Portland Mayor Sam Adams Safe from Recall, at Least for Now

An effort to recall Portland Mayor Sam Adams fell short yesterday, as the 'Community to Recall Sam Adams' failed to turn in the required 32,000 signatures to place a recall on the ballot. They're not stopping, however:

"They said they planned to use what they have so far to create a database for the next campaign, rather than submitting them to elections officials. Jasun Wurster started the recall campaign after Adams admitted to lying about his sexual relationship with a former legislative intern who was a teenager at the time...After failing to collect enough signatures for a recall, Wurster on Monday said a political action committee called Portland Future PAC has been formed with promises from some business leaders for about $150,000 to pay for a new recall campaign. 'It should be only a week or two to secure those commitments and get them filed with the state, and get those checks entered into our bank account,' Wurster said. 'Then we will launch the new recall.' Wurster declined to say who was contributing until the checks are cashed, partly 'so Adams doesn’t have a chance to go back behind and undermine commitments.'"

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Signature-collecting deadline looms in Portland Mayor Sam Adams recall campaign: "The campaign won't reveal exactly how many signatures they have, but organizers emphasize they need more than 32,000. Sunday is their last full day to collect signatures to get a recall of Mayor Adams on what they hope will be the November ballot."

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Methodist Minister Comes Out to His Congregation as Transgender

Reverend David Weekley of the Epworth United Methodist Church in southeast Portland, Oregon, took a big step on Sunday:

"Just months after telling his own children that he was not their biological father, Weekley, who is in his late-50s, came out to his congregation of 221 members. Standing behind his pulpit, Weekley began his usual worship service. About halfway through, he paused to share a personal message he called 'My Book Report.' He told them that in 1984, just nine years after undergoing extensive sex-reassignment surgeries, he was ordained by the Methodist Church without telling anyone of his original gender at birth. Following his story, the congregation, who had remained silent throughout his talk, broke into thunderous applause. Church members then proclaimed their support for their pastor.' It doesn’t change him; he’s still Reverend David, and that’s what counts,' says congregation member Robbie Tsuboi, who has been attending Epworth since 1964."

Weekley has been married to his wife Deborah for 13 years and has served as a clergyman for 27.

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Portland Mayor Sam Adams recall campaign faces challenge: "With another 56 days to go, they’ll have to gather 786 signatures per day in order to meet their goal of 50,000. So far, they've been operating with an average of 176 signatures a day, according to our calculations. They now need to increase their rate of collection by a whopping 345 percent to meet the deadline."

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ACLU reaches settlement with Yulee High School in Florida over Gay-Straight Alliance: "Earlier this year, the ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of a student who was denied a request to form the GSA at Yulee Middle School and Yulee High School the following year. As part of the agreement, the district must prohibit any discrimination against the club and the students and faculty members associated with it.The district must also allow the club to meet on campus and to use the name Gay-Straight Alliance.The district has also been ordered to pay $40,000 in court costs associated with the case."

Portland Mayor Sam Adams' Former Spokesman Sues City for $600K

Wade Nkrumah, the former spokeman for Portland Mayor Sam Adams, is suing the city for nearly $600,00 saying his reputation was ruined when Adams allegedly lied about the reason Nkrumah resigned:

"He began working for Adams on Nov. 2, 2008, and he resigned on Jan. 26 of this year after the mayor’s relationship with former legislative intern Beau Breedlove came to light. The lawsuit claims Adams lied to Nkrumah twice about whether the mayor had a sexual relationship with Breedlove. According to the lawsuit, Nkrumah says his resignation was 'because Adams persistent lies made working conditions intolerable as Adams’ spokesperson …' Nkrumah claims in the lawsuit he agreed to tell reporters 'no comment' when asked why he resigned if the mayor’s office would say the same. But when asked by a KATU reporter about Nkrumah’s resignation, Adams said it was because the job was 'not what he signed up for in terms of stress.'"

Video, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Marion Barry blames current ethics investigations on gay councilman David Catania: "Barry, a longtime supporter of LGBT rights in D.C., has cited dischord between the LGBT community and African-American religious leaders for his current stance on marriage equality.  New ethics questions have surfaced about Barry’s role in administering grant money authorized by the city council."

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NYU Law dean Richard Revesz defends invitation to homophobic visiting Singaporean law professor Li-ann Thio. You may remember her from this post.

Portland police accused of failing to protect gays and lesbians from homophobic attacks at city's Pride festival: "According to police reports, videos and eyewitness accounts, the trouble that started late on the night of June 13 outside a bar in Portland's Old Town included fistfights and several obscenity-laden shouting matches."

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Grassroots campaign to recall Portland Mayor Sam Adams gets its first high-profile suppporter in the form of former mayor Tom Potter: "Potter made his backing known in a comment he left over the weekend on his wife's Facebook page. Potter's wife, Karin Hansen, posted a status update on her page saying she has petitions for the recall and directing people to a site where they can join the effort."

Hugh Jackman takes on new role as Avon man.

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