Adam's fall from paradise.

It never fails to blow my mind when certain (jealous? self-righteous? pompous?) voices in the public point fingers at sexually active people with careers in public service. Somehow,some of these voices even attempt to argue that getting laid immediately means that someone is incapable, or "unfit," to push a pencil on a legal document or debate an important point or attempt to influence social change. How dare someone in the public eye be a sexual being in their personal life? Honestly, I don't get it.

Toronto councillor Adam Giambrone is having a very bad week. The 32-year old wunderkind, already the chairman for the city's transit system, recently threw his hat into the ring in a bid to become this city's new mayor. Yet, in less than two weeks, his campaign had completely crashed and burned.

First, and maybe it's because Giambrone has long been a supporter of Toronto Pride events or that he supposedly has a transgendered sibling, the progressive NOW Magazine (probably innocently) outed him as being gay.

Not so, Adam apparently responded, soon afterward making an appearance with his bookishly attractive "live-in partner" Sarah McQuarrie when he announced his mayoral candidacy. Then the Toronto Star goofed in a later article, incorrectly identifying McQuarrie as Giambrone's "wife."

Then dusky Asian university student Kristen Lucas, in an exclusive interview with the Star, asserted that she had been having a year-long affair with the councillor, including trysts on the couch of his City Hall office and randy textmessages. "You look good naked." Further, she stated that Giambrone's relationship with McQuarrie was entirely for political appearances, and that she was the "real" girlfriend. Giambrone responded that no sex had taken place between himself and Lucas, although admitted to randy sexting.

Lucas apparently had come forward a month after Giambrone had ended the affair, spurred on by the erroneous Star caption that cited McQuarrie as Giambrone's wife and therefore feeling very deceived and embarassed before her friends.

Around the same time, conservative CFRB radio pundit and general shitdisturber Bill Carroll (who had already been vocally opposing a Giambrone mayoral candidacy) audaciously, and in the same breath as stating that "anyone's sexual preferences don't matter," outed Giambrone as being bisexual, interviewing a man who claimed the politician had once asked him out to dinner.

The following day, Giambrone then revealed to the local media that he had, in fact, been enjoying several affairs outside of his partnership with McQuarrie. So much for being gay. Almost immediately after, he withdrew from his mayoral bid with a clearly crestfallen statement where he lamented his actions and bared his soul before the people of the city. At least one other Toronto politician described his statement as the most thorough and heartbreaking acceptance of personal responsibility he had ever witnessed.

"There are weeks that change your life and this one has certainly changed mine. This searing experience has taught me , permanently I hope, that a public career cannot survive deceit in your private life."

And yet...

The brilliant foundation of the 2001 Rod Lurie film The Contender is its argument that one's sexual choices is not a topic for public ridicule by so-called "moral" elements in society. Here, actor Joan Allen passionately illustrates, even at the risk of her character's political career, how important it is to stand firm on that principle.

Giambrone is unmarried. Does an unmarried person commit adultery? Having experienced the wrath of the woman scorned, he now finds himself facing the wrath of self-righteous elements in the Toronto public who not only assert that because of his sexual choices that he is an unfit canadidate for mayor, but that he should step down from his role as transit chairman and even perhaps as a city councillor altogether.

Since when does a person's sexuality have any influence on their capacity to perform a duty? He's deceptive, some reply, he didn't disclose these things about himself to us. Why would he be obligated to? Because we expect our leaders to be upstanding citizens. So, a sexual person isn't an "upstanding" person? But he's a public figure, they reply. Since when is there a relationship between one's ability to debate with union leaders, or make social policy, or submit legal bills for Parliamentary review and what physically stimulates a person to orgasm?

Meanwhile, and as I wrote in a previous post, in Sweden, politician Goeran Eurenius starred in at least fourteen adult films prior to and during his term as Haerryda city councillor.

In Italy, prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's romping parties have already become the stuff of legend. Also, socialist politician Milly D'Abbraccio featured her ass prominently on all campaign posters during her 2008 bid for Rome city council, and as "Cicciolina," veteran porn star Ilona Staller successfuly served one term in the Italian Parliament between 1987 and 1991, and remains politically active today.

The late, great Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau famously remarked that "the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation." I will argue that the opposite is equally true: that the nation has no place in the bedrooms of its statesmen.

I can only imagine what I would say if I ran for mayor for the city of Toronto.

"Good afternoon. Let me be perfectly clear. I write a sexblog. In that blog, you'll read many accounts of my sexual experiences, which do not always include activities exclusive to the partner I may be primarily with at that time. It's extremely rare, but yes, those experiences will also include experimentations with men. I also clearly state therein that I support gay and lesbian rights, question the assumptions of those practicing some organized religions, and defend some other people in the public eye who have been ridiculed for their choices in life. I am pro-choice. As a former phonesex worker and bondage club stage performer and bouncer, I support the rights of sex workers of every category everywhere. On occasion, I use marijuana, and yes, I inhale. Thank you."

I met Adam Giambrone once. He struck me as an energetic, open-minded, positive man brimming with ideas and the courage to take a stand and get something accomplished. As you read this, he is taking some time off in Paris. He deserves to. But, while I was still unsure of my vote for the Toronto mayoral election later this year, it disappoints me that he's dropped out of the running. But (despite how he tried to handle some of all this) I can also appreciate how blindsided, and possibly even betrayed, he likely feels.

Just once, someday, I'd love to see the Sarah McQuarries, the Elin Nordegrens, the Hilary Clintons of the world strut up to the so-phallic microphone and hear them tell the press something like:

"Good afternoon. Let me be perfectly clear. You believe that you've caught my partner in an imbroglio, but there's an important point here that seems to require clarification. Understand that while we love and support one another very much, my partner and I are not exclusive. We are not monogamous. While we are aware that this may sound unusual to many members of the public, we assure you that we enjoy a happy, healthy, and stable relationship, full of love, communication, and mutual respect. I am, and have been, aware of my partner's experiences outside of our own partnership, which we mutually share with informed consent. Having said that, we regard any further questions concerning our personal intimacy to be outside of the public spectrum and irrelevant to further inquiries concerning our respective careers. Thank you."

I would break out the champagne. And then I would fuck my partner on the couch of my office during business hours. Just out of spite.

And solidarity.