So long Sam.

Life is like a game of Chutes and Ladders; sometimes you move forward, sometimes you get knocked back a few steps. In the afterglow of the inauguration of Barrack Obama we in Portland learned of a scandal involving our openly gay mayor, Sam Adams and a former aid named Beau Breedlove. Rumors of a relationship between the two were apparently a well known secret, keeping with a fine Stumptown tradition established by former Mayor and Oregon governor Neil Goldschmidt .

The editorial boards of The Oregonian and Portland Tribune and local gay paper Just Out are all calling for Adams resignation but many people still support the Mayor. People are quickly choosing sides on the issue of his guilt or innocence, with the progressive, liberal caucus Adams built supporting the mayor and established Portlanders calling for blood. The gay community is split down the middle, proud to have an openly gay man running a large US city but disgusted to be involved in a sex scandal.

To me the question is not a debate on the ethics of when someone is old enough to engage in sexual relations, the law is crystal clear about this fact. Rather the issue is one of the trust we place in our elected officials. Sam Adams lied about his involvement with Breedlove and then asked others to lie as well.

Is Adams being held to a higher standard? If he is it because he set the standard himself. In his 2007 Open Letter to Portlanders, Adams refers to the rumors of his relationship with Breedlove saying, " I have been the target of a nasty smear by a would-be political opponent." He continues that he "will not dignify the substance of this smear by repeating it - if you read the accounts you will see there is no foundation to it. The reason is simple: it is untrue."

The letter then continues to outline some of the very real issues facing LGBT youth in our society, including suicide, homelessness and depression.

Mr. Mayor, you forgot to mention one very real pitfall, the predatory behavior of adults towards impressionable adolescents and children. I know you are aware of this issue because you are on record as using it in an attempt to draw suspicions away from your own actions. You admitted as much in an interview with The Portland Mercury, Sept. 20, 2007, "If this had come from the right wing -- and it probably will now -- that would have been one thing. But to come from another gay man is something more hurtful. It plays into the worst deep-seated fears society has about gay men: You can't trust them with your young."

We reached an incredible milestone this week in America with the election of Barrack Obama as President. We affirmed as a nation that politics of race, gender and sexual preference do not matter, only one thing does; the truth. And that Mr. Mayor is what you failed to deliver when you had the chance, and that is why I feel you should resign.