The Advocate reports on trouble facing the mayor of Portland,Oregon. The mayor has been revered in gay/lesbian circles as a gay and out politician in a top-tier US city. Now LGBT leaders are reconsidering their support after the mayor’s admission that he lied during the recent campaign about his relationship with a political intern. Seems they have been something of a thing since they met in 2004 when the intern was 17, although the mayor insists he waited until the young acolyte was 18 to acquire carnal knowledge. Now the mayor is questioning whether he should resign because of his lies and the state attorney general is investigating (the lies? is that illegal in Oregon? or having sex with a minor? are there witnesses if the intern doesn’t complain?).
Meanwhile, some of us would have taken one look at the names of the parties involved and known no good could come of it. The young and upwardly mobile public servant named Sam Adams. The 17 year old intern named Beau Breedlove. I can hardly wait for The Onion’s take on this story.
The good news in the story is that the Portland gay newspaper, Just Out, has editorialilsed that the mayor must resign for his lies. Placing character ahead of orientation is a good thing.
