of consent in Oregon? So even if he is lying about waiting (and I don't trust anyone who says that they waited for that special birthday, honestly), it doesn't really matter.

(I love that everyone is so taken aback by "Beau Breedlove" that "Randy Leonard" is getting a free pass.)

Oh, no, it is 18 in Oregon.

L.A. and Seattle have to catch up with Newsome and Adams.

nick otm re: "Yes, this was dumb. It won't happen again. Let's move on."

Though, anyone "older" in any high ranking position, private or public, bonking a just-above-consent person who is not in an equal ranking is asking to dive into Really Bad Idea Jeans territory.

Yeah, in a perfect world, no one would give a fuck. (no pun intended.. lulz, ok, yeah it was intended.)

Also, local dumbasses are passing around the talking point(dug out from 10 years ago it seems) of "well he LIED on this, how can we EVER trust him on ANYTHING, how can you support a politician who LIES" to the point of calling into a non-political radio show like Rick Emerson's(whose politics wander somewhere in the area of nihilism, anarchy, and massive class-based misanthropy) just to spew it again.

in a perfect world, no one would give a fuck

That doesn't sound like a perfect world to me!

on one hand the uproar is bullshit but on the other hand imo every politician has a responsibility to not have sex w/ an intern and ESPECIALLY this guy, who whether he wants it or not has a responsibility to the gay community to be more on his shit than anyone else when it comes to morals and ethics. it may not be fair to him, but something like this only adds fuel to the prop 8ers fire

pretty much everyone in a minority group knows this but really you can either be v v important or smash teenagers; you don't get to do both

yeah admittedly a hard decision - couldn't he have just kept a picture under his pillow tho?

oh ill bet it was a hard decision

a HARD decision, if you follow me

HI DERE, it was joek

so was mine!

(ie I like fucking! A world where none are given out is not at all perfect!)

beau breedlove is obv a fictional character that somehow landed in our world so the mayor shouldn't really be judged that harshly i don't think

sad no one caught the "dive into Bad Idea Jeans" line ;_;

yes, yes, we got that one

gay mayor to cash cash thread

jordan otm

Here's how I see it.

The real problem is that, while the mayor and the intern both state now that there was no sex before the intern was 18, the mayor and the intern have already showed they are willing to lie about the facts. So even if there the truth is impossible to prove or disprove by now and there is no evidence to convict him, there is no evidence to exonerate him, either. This situation creates reasonable grounds for suspicion that a crime took place.

If they had come out and told the same story a year ago and stuck to it, then even though the same suspicions may have arisen, they would have been resolved by the voters before the election, and if Adams had won he could just get on with it. That opportunity is lost.

What will happen now is the public will listen to the story and decide if they believe it. If they don't really believe it (and seriously, why should they?) he is toasted.

I'm a Portlander who supports Sam Adams as mayor. I don't give a shit if Beau was 17.

I do think the lying and defamation of opponents is an issue, and once again, it's disappointing to have a politician who obscures facts, rather than owning the truth.

But all politicians are corrupt, so what are you gonna do? I'm willing to settle for the public apology. It's not like he did anything violent...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Kl7yL_h95qc/SXfD0WAKnXI/AAAAAAAALmg/f_zI4v-P5lg/s400/beau.jpg

If Beau was 17 a lot of people will give a shit, Nate, even if you don't. Gotta draw a line somewhere. In Oregon the line is age 18. It is there, it is clear and it needs to be respected. This really is one of those issues where the slippery slope argument has applicability.

I'm a Portlander who supports Sam Adams as mayor. I don't give a shit if Beau was 17.

something tells me that if this was a 17 year old girl, there would be a vastly different reaction to all of this

yeah well no shit, banging a 17 year old dude ISNT as big a deal

"Hi, Beau. I obtain much hard one."
http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/nc_mark_foley_061020_ssv.jpg

I never would have guessed that Oregon's AOC is 18, the highest there can be and in a distinct minority of states (12). I always assumed it was 16 or 17, like most other states. Fortunately I have never had reason to check before.

Given this, Aimless has accurately stated the problems it entails.

If you sleep with a 17 year old, it's just a misdemeanor "contributing to delinquency" charge.

"If Beau was 17 a lot of people will give a shit, Nate, even if you don't."

Well, I'm merely stating a personal opinion. My feelings never seem to reflect that of the majority.

So the next question is, do I attend a rally in support of Sam tomorrow?

what time is nambla rally

For people who are actually IN Portland, what's the level of interest in this?
Do Portland people seem genuinely upset, supportive, or what?

From the media, it seems like hysteria is dying down, and a base of support for the Mayor is starting to emerge.
Is that the general feeling?

Well, the Stranger is trying to generate support for him on the Seattle side.

It's been the top story in the Seattle papers alongside the Microsoft layoffs.

(The Seattle times let the phrase "17-year-old" stick in the original story. How much I hate that fucking paper.)

Putting the legalities aside, it's entirely reasonable for a citizen of Portland to decide that the mayor is a creeper and prefer that he wasn't the mayor anymore.

Middle-aged person starting a relationship with a 17 year old is WTF for a lot of people and calls into question that person's judgment.

Personally, I probably don't care (not sure actually), but I wouldn't fault someone who felt differently.

That support rally is today at 5:30pm in front of City Hall, right? I think Dan Savage is going to speak there.

Can we all agree that Adams should not be crucified?

Passion of the Adams

Ugh, if I weren't working swing I'd be there.

I went past city hall yesterday, there were two (2) protesters with signs, and a news crew of four (4) interviewing them.

(The woman's poster said " Lies Don't Breed Love")

http://samisstillmymayor.blogspot.com/

Interesting post via Dan Savage on Slog

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/01/23/sam_adams_the_other_shoe_or

If this is true, Adams is more in trouble than we thought, either way.

(also, state of consent in WA is 16?)

haha, AGE of consent.

Fwiw, I agree that crucifixion would def be ott. Also, it would make for some very bad oil paintings down the line.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/01/breedlove.html

(also, state of consent in WA is 16?)

Suggest Ban Permalink
― Ashee Bolanalli (Mackro Mackro), Friday, January 23, 2009 3:57 PM Bookmark

I believe there's a sliding scale in WA. 19-yo bonks 17-yo = legal. 43-yo bonks 17-yo = not legal.

as it should be

I have a hard - excuse me, difficult - time imagining anyone defending this guy if he was straight

>>yeah well no shit, banging a 17 year old dude ISNT as big a deal

― ﾞ（ﾟ､ ｡ ７ (cankles), Thursday, January 22, 2009

actually it is. it's still an abuse of power, and encouraging the younger person to lie on your behalf doesn't help - at all. and he isn't helping "the gay cause" as Jordan said at all. as this comment on the stranger blog puts it:

I don't think Adams should resign, but I don't particularly think the cause of Sam Adams is an issue gay leaders (like you Dan, I love you but this one really should be left alone) need to be embracing and bring further publicity to.

With DOMA, DADT, Prop8, keeping the Obama administration accountable, Iranian gays being executed.....I just don't see the fundamental human right of a 40something to befriend a 17yr old and then fuck him when he hits 18 as something that should be high on the priority list. Or as an issue that helps the gay community's standing right now at a watershed tipping point. We're even less than a generation removed from the image of gay men as sleezy recruiters and playground trolls.

The Sam Adams story showed up on MSN yesterday, and guess what constituted the "related stories" to the side? News stories involving true pedophilia. Wow, thanks for the great PR as the first large city gay mayor Sam! Great image to send.

Yes, Adams legally was in the right to do what he did and people should chill out and quit throwing stones--although Oregonians haven't been that rough in my estimation. However, the gay community is not served by wrapping ourselves around this guy. He made a poor decision now he should just take the heat without facebook pages and marches and Dan Savage supporting him.

and as far as Dan Savage is concerned:

Dan had to update his sentiment after commenters started posting this Savage Love column from just months ago:

From Dan's column on July 17, 2008:

I'm a 19-year-old gay boy, and while I have tried dating guys my own age, I realized a long time ago that I am far more interested (romantically and sexually) in older men. I understand, though, that many older men out there looking for a guy my age may not have the best of intentions. Do you have any tips for someone in my situation?

Timid Whelp In Needa Knowledge

Gay men in their 30s and 40s who will date teenage boys are almost always scum, TWINK, as you've surmised. But gay guys in their 30s and 40s who will date 23-year-olds? Some are scum, of course, because some of everyone is scum, but the scum makes up a far smaller percentage of the total. And these nonscummy older men are much more likely to be interested in a 23-year-old who has his shit together.

So I would advise you to skip the older guys who'll date you now and go and get your shit together. Get your ass into a decent college, fuck the odd TA (and they're all odd) to earn a little dating-and-mating wisdom, and then, after you graduate, take your gathered figurative shit to a big city where you'll meet plenty of attractive, older men.

Oh, and all the angry middle-aged gay men out there who "date" teenage boys and don't regard themselves as scum: Spare me the angry e-mails, fellas. I didn't say that you're all scum, guys, I wrote that you're "almost always scum." Unfortunately, scum never thinks it's scum, which can make it difficult to tell the scummy ones and nonscummy ones apart, particularly for young and inexperienced guys.

end column

undoubtedly there a of homophobes exploiting this situation, BUT i just get a sick feeling seeing people try to defend actions that are pretty much indefensible by indiscriminatingly wrapping the banner of "gay rights" around the situation.

vichi with some major otmness

I have a hard - excuse me, difficult - time imagining anyone defending this guy if he was straight

people would probably just be confused, what with him boinking a dude and all. but for real i agree, i said the same thing upthread

i would fuck beau's brains out, but somehow i imagine him as a power-top.

boys like beau are totally versatile, always

true.

i also like that as a new login: 'totally versatile, always'

i should make it mine but i don't know how....how to change my name, that is (i never got off on it unlike 97% of ilx)