2nd UPDATE, October 8, 12:53 pm:

CAP’s Peyser now confirms, citing a previous “crossed wire” with Senator Gordon Smith’s DC office, that Smith has been replaced on the AIDS Walk Portland kick-off ceremonies speaking agenda with his US Senate race opponent, Oregon speaker of the House Jeff Merkley, who was not previously scheduled to speak at the event, according to both CAP and the Merkley campaign.

Maybe the LGBT community is breathing a bit easier knowing that Smith won’t be at the Portland AIDS Walk after all? Then again, Merkley’s experience with federal HIV/AIDS issues is pretty scant compared to Smith’s…

UPDATE, October 7, 2:37 pm:

Cascade AIDS Project development director Roma Peyser e-mailed a short statement announcing that Senator Gordon Smith is no longer on the Sunday morning Portland AIDS Walk speaking program in Pioneer Courthouse Square, as first reported here at Blog Out on Monday, October 6.

Citing a “crossed wire” with Senator Smith’s DC office, Peyser said Smith was axed from the AIDS Walk agenda, but did not provide further details on whether Smith might appear in a non-speaking role at the event, or who might replace Smith for the speaking program.

The original Monday, October 6 Blog Out posting is below (we’ll update if we hear more from CAP or the Smith or Merkley campaigns):

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Among the estimated 10,000 walkers at this Sunday’s Portland AIDS Walk, two powerful men with clashing political ambitions will, for a few brief moments, share a center stage loaded with drama: Oregon Speaker of the House Jeff Merkley and two-term incumbent Senator Gordon Smith.

Merkley and Smith are competing in one of the country’s most closely watched races for the US Senate, and engaged in a tightly wound, bitter fight for voters in every corner of Oregon. It’s no surprise that both candidates would seize upon an opportunity to appear before a several-thousand deep Portland crowd in the thick of this heated election season: recent polling has put the Smith v. Merkley race in a virtual dead heat.

But you may be surprised to know that though both candidates are scheduled to take the stage at the AIDS Walk opening ceremony, only one of them will have the honor of directly addressing this Sunday’s assembled crowd at Pioneer Courthouse Square, and that person is Gordon Smith.

Cascade AIDS Project’s decision to allow Senator Smith an opportunity to directly address a massive Sunday AIDS Walk crowd – many of them members and friends of the LGBT community – in the midst of a contested re-election campaign could strike a sour note among LGBT leaders in the Portland area and queer attendees at Saturday’s AIDS Walk.


“Gordon Smith is not a friend to this community,” was how Basic Rights Oregon (BRO) executive director Jeana Frazzini bluntly put it last week, in a statement regarding Smith’s recent release of a television advertisement touting his pro-LGBT work in the US Senate.  “Gordon Smith flip-flops on the issues, trotting out his support only when his campaign is in trouble and he thinks it will score him a few extra votes in Portland and Eugene.”

In fact, just minutes ago BRO announced that it was endorsing Jeff Merkley in the US Senate race.

When asked why Smith had been selected over Merkley to speak at the AIDS Walk, Cascade AIDS Project development director Roma Peyser, who manages the Walk, said that her office invites a broad range of elected officials from across the state, but that “generally… speakers are chosen based on the work that they do on HIV and AIDS,” adding “Senator Smith deals directly with policies and legislature and current events that revolve around what our agencies are doing.”

Peyser also added that it was the first time in the history of the AIDS Walk, that she was aware of, that Smith had accepted an invitation to speak at the event, though a Smith aide, Kerry Tymchuk – whom Peyser praised as an “absolutely brilliant individual” – spoke on behalf of the Senator at the 2007 event.

As to concerns over opposition to Smith’s AIDS Walk appearance, Peyser said she had none: “Because this event is a community-wide event and not specifically an LGBTQ event,” she said. “We look at the big picture in terms of what our Senators are doing for HIV and AIDS.” Peyser did confirm that Merkley, for his part, was scheduled to “be up on the mainstage” alongside Smith before the official 9:40 am kickoff speakers which, aside from Smith, include Senator Ron Wyden, mayor-elect Sam Adams and CAP’s new executive director, Michael Kaplan.

Smith’s appearance is bound to roil equal rights activists and queer leaders in the region. Frazzini’s comments today on BRO’s endorsement of Merkley included this stinging assessment of Smith:

“There is only one thing that fair-minded Oregonians can count on from Gordon Smith, and that is that every six years, he will roll out a hate crimes advertisement in the Portland media market in an effort to look like a moderate,” Frazzini said. “But most national and local gay organizations know the truth about Gordon Smith, and that’s why they decline to endorse him. We know the kind of leadership this community needs, and it’s not Gordon Smith.”