Oregon Public Broadcasting

Portland continues to digest news that Mayor Sam Adams lied about his sexual relationship with an eighteen-year-old.  

As Sam Adams became Portland's first openly gay mayor, his private life hadn't been much of an issue. But now, it's all anyone's talking about in the city's thriving gay community. April Baer reports.

Listening to Portland's queer community, one comment  you hear again and again is: "the timing!"  Yesterday was supposed to be filled with nothing but joy and pride.

Lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered people gathered on couches and folding chairs at southeast Portland's Q Center to watch the Obama inauguration. They clearly saw Sam Adams as part of a rising tide in social justice.

Kimberlee Van Patten    "Here we are standing on the mountaintop, with our black president and our gay mayor, we were going to get this done, you know? And now I just feel like we've totally been let down."

Portlander Kimberlee Van Patten heard the news, that Adams admitted this week to having sex with an eighteen-year-old named Beau Breedlove who was interning in the state legislature.

In 2005, when he was almost 18, Breedlove met with Adams to talk about a future in politics. 

Confronted in 2007, Adams fervently denied that their contact went beyond a Platonic mentoring relationship. But this week, prodded by a Willamette Week investigation, he confessed to three to four sexual encounters, which he says happened a few weeks after Breedlove's eighteenth birthday.

Moreover, Adams says, he'd asked Breedlove to lie to reporters and the public that the sex had ever happened.

Kimberlee Van Patten    "We spend our whole lives trying to convince everyone that we're OK, that we're not broken or wrong. And -- I don't care who he slept with -- but he lied!  That's the part I can't get past. He got elected under false pretenses, 'cause we didn't know the truth, and now we have to deal with it."

Many people in the room said they were upset by Adams' judgment, both in getting involved in with someone so close to the age of consent, and in lying about it.

Many also said they needed more details before they could make up their minds. But some in the room said they were aware of the moral weight Adams carries, as the first openly-gay mayor of a large metropolitan area.

M.J. Petroni is a small business consultant.

M.J. Petroni    "Right or wrong, looking at Sam's actions, I think many of us might be particularly paying attention to how harshly he's treated."

Petroni says he's not looking for Sam to catch a break, but rather that justice be applied evenly.

In another corner, Ryan Schultz was thinking about whether Adams could survive politically.

Ryan Schultz   "I hope he can. I highly doubt he will, though."

Schutz remembered that when Sam Adams was initially asked about Breedlove, and claims that Breedlove was underage, he'd said his accuser was making a nasty smear -- the worst kind a gay man could face. Schultz doesn't think much of that defense now.

Ryan Schultz   "He was trying to break down that stereotype, but in fact he's building it up by lying about it."

Sam Adams sounded aware of how he'd failed the people in this room when he made his public apology Tuesday afternoon.

Sam Adams    "As one of the leaders of the gay community, I want to apologize to the gay community for embarrassing them. I should have been truthful from the very beginning."

At one point, he was asked what he'd been thinking, taking up with someone so much younger.

Sam Adams    "Well I wasn't thinking clearly, that's for sure. I was not thinking appropriately, either. I was recently out of a relationship of eleven years -- the first time in my life that I was gay and out of the closet and single. I was dating a number of people, and at the same time I was learning to be an elected official, and the scrutiny that comes with that. I frankly was sort of finding my way."

Obviously, Adams says, he misstepped.

Some want to know if Adams' relationship with Beau Breedlove went beyond a misstep, into criminal territory. An investigation is in the works at the Multnomah County District Attorney's office, offering the promise of more information.