Portland, Ore.,
city commissioner Sam Adams on Tuesday became the first
openly gay mayor ever elected to lead one of the 30 largest
U.S. cities.
Adams, a
Democrat, won 58% of the vote over several opponents in the
state's unique mail-only primary, eliminating the need for a
runoff in November, The Oregonian newspaper reported.
His campaign
motto, "Early days of a better nation," referenced not
only the city's progressive heritage but his own childhood
in poverty. Food stamps and public housing kept the
family afloat, he has often said.
"I will work hard
with all of you, and believe me, you're going to be
working hard as well," he told a crowd that included his
mother, grandmother, and two sisters, The Oregonian quoted him as saying Tuesday night.
"Together we can make Portland cleaner, greener, more
sustainable, smarter, more equal, better educated.
We've done it before, and we will do it again."
State senator
Kate Brown, also a Democrat, advanced to a November general
election for Oregon secretary of state. Brown, who is
currently the majority leader in the Oregon senate,
would become the nation's highest-ranking openly
bisexual elected official if she wins her November
general election, as she is favored to do, according to the
Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which endorsed both
Brown and Adams and helped to fund their campaigns.
Adams, now 44,
has spent his entire adult life in politics and
government, becoming Portland's youngest chief of staff at
the age of 29. He was elected to Portland's City
Commission in 2004, becoming its first LGBT member. He
helped create a domestic-partner registry in the city and
expanded its antidiscrimination statute to include gender
identity, according to the Victory Fund.
He was open about
miscues that included a personal bankruptcy in the late
1990s, triggered by credit card debt and a bout of
appendicitis for which he had no insurance. Later, he
said, he paid his creditors in full.
"In Oregon,
fairness has won the day. These victories mean that
people who are openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender
can also be seen as capable, committed leaders whose
sexual orientation or gender identity is less
important than what they plan to do for their
communities. That's a step toward full equality that we want
to replicate across America," said Chuck Wolfe,
president and CEO of the Victory Fund, in a written
statement Tuesday.
In other election
news, Sen. Barack Obama outpolled Sen. Hillary Clinton
58% to 42% with most of Oregon's ballots counted. The win
was expected to put Obama within 70 delegates of
clinching the Democratic presidential nomination.
Oregon's
gay-friendly Republican U.S. senator Gordon Smith can expect
a strong challenge in November from state house
speaker Jeff Merkley, recruited by the Democratic
Senatorial Campaign Committee to try to unseat Smith
in the fall. Smith has carried many pieces of gay-supportive
legislation in the U.S. Senate, including measures to extend
benefits to federal workers' same-sex partners, to end
the immigration ban on HIV-positive travelers, and to
have Medicaid cover early HIV treatment for people not
yet diagnosed with AIDS. Every year since 2000, he and
Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., have introduced the hate-crimes
bill now known as the Matthew Shepard Act. Smith is
now the sole GOP senator on the West Coast and the
only Republican holding statewide office in Oregon,
according to the AP. He has pledged to raise at least $10
million in his effort to win a third term. (Barbara
Wilcox, The Advocate)
