O R EG O N S GAY/LESBIAN/BI/TRANS NEWSMAGAZINE
AUGUST 7. 2009
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Mayor Sam Adams
Sam Adams is an honorable man. He’s
a lousy liar. He’s had no practice.
I don’t know why Sam said what he
said. Maybe he was sick or just “bone
tired.” He was obviously caught off guard.
I do know he is a human being. Every
one has an “Achilles’ heel.” Maybe he knew
the bullies were about to have a heyday.
Maybe he had a “flashback” to his
childhood &. just “reacted” to all the tor
ments, gut punches, accusations 8c public
humiliation little “gay” boys face every day
at school.
I do know he felt the threat of being
removed from the one position where
he has the power to get PDX out of the
trouble it’s in.
I think Portlanders are smart enough to
see through what is really going on.
P at W agner
Linnton
In a 1998 Letter to the Editor, I
publicly called for the impeachment of
President Clinton, not because he lied
about sex, but because he violated the law
against perjury in a court of law.
I hold Mayor Sam Adams to the
same standard. Adams broke no law and
therefore should not be recalled.
Yes, Adams cunningly manipu
lated public opinion. But so is President
Obama manipulating voters by duplici-
tously claiming to be a fierce advocate for
gays while zealously defending antigay
laws against same-sex marriage and
military service.
Also, Adams is not a hypocrite like
Republican Senator Larry Craig who
was secretly cruising for sex in tearooms
while self-righteously opposing gay rights.
Adams has never tried to outlaw male
intergenerational intimacy.
Submit your letters to the editor, commitment announcements, transitions or list your
events online at www.justout com. CLICK ON THE READER SUBMISSIONS BUTTON
Adams had no obligation to disclose
his brief affair with Beau Breedlove. But
Adams had every right to vigorously
deny the false insinuation that he was a
pedophile.
T homas K raemer
Corvallis
As an aspiring state-wide public office
holder and a longtime activist for the
LGBT community, I find it impossible not
to comment on the tragic story of the first
openly gay mayor of a large metropolitan
city, his sexual malfeasance and the ensuing
consequences to an entire movement.
Sam Adams’ lack of awareness,
discipline and responsibility for his actions
and the far-reaching ramifications thus
resulting show just what kind of a politi
cian he truly is. I’ve met the Mayor several
times and each time, he has not only been
utterly condescending, but he gave the
impression that if I wasn’t going to provide
him with something (before I thought it
was just information), that I should “move
on.” Much like many others of his time, he
thinks not of those he represents, rather,
what and/or who can satisfy his needs at
the current moment. Mr. Breedlove isn’t
the only victim here.
Nor is the entire city of Portland.
The LGBT community, as a whole, has
suffered yet another slap-in-the-face based
on the actions of yet another self-serving
politician who happens to be gay. Suffice it
to say, I actually was pulling for Sam when
he was campaigning for mayor. Admit
tedly, it was for the wrong reason. Just as
I was happy that Barack Obama became
this country’s first African-American
President, I wanted Adams only for his
minority status. While I’m admitting it,
others are cowering in their own guilt be
cause most of us just wanted the underdog
to pull through and allow us to believe
REMEMBER
TO BREATHE
LIVING
OUT LOUD
NICK
MATTOS
KATHRYN
. MARTINI
Chiropractic
Acupuncture
Naturopathy
Massage
Portland, (. )K 07232
Portland
“This isn't really a letter
to the editor so much
as a rant."
I’ve lived in Portland for three years
and never have I experienced the butch/
femme expectation so clearly as here. It is
extremely frustrating...
Back in the 1960s, in her book The
Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan argued
against the idea that women could only
find fulfillment through child rearing and
homemaking. Such a system, she argued,
causes [women] to lose their own identity
in that of their family identity.
In the years since Betty Friedan’s theory
shocked or inspired women in America,
equal rights and respect for women have
come a long way.... But gender roles
within the lesbian community seem to
push a subset of women back again into
that patriarchal role ©f server, homemaker,
and “little woman.”
...Somehow central is the idea or
expectation that the butch is the sexual
partner who is active, leader, “top.”
Maybe I came out too late to subscribe
to this. Perhaps I feel a certain deja vu by
having fought this battle once before with
the patriarchy. But I don’t want a daddy, I
don’t need a leader, I don’t want a top....
I want an equal partner, who isn’t
threatened by stepping over some precon
ceived gender boundary, and who is not
threatened if I do as well. I’m a feminine
looking feminist, still fighting for my equal
rights within the lesbian community.
G retchen T aylor
Beaverton
Cigarette Smokers
at Gay Pride
That was a really pathetic letter from
Jaime La Fleur (Vol. 26, No. 17) claiming
discrimination because cigarette smokers
aren’t allowed to poison other people at
Gay Pride....
Riding in the back of the bus, self-
righteous addictive posturing, oh give me
a break. La Fleur is perfectly free to go
someplace totally away from decent people
to take care of his addiction. We don’t al
low people to set off smoke bombs in close
quarters, and that’s not discrimination. We
don’t have shooting galleries, and that’s not
discrimination against heroin addicts.
We don’t have to be codependent with
other people’s addictions. The problem
with cigarette drug addicts isn’t just the
offensive stink and health hazards of
secondhand smoke, it’s the behavioral
dysfunctions of screwed-up drug addicts.
Drug addicts are incapable of courtesy
to others. No wonder we need rules against
them. La Fleur’s letter is proof that drug
addicts are incapable of rational thinking.
M arvin M oore
Portland
THE SASSY
GARDENER
OUT
GOING
LEANN
LOCHER
FLOYD
SKLAVER
ONLY IN JUST OUT
Established
1993
D avid W. O wens
P. C. & A S S O C I A T E S
serving the community since 1 975
A tto r n e y s a t L aw
Athena Zahn, DC #3505
Ani McManus, LAC #61781
Sharon Griffin, ND # 35459
Jann Adcock, LMT #10928
Shanta Prescott, LMT # 12363
Krissy Lindquist, LMT #16154
Brittany McDonald, LMT #11205
Acute Injury ; Chronic Pain and Wellness Care
2 16 I N T Broadway
M arc D elphine
Dynamic Voices
by Our Community,
for Our Community
T he B odhi T ree
a healing place
that we, too, can become what we want if
we see another with whom we identify do
it first. It’s not that I agreed with anything
that Adams—or Obama, for that matter
—said or necessarily did politically (I’m a
Libertarian; Adams 8c Obama are near-
Socialists). But because I’m gay, I wanted
Sam to pave the way for people like me
who do have ambitions of becoming a
leader in the world in which we live. With
this recent tragedy hitting yet another
low in the wake of former Mayor Potter’s
comments, I see Adams’ stint as the mayor
of the state’s largest city not only a failed
one, but one that has pushed the move
ment of the LGBT community back an
incalculable number of years.
Thanks, Sam!
IV 503.331.IS00
IV 5O3.331.20S0
S e r v in g O r e g o n & W a s h i n g t o n
503.224.3100
DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS
ADOPTIONS • ESTATE PLANNING
WILLS • TRUSTS • ADVANCE DIRECTIVES
POWER OF ATTORNEY
GUARDIANSHIPS AND CONSERVATORSHIPS
w w w .ow en i-law .com • 4380 S W M acadam , S uite S90 * Portland, O reg o n 97239 * Parking V alidated ^