Sex and lies

Ooh, scandalous!

In case you haven't seen any of the numerous headlines (even on CNN), the brand spankin' new mayor of Portland, Sam Adams, had gotten himself into a bit of trouble. Here is the nutshell version: Back in 2005, 45-year-old Adams (who is openly gay) allegedly had a brief sexual relationship with an 18-year-old legislative aide named Beau Breedlove. As Adams began his mayoral campaign in 2007, some speculations were raised as to the nature of his relationship to Breedlove. At the time, Adams denied such speculations - and convinced Breedlove to deny it as well. There is also some speculation to whether Breedlove was 17 or 18 when the relationship began (although both insist he was 18).

Earlier this week, the Willamette Week newspaper dug up some new information that all but confirmed the sexual nature of the relationship. Once this information came out, Adams immediately came clean, as did Breedlove. They admitted they in fact had been sleeping together in 2005, and flat-out lied about it in 2007 for fear that the public wouldn't believe that they waited until he was 18 (and, presumably, to protect his campaign). Whoa! This has now officially reached sex scandal status.

This is pretty big deal, considering Portland is the largest city to elect an openly gay mayor. A scandal like this erupting 20 days into his term does not. look. good.

Perhaps an even bigger story is how this news has absolutely divided this community. Many city officials, publications (including Just Out magazing, who recently named Adams their Man of the Year), and citizens have called for his immediate resignation; however an equal amount are urging him to stay in office. On one hand, this is the mayor's personal sex life we're talking about, not his politics; on the other hand, he lied to his public about it. Did he breach the trust this city has given him? Does his sex life have anything to do with his ability to do great things for Portland?

Since Breedlove was allegedly 18 when this all went down, the bottom line is, Adams didn't do anything "wrong" and certainly not anything illegal. Controvertial? Yes. Inappropriate? Mildly. Should he have lied about it? Definitely not. But, he's a human who made a mistake. I don't think the fact that he tried to cover up a past sexual escapade (Who hasn't?? Um, just kidding.) has anything to do with his politics. He has publicly and sincerely apologized - can we please move on? I personally cannot bring myself to give a crap about who the mayor denied sleeping with four years ago. It would be one thing if he was caught embezzeling city funds, or aiding terrorists, or running an underground prostitution ring... but he wasn't! So WHO CARES.

Anyway, I rode my bike by City Hall today and caught the beginning of a planned rally in support of Adams, organized by lots of bicyclists. I thought the signs were great, and it was good to see the large outpouring of support.





The mayor is supposed to be making his decision whether or not to resign within the next few days. I hope he doesn't let the haters get him down.

In happier news, here are some pics of a beautiful sunrise we had on Tuesday! Taken from our balcony.



And in other exciting (well, exciting to me) news, The Knot has chosen our wedding cake to be in their "Best Of" issue of their magazine! Anyone who has recently gotten married or engaged knows that The Knot has made itself the pinnacle of all things wedding. This is big, folks. :)

Have a look at this beauty:



I am so excited!! I feel a little silly for being so excited, but... oh well. I'm silly.

Love,
Jenny