Small Oregon city elects transgender mayor

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

Silverton, Ore. (AP) -- 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.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/11/08/politics/p075042S62.DTL&tsp=1

[HereSince1628]

1. Good for her!

[LisaL]

5. A her? He says he is a man.

[stahbrett]

6. "Her"? He's a male, not a female.

Read the article and you'll see where he says so himself...

[MuseRider]

2. That is fabulous news!

Good for her! Good for the people of Silverton, Oregon. Thanks for the smile and the great news.

[zehnkatzen]

3. I was a child in Silverton during the 60s ...

Things sure have changed down there!

Back when I was a kid, Silverton's city color was freaking beige! Nothing interesting ever happened there; it was as staid and bland a place as you could find anywhere.

If I was a kid in Silverton today, with its art community and the Oregon Garden and the transgendered mayor, I might never want to leave ... you never know what you'd miss!

My little town has all growed up!

[LisaL]

4. Is he a transgender or is he a cross-dresser?

He calls himself a "heterosexual male."

[IndianaGreen]

7. From what I gather, he is a crossdresser.

More power to him!

[LisaL]

8. Well he shouldn't be called a first openly transgender mayor then.

As far as I understand it, transgender is someone who thinks they are the opposite sex.
He is biological man who says he is a man, so he shouldn't be described as transgender.

[devinkay]

10. Transgender is an umbrella term

that covers any challenge to the traditional male/female dichotomy. Crossdressers, drag queens, gender f**kers, and transsexuals are all transgendered.

[LisaL]

11. O'key thanks.

So he can be described as a first openly transgender mayor then.

[merwin]

12. He had breast implants.

If that's not traveling across those gender lines, then I don't know what is
;)

[zehnkatzen]

13. It's a situation that our language has trouble covering succintly.

Put in list form to organize the thought:

1. He's a male. He identifies as a male.
2. He has a girlfriend. Since he id's as male, he's heterosexual.
3. He wears female dress.
4. He enjoys looking like a female.
5. He enjoys looking like a female enough to actually have surgical breast implants.
6. However, he is comfortable enough with being a male that he does not wish to have SRS.

He's a het male who likes looking like a female.

He's someone who's pushing the envelope on what we think gender behavior should be, that's for sure. So far the only TGs I've met either identify as male or female and strive to act, dress, and craft a persona to fit.

He's a guy who defines himself as he sees fit.

[cliffordu]

9. My grandmother lived there in her later years....sheeit....

Pretty amazing.

[shireen]

14. good for her and the people of Silverton!

They evaluated her on her ability to run the town. And she won. That's how elections should be determined.

[LisaL]

15. There is no 'her."

[zelta gaisma]

16. Define Stu however Stu defines Stu :P I was taught...

to address someone who looks female as ma'am and someone who looks male as sir (sometime that can be embarrassing )no matter what in under their proverbial skirt , until they tell me different.