America's First Transgender Mayor: Stu Rasmussen

SILVERTON, Ore. — Plenty of politicians reinvent themselves, but few do it quite like Mayor-elect Stu Rasmussen.

Rasmussen has been a fixture in Silverton politics for more than 20 years, and had twice before been mayor of the small city 45 miles south of Portland. Those terms, however, were before his breast implants and before the once-discreet crossdresser started wearing dresses and 3-inch heels in public.

Silverton has made Rasmussen the country's first openly transgender mayor, according to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a group that works to help openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people win elected office.

Rasmussen, 60, unseated incumbent mayor Ken Hector, with whom he had long clashed, by 1,988 votes to 1,512.

Because Rasmussen's appearance was no secret, the campaign was dominated by policy issues.

"I've blackmail-proofed myself," Rasmussen said.

The story of Rasmussen's election was first reported by JustOut, a bimonthly publication for Portland's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.

"Stu never sought this recognition out," said JustOut reporter Stephen Marc Beaudoin. "He's interested in doing a great job for the community that he loves. The gender identity thing is just a total backseat thing."

That comes across when Rasmussen speaks in his decidedly masculine voice.

"I am a dude," he said. "I am a heterosexual male who appears to be a female."

His longtime live-in girlfriend, Victoria Sage, told The Oregonian newspaper that she and Rasmussen have been an item for almost 35 years.

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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com

Comments

[roybattyjunior]

I wish shim all the luck...

[berryessence]

you wrong for calling him a "shim"

BUT THAT'S KEWL!

HERE IN GA WE HAVE A TRANSGENDER ALDERMAN

[sloLes]

HP needs some education and to correct its headline. TGs are people who are of the other sex from the body they've been born into. Their desire is to look and feel like the gender that they believe themselves to be. Toward that end, many will modify their body, learn the mannerisms of the gender they want to be, and learn to speak with the appropriate voice and mannerisms.

Stu clearly identifies as a man, who enjoys dressing as a woman. He speaks with a male voice. And he probably behaves as a man privately with his female partner. And he says very definitively that he's a man in the article. So, why does HP label him a TG?

People in Silverton have clearly gotten on top of the situation and put their priorities in order. HP needs to catch up! If the HP cannot get this correct, is it any wonder that so many mainstream Americans are not ready to accept people with gender issues as fully human?

[robotfog]

Transgender is a term used to encompass many forms of gender issues, gender presentation, and gender identity.

We include crossdressers because they are not crossdressing on a whim. They are expressing themselves in the only way they can be happy. They are crossing gender boundaries. They also suffer a stigma similar to TS (transsexuals) and non binary gender variants.

[LiberalBuzz]

Well...as long as he does a good job.

THAT is all that matters.

[knowBuddhaU]

Congratulations on your victory. I salute your courage.

[theotocopolous]

This guy isn't a transsexual, he's a public crossdresser. Transsexuals are people who identify as a gender different than their biological sex, this guy was born male and identifies as male, but simply enjoys wearing dresses.
That aside, I'm glad America seems to be growing incrementally more tolerant.

[SBrooksB]

I worked with a guy a couple of years ago who was heterosexual in his choice of partners. He also gender-identified as female, enjoyed cross-dressing, and considered himself a lesbian trapped in a male body. So the possibilities are many and varied.

[niccip]

yeesh americans are slow here in New Zealand we have had transgendered member of parliament, Georgina Beyer for at least 10 years, she was even elected from a small country town as was very popular, and by the way until this weekend with the defeat of labour, the majority of all positions of power were held by woman

[kiwi1]

AWESOME news from New Zealand.... Out this the socialists... In with FREE ENTERPRISE...
I'm SO HAPPY....

[grizhead63]

The Real News for New Zealanders:

"Free Enterprise" is costing the US taxpayers Trillions $$$ and all the bills aren't close to being in yet. The Capitalists have bankrupted America for the next several generations, so wish you lots of luck!

[LoRiseAntlers]

Too bad the rest of the country isn't as tolerant as this town.

[Shieldmaiden]

Good for Silverton. They picked who they thought was best for the job - as it should be.

[SPQR1052]

Congratulations with that! I am happy for the mayor.

[bryce05]

'Bout time!
New Zealand had its first transgender Member of Parliament (think Congresswoman) years ago.

[maryhaze]

You GO Girl!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chaucea]

Hehe! Yay Stu! :-)

Great to see this article in HuffPo.

I saw a nice video article on CNN.com a few days ago about Silverton's new mayor.

[elcojonu]

The Repugs are into running mayors for VP.
Pailin / Rasmussen in 2012.

[mafina]

Wow, did Ras unseat a repub mayor.

[Ghost803]

Since the idea of Gender is a social concept, I dont see how pplz can be born transgender. I mean wtf? People dont come into the world with dna telling em to wear dresses and shoes and crap.

[elcojonu]

If the idea of Gender is a social concept, why did he change from boy to girl ?

[brilett]

Transsexual Gene Found, Researchers Claim
http://www.gaywired.com/Article.cfm?ID=20721

You might be conflating gender, gender role & gender identity.

[robotfog]

Gender presentation is a social construct, but gender identity is biological.

It can be ultra complicated. You can see a spectrum of gender expression even within either gender, male or female. There are women who won't leave the house without makeup. Others that don't care. And others who will kill you if you try to make them wear make-up. So, when you are not limited to the idea that gender expression is entirely cultural/social or that gender expression is absolutely divided by the (arbitrary) definition of 'male' and 'female', it makes sense that you would see a spillover or blurring of social gender conventions in the population as a whole.

For every 300 females who need to wear make-up, there would be like 1 male who also needs to wear it. Maybe a handful of males who desire to wear either a little bit, or a whole lot of make-up.

Yikes! If what I just wrote makes sense, then I just have to say that I did it without any schooling.