Newly elected Mayor Sam Adams admitted to having a sexual relationship with a younger man, Beau Breedlove, in the summer of 2005 when he was 18 years old.  Just last week the openly gay Mayor denied anything other than a platonic relationship to reporters at a press conference, a lie both he and the young Mr. Breedlove had been perpetuating for over a year. 

On January 14th, Mayor Adams admitted to the Willamette Week, the paper that broke the story, that he " made a mistake and... should have been honest at the time when this first surfaced in 2007.

"But I didn't believe that given the way that rumors were being spread-about whether I had broken the law by having sex with a minor-that people would believe me.  Until today I have not discussed the true nature of the relationship with anyone. Not my friends, family, staff or colleagues on the council.  

"I have apologized to Beau Breedlove for asking him to lie for me. I want to apologize to my colleagues for my dishonesty and especially to the people of Portland for my dishonesty.

Neither Adams nor his opponent spoke about his sexuality during his campaign last year.   He won the race by 58% and called it a, "a testament to how fair-minded Portlanders are that it wasn't an issue."