New Portland mayor breaks another ‘glass ceiling’
In first, gay man elected to lead a top-30 U.S. city

By JOSHUA LYNSEN
Jun. 13, 2008
The new mayor






He doesn’t like to boast, but Sam Adams acknowledges that his election was historic.
It’s the first time an openly gay person has been elected to lead one of the nation’s 30 largest cities. And he’s excited about what his becoming mayor of Portland, Ore., represents.

“Hopefully, it’s a sign that we’ve broken through another glass ceiling,” Adams said. “We still have other glass ceilings to go, but hopefully people are getting encouragement to pursue their dreams.”

After living in the closet for years, Adams said he’s happy to be out and living his dream.

“As a young, gay kid,” he said, “I would have never imagined that I could be a city commissioner, much less the mayor of Portland.”

Adams, a city commissioner for three years, last month captured 58 percent of the vote against 12 other candidates to avoid a November runoff and become Portland’s next mayor. He switches offices in January.

The transition will be a big moment for Adams, 44, who once struggled to find acceptance. Born in rural Montana, Adams said he felt lonely there and after his family moved to Newport, Ore., and then Eugene, Ore.

“I didn’t know anyone else who had the same questions I did as a kid,” he said. “And my experience in Eugene, and I think it was similar around the United States, was if you were gay, as far as other people were concerned, that’s all you were.”

Adams had problems at home, too, when he came out to his parents at age 24.

“Being gay was a big problem in my family, not from a religious perspective, but because they’re tough, macho people,” he said. “You didn’t show weakness in my family. And being gay, in my family, was a form of weakness.”

The experiences spurred Adams to conceal details of his personal life when he left college to work in politics.

“I just didn’t talk about my private life,” he said. “I really feared if I came out early in my career, I would be pigeon-holed as sort of the gay guy.”

During this time, Adams said, he maintained a relationship with a “very understanding” partner, but stayed “in the closet” until 1995, when a reporter outed him.

The article made for some awkwardness in the office, Adams said, but benefited him in the long run.

“It was one of the best things that could have happened to me,” he said. “I didn’t have to go through that torturous process of sitting people down and saying, ‘I’m gay.’”

After the outing, Adams continued to serve as chief of staff to Portland Mayor Vera Katz before returning to college to finish his degree.

He graduated from the University of Oregon in 2002 and was elected to the Portland City Council in 2004.

Specializing in transportation and environmental issues, Adams found Portlanders were more interested in discussing their broken streets than his sexual orientation.

“Potholes aren’t gay potholes or straight potholes,” he said. “They’re just potholes.”

Adams said that public attitude held during his mayoral campaign this spring and helped him avoid being labeled as the gay candidate or having to frequently address his sexual orientation.

“It did not play a significant role — and that’s the way it should be,” he said. “I’m a public servant who’s gay. I’m not a gay public servant.”

That doesn’t mean Adams avoids championing gay issues. He said he’s proud to have helped pass Portland’s “equal benefits ordinance,” which requires contractors that offer spousal benefits to married couples to offer the same benefits to domestic partners.

“I’m a strong advocate for LGBT civil rights issues,” he said. “But at the same time, I want people to treat me in the same way that they treat a heterosexual person or a bisexual person or a transgender person. And I treat them the same way.”

Although the city has done well on protecting gay civil rights, Adams said, as mayor he hopes to curtail the bullying of gay students in local schools and foster greater “acceptance of our transgender brothers and sisters.”

“We’re doing pretty good,” he said, “but we definitely have room to improve.”

There are a host of other issues Adams wants to tackle after he becomes mayor, such as reducing the high school dropout rate and improving the local economy.

But he said if he’s initially known best as the first openly gay person elected to lead one of the nation’s 30 largest cities, that’s fine by him.

“I don’t mind it, because it says such good things about the city that elected me,” Adams said. “I believe it’s a reflection of Portlanders’ progressive and affirming values.

“In a small way, I hope it gives encouragement to other folks in the LGBT community to pursue their dreams.”

Joshua Lynsen can be reached at jlynsen@washblade.com.