Althouse: "Oregon's new governor will be the first open bisexual to serve as a state's chief executive when Secretary of State Kate Brown steps in for resigning Gov. John Kitzhaber on Friday."

February 13, 2015

"Oregon's new governor will be the first open bisexual to serve as a state's chief executive when Secretary of State Kate Brown steps in for resigning Gov. John Kitzhaber on Friday."

"Brown is married to a man but has made no secret about her sexual orientation – and has been embraced for it in one of America's bluest states whose largest city has adopted the slogan 'Keep Portland weird.'"

A woman is married to a man. Noted.

ADDED: Calling bisexuality "weird" is, ironically, demeaning.

84 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Austin,Texas and Madison, Wisconsin have some catching up to Portland to do. Being married to the same sex monogamously is so old fashioned and so limiting.; 2/13/15, 4:18 PM
Jane the Actuary said...: Now that's a philosphical question for you: what does it mean to "be" bisexual, and be married?

And old friend, now since turned flaky enough that we're not in touch any longer, announced on her blog that she is bisexual. Never mind that she had been married for a good 10 or 15 years at that point, and still is. She didn't even say that she had ever had a prior relationship with a woman. It was more, I suppose, a matter of, "I think back to my old very-touchy friendships with women and imagine that I could have had a physical relationship with them, had I been honest with myself at the time." That, and declaring her affiliation with an Oppressed Group.; 2/13/15, 4:22 PM
Drago said...: Althouse: "A woman is married to a man."

No.

A woman is married to a biological male who identifies as a biological male...maybe.

Or maybe not.

Who can say?; 2/13/15, 4:24 PM
Jupiter said...: As I see it, there are two possibilities;

1 - She is attracted to other women, but is faithful to the man she married. In which case, her public declaration of that attraction is in very poor taste.

2 - She is attracted to other women, and acts upon that attraction. In which case, she is an adulterer. Or maybe not. As Bill Clinton would have it, eatin' ain't cheatin'.

My larger point being, that no one is or is not homosexual or bisexual. Those words describe acts, not persons.; 2/13/15, 4:26 PM
Bob Ellison said...: That picture makes Kitzhaber look like a twerpy, cradle-robbing jerk.; 2/13/15, 4:28 PM
traditionalguy said...: Kitzhaber was caught getting rich doing the Dem Pols best Green Energy cons. He got caught for using his live in girlfriend as the baglady.

I guess when you are saving the earth from a fiery doom, it is seems so wrong not to get rich doing it.; 2/13/15, 4:28 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: I'm I alone here or am I just thinking in my usual chauvinistic male pig oriented way that maybe, just maybe, at times, it might be a fun marriage? Just sayin'.; 2/13/15, 4:31 PM
Saint Croix said...: A woman is married to a man. Noted.

Althouse, you crack me up.; 2/13/15, 4:34 PM
Francisco D said...: Jupiter,

"eating' aint cheating"

LMAO. Nice timing and turn of a phrase.; 2/13/15, 4:34 PM
Rae said...: I know this is because of media coverage, but it seems like all democratic politicians are LGBT or want to be.

It's not like it hurts them at all.; 2/13/15, 4:37 PM
chickelit said...: surfed wrote: I'm I alone here or am I just thinking in my usual chauvinistic male pig oriented way that maybe, just maybe, at times, it might be a fun marriage? Just sayin'.

Did you click on the link?

I thought not.; 2/13/15, 4:37 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: Now that's a philosophical question for you: what does it mean to "be" bisexual, and be married?

It means she takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'.

And if she is an active bisexual, and why else announce it if she's not, she's just an adulterer who crosses the aisle, and apparently hubby and the rest of Portlandia is OK with that.

Maybe he swings both ways too, or proclaims his solidarity by banging the babes she's cheating on him with too.; 2/13/15, 4:40 PM
Bob Ellison said...: Where is the outrage?; 2/13/15, 4:40 PM
Michael K said...: Well, de Blasio's wife qualifies, I guess. Democrats certainly have more interesting biographies.

Or, like Obama, fanciful ones.; 2/13/15, 4:53 PM
Titus said...: Why aren't there any openly gay republican politicians?

tits.; 2/13/15, 4:53 PM
n.n said...: Judge people by their sexual orientation. Progress. And behavior too? Another milestone in liberal achievement. Just do it for wealth, pleasure, and leisure.; 2/13/15, 5:04 PM
Wince said...: "My God, America is imploding."; 2/13/15, 5:06 PM
Big Mike said...: Riddle me one thing, Professor. Why. Are. We. Supposed. To. Effing. CARE???; 2/13/15, 5:07 PM
Anonymous said...: She wants to have her cake and eat it too?

like others have posted, is she an adulterer? If so, why is being a lesbian adulterer some immunity from a career ending move?

oh, she's a (D); 2/13/15, 5:08 PM
chickelit said...: Titus said...
Why aren't there any openly gay republican politicians?

Dunno. WTH is wrong with MA and CA?; 2/13/15, 5:08 PM
Sebastian said...: Married or "married"?; 2/13/15, 5:13 PM
Achilles said...: Just another corrupt climate change pol getting caught. Ho hum.

But we have a BISEXUAL GOVERNOR!!!11eleventy1! The priorities on this thread are almost universally morally bankrupt as the governor that just resigned.; 2/13/15, 5:16 PM
Mr Wibble said...: Now that's a philosphical question for you: what does it mean to "be" bisexual, and be married?

My guess is that it means that she wants to mess around outside her marriage with her hubby's approval.; 2/13/15, 5:18 PM
Titus said...: We had a gay republican run in a district north of Boston but he lost to a hot Iraqi Dem Vet.; 2/13/15, 5:18 PM
Fiftyville said...: Life doesn't imitate art. Life imitates Portlandia.; 2/13/15, 5:18 PM
jr565 said...: Is she a swinger? Is she going to push for polygamy?; 2/13/15, 5:32 PM
Hagar said...: Only one man?; 2/13/15, 5:32 PM
MayBee said...: I love the way this is all being spun as a really positive thing. So what if the Governor had to resign because he was corrupt?

Reminds me of when What's-his-Jersey trumped his own scandal by announcing himself to be a "Gay American"; 2/13/15, 5:38 PM
Drago said...: Titus: "We had a gay republican run in a district north of Boston but he lost to a hot Iraqi Dem Vet."

Oh.

That's a shame that Moulton is one of those guys that John Kerry (also of Massachusetts) noted really didn't have any choices in life and then got stuck in Iraq.; 2/13/15, 5:42 PM
dbp said...: My understanding of marriages where the female member is bisexual, is that the couple invites another women to join the couple in bed.

If they share the other women, they cannot be seen as cheating on each other. The other woman might be considered an adulteress in a technical sense. And the couple would be adulterers too, if the other woman happens to be married.; 2/13/15, 5:43 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I don't think a married person should broadcast his or her sexual interest in other partners. I assume she doesn't want us to think of her as having sex outside the marriage or engaging in threesomes, so what's the point? They've been married for 15 years.; 2/13/15, 5:43 PM
Balfegor said...: Married to a man, but she has no doubt looked on many women with lust. She's committed adultery in her heart many times. Haha. Or not -- who knows?

Contra Jupiter, even if she's attracted to people to whom she is not married, it's not necessarily in bad taste to say as much. Confessing one's sins in public reveals a bit more than I think one ought, but ours is a demonstrative culture, and we make a fetish of openness. And really, even married people can find people who are not their spouses attractive. You just can't express it -- this isn't the middle ages or the era of courtly love, after all. No more Launcelots and Guineveres.; 2/13/15, 5:47 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: To paraphrase the late Lou Reed:

One cucumber is fine.
Two cucumbers are pushing it.
Three cucumbers and you're into jazz.

I am Laslo.; 2/13/15, 5:50 PM
buwaya said...: Notice this breaks open most conveniently after the elections, just a nice comfortable delay after which the Democrat replacement is in place. Not during last years campaign when the public had a choice, and very likely would have made another choice had it been known.

California is ridiculously corrupt, but it seems Oregon is aspiring.; 2/13/15, 5:50 PM
MayBee said...: I don't think a married person should broadcast his or her sexual interest in other partners. I assume she doesn't want us to think of her as having sex outside the marriage or engaging in threesomes, so what's the point? They've been married for 15 years.

I agree.

How is it different than a male politician standing up and saying, "I'm married, but I am sexually attracted to other women"?
Would anyone applaud that?; 2/13/15, 5:51 PM
Bobby said...: Not necessarily adulterers. The Shia have a concept of temporary marriage (nikah al-mutah) - the parties enter into it with a contractual agreement that it automatically expires after a certain period of time. Under al-mutah (which would have to be fused with a Westernized marriage equality philosophy for this to work), Kate Brown and her husband could have additional gay and straight marriages and neither party would be an adulterer.

Perhaps Kate Brown and her husband are Shia.; 2/13/15, 5:52 PM
chickelit said...: MayBee asks Would anyone applaud that?

You might applaud if your goal were to tear down convention.; 2/13/15, 6:20 PM
madAsHell said...: She's a bisexual like Lizzie Warren is a Native American. It's her badge of victim-hood and entitlement.

Although, if she brought home a strange woman, then I could strap on the beer goggles, and knock 3-some off the bucket list.; 2/13/15, 6:38 PM
Sprezzatura said...: " I assume she doesn't want us to think of her as having sex outside the marriage or engaging in threesomes, so what's the point? They've been married for 15 years."

I don't have this opinion. To me this is a person saying she's of Norwegian ancestry, or she's a law professor, or ...........

We are what we are. Why not say so?; 2/13/15, 6:47 PM
Lucien said...: A married woman who claims to be heterosexual is not thereby admitting to sleeping with other men, nor should she be presumed to do so. Same deal for a bisexual married woman. A big part of getting married is the idea that there is this one person who is really special to you, and whom you have chosen specifically out of the universe of humans you are otherwise sexually attracted to.

Nothing to see here. Move along, move along.; 2/13/15, 6:49 PM
Sprezzatura said...: "I'm I alone here or am I just thinking in my usual chauvinistic male pig oriented way that maybe, just maybe, at times, it might be a fun marriage? Just sayin'."

I don't care for other guys or gals doing (or being done by) my gal. It doesn't matter if I'm there or not. IMHO, only a weirdo would be into this.; 2/13/15, 6:51 PM
Sebastian said...: "I assume she doesn't want us to think of her as having sex outside the marriage or engaging in threesomes, so what's the point? They've been married for 15 years."

Why do you assume that? Of is this another case of faux surprise?

Expressing bisexuality is a useful Progressive signal: opposition to bourgeois vows and heteronormativity, badge of victimhood and entitlement, not one of "them."

"They've been married for 15 years." So what? By what Progressive standard does that entail faithfulness and discretion in public?; 2/13/15, 6:53 PM
Skipper said...: Governor resigns amidst scandal and the media obsession is the sex practices of his successor? It is the end if the world.; 2/13/15, 6:54 PM
Brando said...: Good for her and her husband if they agree on this unconventional arrangement. It's much more honest and decent than the Clinton model of faking a relationship just for craven political ends, or repeatedly cheating on your wives a la Gingrich.

I'm more interested though in what sort of public servant this woman is.; 2/13/15, 6:58 PM
Sprezzatura said...: "Governor resigns amidst scandal and the media obsession is the sex practices of his successor? It is the end if the world."

Yes , the world is over. Obviously this situation means the world is over. Hence this blog no longer exists.

And, neither do you.; 2/13/15, 7:01 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Not to be hateful or anything but she looks like one of those gangly dudes in a chambray shirt and desert boots you'd see playing mandolin for The Incredible String Band or something. So, a perfect fit for Western Oregon. Eastern Oregon is truly a different state. Though the first openly gay man I ever met was from LaGrande of all places, giving strong credibility to the idea that homosexuality is determined by genetics.; 2/13/15, 7:03 PM
bleh said...: Portland ripped off Austin's motto? Weak.

Anyway, this story isn't the least bit interesting. I mean, the LGBT aspect isn't interesting.

The green energy scam/influence-peddling aspect is very interesting.; 2/13/15, 7:15 PM
retired said...: So Oregon is trading in one cheater for another. Everyone on the left coast gets screwed.; 2/13/15, 7:19 PM
bleh said...: Ann Althouse said... so what's the point?

C'mon. You know what the point is.

It rhymes with shmidentity shmolitics.; 2/13/15, 7:19 PM
Gahrie said...: Why aren't there any openly gay republican politicians?

Judging from what I have read, the imbalance in gay elected officials is only about 60% - %40 in favor of the Democrats.; 2/13/15, 7:21 PM
Anonymous said...: I thought all women were bisexual.

If you're a man and you expirement in college, you're gay.

Women are more fluid in their sexuality.; 2/13/15, 7:23 PM
Lyle said...: She's a bullshitter. She can pretend all she wants too. People in Portland will lap it up for they are cuckoo.; 2/13/15, 7:25 PM
Milwaukie guy said...: I think Cylvia Hayes must be a tasty muffin.; 2/13/15, 7:26 PM
retired said...: Who would marry such a person and subject his children (from his 1st marriage) to that kind of chaos?
Like being married to a feminist only worse.; 2/13/15, 7:28 PM
FullMoon said...: Jane the Actuary said... [hush][hide comment]

Now that's a philosphical question for you: what does it mean to "be" bisexual, and be married?

And old friend, now since turned flaky enough that we're not in touch any longer, announced on her blog that she is bisexual. Never mind that she had been married for a good 10 or 15 years at that point, and still is.
Two married women friends of my wife divorced and are in stable lez relationships. Not wackos, but normal moms with jobs. One of the neighborhood girls, lez since 17, married a man at 26, seems pretty happy.; 2/13/15, 7:35 PM
m stone said...: "Keep Portland Weird"

Kept.

Sick too.; 2/13/15, 8:22 PM
traditionalguy said...: Old 1960s motto updated for today's feminists: If you can't get a promotion to a cushy government Agency career with a great pension at age 55 by sleeping with the one you love, sleep with the one you're with.; 2/13/15, 8:26 PM
Jason said...: Kizhaber is the same incompetent idiot who pissed away a third of a billion dollars on an Obamacare Website that never enrolled a single soul.

This same son of a bitch spent a fortune on marketing that turd, routing money to favored libtards in Portland advertising firms to make shitty commercials and huge promotional murals covering entire large buildings in Portland on a scale normally associated with MayDay in Pyongyang.

The Daily Mail is reporting that last week, the Governor's office tried to put the word out to all state agencies to delete all of Kitzhaber's emails.

This snake is as vile as they come this side of Chicago.

Naturally, the libtard media's take on the story is going to be, "OMG! OMG! New Governor is bisexual!!!"; 2/13/15, 8:29 PM
PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...: I really don't care about her sexuality. Especially since I don't live in Oregon and have no plans to do so.

Being adulterous still turns me off big time.

John Henry; 2/13/15, 9:09 PM
Chuck said...: Is this story supposed to soften us up for Hillary?; 2/13/15, 9:13 PM
chickelit said...: Chuck said...
Is this story supposed to soften us up for Hillary?

Nice double!; 2/13/15, 9:14 PM
madAsHell said...: My in-laws are both retired physicians in Portland, Oregon. The scuttle-but is that Kitzhaber wasn't very smart, and dead last in his medical school cohort.

In my mind, this really doesn't bode well for Rand Paul. Why would someone leave a lucrative practice to be a politician??

Howard Dean comes to mind as well.

Maybe the practice wasn't so lucrative.....?????

Nobody gives a fuck about Lazlo.; 2/13/15, 9:16 PM
William said...: I wonder if her marriage is more honored in the breech than the observance if you catch my drift....."I used to be a bisexual but my hubby is such a wondrous stud that I no longer entertain such notions?" That's the impression you want to leave when you state you're a bisexual. You don't want people to think that you have trouble making up your mind, or that your attention is divided. It's the kind of statement that raises more questions than it answers......From appearances, she looks like she uses other ways than sex to get her ticket validated. "Sex is ok, but what I really, really like is bossing people around."......Why is ok for a woman to be a non practicing bisexual and wrong for the Catholics to preach that homosexuals should not act on their feelings?; 2/13/15, 9:37 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/13/15, 9:49 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: So: I'm hanging out with Bob Dylan, drinking black coffee and eating dainty cookies, and he says:

"Hey, Laslo. I wrote a song for you!"

And I'm thinking: that's kind of cool, we're just drinking black coffee and eating dainty cookies and he wrote a song for me. So I say:

"How's it go?"

So Dylan sets his dainty cookie down on a New York Times crossword and he sings:

"Lay, Laslo, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Lay, Laslo, lay, lay across my big brass bed
His clothes are dirty but his hands are clean
And Laslo's the best thing that I've ever seen"

So I say:

"Dude."

And he says:

"What?"

And I say:

"You know."

And he says"

"Yeah."

That's exactly how it went down.

I am Laslo.; 2/13/15, 9:51 PM
Laura said...: What were her vows -- love, honor, and coordinate threesomes?

Promise, vow, oath of office . . .; 2/13/15, 10:04 PM
William said...: In the same issue of the Daily Mail, there's an account of Dominique Strauss Kahn's current scandal. Now there's a scandal worth having. Poor DSK was not able to suppress his proclivity for being serviced by eight prostitutes at a time.; 2/13/15, 10:16 PM
Laura said...: Do bisexuals ever have to close for repairs?; 2/13/15, 10:52 PM
richard mcenroe said...: "It's much more honest and decent than the Clinton model of faking a relationship just for craven political ends, or repeatedly cheating on your wives a la Gingrich."

You set that bar much lower you'll be blocking the worm migrations and I'll have to notify the EPA.

I fully expect this woman to live down to the high standards of integrity in office George Soros expects of his purchases.; 2/13/15, 10:58 PM
David said...: Life long politician.

Women's issues warrior.

Only significant post of responsibility was 4 years as Oregon Senate majority leader. How did she do at that? Does she have the ability/experience to govern. Can she deal with schools, budget, highways, public safety, daily publicity etc effectively? We will see, but she does not have the most promising background.

As long as her husband and girlfriends do not leverage her power for their business schemes, I imagine most people will give her a pass on the sex thing.; 2/13/15, 11:19 PM
Laura said...: Bisexual or serial sexual opportunist?

Managing the wants, desires, and needs of multiple partners should make her a highly manipulative, oops, successful negotiator and administrator.; 2/14/15, 5:28 AM
Meade said...: That's marvelous, dear!
You'll find all the bathrooms in the governor's mansion are plumbed both for sitting AND standing!

Oh, and if you need privacy, every bathroom has a door.; 2/14/15, 6:08 AM
Meade said...: Swinging doors.

Nnn-no, I believe they all swing only one way.

Yy-yes, in, not out. But we can have Maintenance switch them, if you'd like.

Both ways? Oh dear. I don't think we've ever had doors that swing BOTH ways before. Wouldn't some Oregonians find that to be... I don't know... Weird?; 2/14/15, 6:23 AM
Scott said...: He's the perfect politician. He'll fuck anyone.; 2/14/15, 6:40 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "Eatin' ain't cheatin'
Baby munchings just lunching, yeah "

-"Eatin' Ain't Cheatin'" by Steel Panther

A woman has got to eat y'all.; 2/14/15, 7:21 AM
Anonymous said...: Hey, liberals!

I think character counts. And I believe you know that and would sell your candidates on their character if they had any. Since you sell your candidates on the basis of tribal membership I assume they have low character.

Prove me wrong.; 2/14/15, 7:24 AM
Rusty said...: Titus said...
Why aren't there any openly gay republican politicians?

tits.

Perhaps they are wise enough to realize that their sexual preference is no one business but their own.

tits. Right back at ya; 2/14/15, 8:08 AM
Rusty said...: Ann Althouse said...
I don't think a married person should broadcast his or her sexual interest in other partners. I assume she doesn't want us to think of her as having sex outside the marriage or engaging in threesomes, so what's the point?

She's playing to her constituency, Ann.; 2/14/15, 8:10 AM
Gusty Winds said...: It just means her husband talked her in to having threesomes; which makes me wonder if he'd be the better Governor.; 2/14/15, 8:57 AM
traditionalguy said...: Will she become the next candidate for President overnight. The First Bi-sexual Woman President has an attraction to it.

Human freedom from religion based morality can be honored as equally valid with a simple vote. And there is no need to ask her ideas about evolution. She evolves every time a natural selection opportunity presents itself.; 2/14/15, 2:06 PM
n.n said...: Indecision is an undesirable character trait in a leader.; 2/14/15, 2:19 PM
jr565 said...: Does she have an open marriage? What does it matter then that she's a bisexual?; 2/14/15, 5:04 PM
jr565 said...: how does bisexuality translate to transgenderism? If you say you are bisexual but find your self attracted to a "woman" who was originally a man, like Bradley Manning, are you in fact bisexual?
Because he is not in fact a woman.; 2/14/15, 5:10 PM
Kirk Parker said...: PBandJ,

"only a weirdo would be into this."

You do realize we're talking about politicians here, right?; 2/16/15, 3:27 AM