Portland's Mayor and the Situation.

The Oregonian posted this today- “With an official investigation looming and calls for his resignation mounting, Portland Mayor Sam Adams changed his story Tuesday about when his relationship with a teenage legislative intern turned romantic, if not sexual. In an interview Tuesday with The Oregonian, Adams acknowledged that he and Beau Breedlove, then 17, expressed an attraction toward each other at a 2005 lunch that Adams, 42 at the time, previously had described as purely professional.”

The Portland Mayor is openly gay, won by a landslide when elected, admitted he lied about a sexual relationship in 2005 (he previously said he didn’t have one and now says he did), the person in that relationship may or may not have been under 18, and the Mayor will not resign.

Hmm.

I don’t know what to say about this one. My first thought is that we should not judge the mayor, not for being gay nor for any other potential offenses. Judging has a way of boomeranging back to us and well, none of us have a right to judge. My second thought is that he lied during the middle of a campaign. If the truth had come out, would he have won? We don’t know. But he did win and here we are now. My third thought is that there are consequences to actions and he should pay those. Since we don’t know if the person involved was a minor or not (the Mayor says he was over 18 during the relationship) and since when both consenting adults are above 18 there is no law against a relationship, the only thing that he did wrong was lie. Should he be forced to resign because of a lie?

I don’t think so. I don’t take homosexuality lightly, but I believe in the right of every person experiencing freedom and prosperity regardless of their personal decisions. I don’t take casual sex between two consenting adults lightly but everyone has free will and should be able to live free of guilt (from themselves or others) regardless of their decisions. I don’t take the Mayor lying in office (or during the campaign) lightly either. But I must say that Willamette Weekly brought this out and he has confessed. I like that. I think he strategically did it while the inauguration was going on so he wouldn't be front page in the press, but whatever.  

I think he should stay on as Portland’s mayor, but it really doesn’t matter what I think, I live in Vancouver.