A city torn

Unless you live under a rock, you have heard the story of Portland Mayor Sam Adams’ affair with Beau Breedlove. And, if you are a Portlander, you have had a reaction of the likely sort—disappointment, disgust, indifference or anger with the mayor or the media.

How does this situation affect Portland, its unity, its future and especially the GLBTQ community? A city that has so strongly supported Mayor Adams is torn.

This week, Adams confessed to the media that his relationship with Beau Breedlove, a then 18-year-old intern, had been sexual. This came after a few years of cover up and speculation about the relationship.

He apologized for his actions and lying about them, acknowledged that they were inappropriate, but emphasized that Breedlove had been of legal age when the relationship became sexual.

Questions remain about whether Adams did commit a crime when his connection with Breedlove turned intimate, and whether Adams will remain mayor. Will he survive this feeding frenzy?
   
“I highly doubt that this will have any kind of real impact on how people view Sam Adams, nor will it impact public perceptions on his abilities as an advocate and community leader,” says Nathan Keep of the Queer Resource Center.

One thing is for sure, Adams has done a lot for Portland, and the support for him through this ordeal has been overwhelming. I agree with many Portlanders who believe that the bedroom has no place in politics—if he broke a law, of course he should be punished. If not, his intimate life should have no bearing on our opinions or on his political career.   

“These sorts of situations really suck,” said a male who chooses to remain anonymous. “We spend all this energy and time fighting this stereotype that homosexuals are these sex-maniacs who can’t be trusted with kids, and then this sort of thing comes out.”

Keep said, “For me, this may simply play into an already deeply held perception that gay men [are] uncontrollably ‘hypersexual.'”

Many citizens are asking the question, “If Adams knew this was wrong, why would he have done such a thing and jeopardized his career?” Surely he knew this could destroy his political aspirations.

While most Portlanders are not associating this with the gay community, there are those who will. This is a devastating blow to progress in regards to tolerance and understanding. This author is hopeful that people will understand that the situation is a one-person mistake, and not indicative of an entire group.

However, in many conversations among my male peers, the issue of homosexuality seemed to change the way the relationship between Adams and Breedlove was considered.

First comments were, “So what? Sam had a relationship with a hot, 17-year-old girl? Go him!” When they were informed that Adams was homosexual, the comment was always, “Oh! Well that changes it.”

My questions about why this changed perspectives went unanswered. There could be a whole different article on theories of why homosexual relationships are seen as more deviant than heterosexual relationships, but the bottom line is that the reaction my colleagues had are there.

This is a sad example of how these situations can uncover the still lingering prejudices in the minds of society.

What is next for Adams? Speculation has run rampant about whether he will weather this storm. The Web site www.recallsamadams.com is gaining more members and hits by the day, and it seems Adams will have to work hard at the programs and positive changes he promised in order to stay in office.   

I support Sam Adams. As long as he did nothing illegal, he is only guilty of being human. It is natural to want to keep the private life private, and we cannot fault him for seeking the same respect of his personal life that we expect.