Adams Family Values

This post was submitted by TNG Contributor Corey.

In case you haven't heard, Mayor Sam Adams of Portland, Oregon, is in a bit of a pickle. In his campaign for office in May 2008, the openly gay Adams lied about having an affair with a young legislative intern who was only 18 years old at the time. The news broke this week when it was revealed that Adams had gotten the young man to keep quiet so as not to lampoon his election chances.

As you may recall, I spent some time doing political work in Portland and Oregon more generally this summer. Earlier this week, one of my friends from the Beaver State posed the question - is Adams obligated to resign because he lied to voters and betrayed the public trust? Some say yes, for even if his private life should not be an item of public concern, he lied and that's that. Others say no, either because they simply don't think it was that big of a deal or - more interesting - because they think Adams did what was necessary to avoid a homophobic bias.

Personally, I don't believe it was okay for Adams to lie even if he was just trying to avoid facing a double-standard as a gay man. Portland is a very liberal place, and chances are if they were willing to elect an openly gay man, they may have been willing to elect a gay man who had legal-but-sketchy sex with an 18 year old.

It's true that adding the word "gay" before a sex scandal always seems to make it worse. Thus, gay former governor Jim McGreevey (D-N.J.) was forced to resign, and gay bathroom sex enthusiast and former senator Larry Craig (R-Id.) was pressured not to seek reelection, but hetero DC Madam patron Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) looks likely to keep his job. However, the way forward is to show voters that there is nothing wrong with our politicians being a part of the LGBT community, and that they can be trusted running our cities, states, and country.

Which leads to a final question: did Adams betray the gay community by feeding homophobic stereotypes and squandering a chance to do something good for the gay community? I tend to think not - being gay doesn't make him accountable to every other gay American out there. Furthermore, it's hard to argue that gay candidates are working for all their constituents and not just gay rights if we expect them to give special consideration to the gay community before making personal or political decisions. When I was in high school in Connecticut, a gay man ran for the state senate in my district; I heard people argue that his only interest in the state house was advancing gay rights, one of those infuriating moments in which agents of oppression try desperately to victimize themselves. He lost the election that year but won in the following cycle - after the legislature had already passed the first civil union bill in American history not mandated by a court.

However, while I won't go so far as to say that Adams betrayed the gay community, it would be nice if prominent gay persons could show the world that not every LGBT American wants to prey on their child (even if he or she is pretty hot). Just a thought.

A few months ago I wrote about when we might see the first (openly) gay president. You can probably count Sam Adams out as a contender. But another gay politician to watch is the current mayor of Providence, David Cicilline. Maybe I'm biased, as we are both openly gay, good Italian boys who were born in Rhode Island and went to Georgetown. In fact, yes, I'm very biased. But my favorite political reporter, Chris Cillizza, gives Cicilline a pretty good shot at the Rhode Island governorship in 2010 if he decides to jump in. Rhode Island might be a small state, but this would still be a pretty big deal.

Meanwhile, thanks for nothing, Sam Adams. I hope your barely legal sex was worth it.