Stu Rasmussen (September 9, 1948 – November 17, 2021) was an American politician. He became the nation's

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

openly

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

mayor when he was elected as the mayor of

Silverton, Oregon Silverton is a city in Marion County, Oregon, Marion County, Oregon, United States. The city is situated along the 45th parallel north, 45th parallel about northeast of Salem, Oregon, Salem, in the eastern margins of the broad alluvial plain of t ...

in November 2008. He had previously been elected twice in the 1990s as mayor of this

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east ...

community, before coming out as transgender. He was also three times a member of the city council. He was assigned male at birth, identified as a man, preferred masculine pronouns, had

breast implants A breast implant is a prosthesis used to change the size, shape, and contour of a person's breast. In reconstructive plastic surgery, breast implants can be placed to restore a natural looking breast following a mastectomy, to correct congenital ...

, and had a feminine

gender expression Gender expression, or gender presentation, is a person's behavior, mannerisms, interests, and appearance that are associated with gender, specifically with the categories of femininity or masculinity. This also includes gender roles. These ca ...

. He sometimes went by the name Carla Fong. Rasmussen unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 65,000. The House meets in the west wing of t ...

in 1994 as an independent, and a seat in the Oregon State Senate in 1996 as a Democrat. He ran for the House again in 1998 as a Democrat, losing with 41% of the vote. In 2013 a musical about Rasmussen, ''Stu for Silverton'', premiered at

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

Intiman Theatre Intiman Theatre Festival in Seattle, Washington, was founded in 1972 as a resident theatre by Margaret "Megs" Booker, who named it for August Strindberg's Stockholm theater.

. Rasmussen, a self-described

fiscal conservative Fiscal conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and ''laissez-faire'' economics.M. O. Dickerson et al., ''A ...

and

social liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

, served as city councilor until January 2009. He co-owned Silverton's 1936 Palace Theater, which shows first-run movies, since 1974. Rasmussen died from prostate cancer on November 17, 2021, at the age of 73.America's first openly transgender mayor, Silverton's Stewart 'Stu' Rasmussen dies
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References

External links

Stu Rasmussen for Mayor
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WNYC Radiolab segment on Stu Rasmussen

Interview with Stu Rasmussen About Being a Transgender Politician
1948 births 2021 deaths Mayors of places in Oregon Transgender politicians LGBT mayors of places in the United States LGBT people from Oregon People from Silverton, Oregon Oregon city council members Oregon Democrats Oregon Independents Male-to-female cross-dressers 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians {{Oregon-mayor-stub