Portland: Sam Adams Sworn in, First Openly Gay Mayor in Major US City (Video)
January 2, 2009 by Bryan
That’s right. Right here in our hometown of Portland, Oregon our new Mayor Sam Adams was officially sworn in. Adams was a Portland City Commissioner prior to going for the Mayor’s seat. Openly gay Oregon Supreme Court Justice Virginia Linder was on hand to swear Adams into office. Video after the fold.
Sam Adams, who was elected last May to replace Portland Oregon’s outgoing mayor Tom Potter (a longtime friend of the gay community), was sworn into office at 12:01 am on New Years Day. Approximately 40 people were on hand including Adams’ partner Peter Zuckerman, who is a reporter with The Oregonian.
Portland is now the largest U.S. city with an openly gay mayor.
| Portland's new mayor |
[...] hit the news this week and at first seemed like some invented scandal. You see, Sam Adams, the first major U.S. city Mayor who happens to be openly gay, sent an apology to the media, and to me (well, and everyone on his e-list) – for having sex!? OK, [...]
I would hardly called Portland a major U.S. city, it doesn’t even make the top 10 major cities. Houston, Texas (the fourth largest city in the U.S.) has a population of 6 million in the metro area and on December 12, 2009 just elected it’s first openly gay mayor.
Justin,
In 2008, when Sam was elected, he was the first openly gay mayor to be elected to office in a top 40 city – actually top 30 city. As you can see this post was written over a year ago.
Via the Associated Press: Portland: Largest U.S. city with openly gay mayor
Sam Adams, 45, was sworn into office as Portland’s mayor at 12:01 a.m. Thursday at City Hall. It made Portland, population estimated at 575,000, the largest city in the nation to elect an openly gay mayor.