OREGON: Two Gay Portland Men Beaten For Holding Hands

Portland, Oregon police are investigating a possible hate crime after two gay men were beaten after being seen walking hand-in-hand. One of the victims reports: "I left [the ER] with 9 stitches in my lips, two black eyes, a dislodged jaw, some loose teeth, severe swelling where they hit me on my cheek, and scrapes and bruises on my head."

Detectives say Brad Forkner and Christopher Rosevear were walking hand-in-hand Sunday evening in Waterfront Park and then headed over the Hawthorne Bridge. As the pair walked, police say, they noticed several men behind them who were talking, laughing and pointing, but they weren’t sure if it was directed at them. Police say the attack happened as Forkner and Rosevear walked from the bridge to the trail toward the East Bank Esplanade. The pair told officers the men pushed and punched Forkner before he managed to break away and call 911. Police say the attackers hit Rosevear in the head, face, back and ribs before running off. ”It’s too bad that people are still walking around a city like Portland feeling, well, actually unsafe,” says Paul Fukui, the operations manager of the Q-Center, which advocates for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community.

According to the above-linked news story, several witnesses observed the attack but did nothing to help. The three assailants are described as white men in their 20s.

(Tipped by JMG reader Megan)

Portland: Beau Breedlove Joins Recall Effort Against Mayor Sam Adams

Beau Breedlove, the former paramour of openly gay Portland Mayor Sam Adams, has joined the latest recall effort against him. Controversy over Breedlove's age at the time of his encounters with Adams nearly brought the mayor down during his election campaign.

Breedlove, who is volunteering with the recall campaign, said in an interview after the rally that other gays and lesbians have chastised him for backing the recall of the city's first openly gay mayor. Breedlove said that's precisely why Adams should step down. "He should hold himself to a much higher standard than any other politician, because he's not just representing the city of Portland," he said. "He's representing the GLBTQ community in a new way they haven't been represented before." Breedlove said he and Adams kissed before he turned 18 but didn't have sex until after he turned 18, which is the age of consent. Adams has maintained that no sexual contact took place before Breedlove turned 18. Adams was 42 at the time. The attorney general's office declined to prosecute Adams, citing lack of evidence. "In reality, he was the one who was in his 40s and he was the adult in the situation. I never felt like a victim until the end, when he continued to lie and threw me under the bus," Breedlove said Thursday. Breedlove said he and Adams have had no contact since the attorney general's investigation.

Breedlove parlayed his fame as the mayor's boytoy into a 2008 nude photo spread in Unzipped Magazine. The recall effort presently has fewer than half of the signatures needed by April 20th to force a vote.