America's First Transgendered Mayor Elected In Silverton City, Oregon

November 10, 2008 8:40 a.m. EST

Silverton, OR (AHN) - Anything is possible in America: Silverton City, pop. 9,588, has elected the United States' first transgendered mayor.

Stu Rasmussen, who won a third term as mayor of Silverton, Oregon, will be coming back to city hall dressed as a woman with breast implants.

Rasmussen, 60, a local politician since 1984, has been elected twice as city mayor in 1988 and 1990. However, at that time, he did his official affairs wearing shirts and pants.

Rasmussen won against incumbent mayor Ken Hector by 1,988 votes to 1,512. As councilor, Rasmussen was a harsh critic of Hector and ran against him with a simple platform: preserving the community.

He maintains that growth is not necessarily progress and bigger is not always better.

Rasmussen described Silverton, some 45 miles south of Portland, as a conservative rural community, and that the local campaign was dominated by policy issues.

In an interview with "Good Morning America", he said that the town went through the transition with him.

"Obviously, it was shocking to them. We all kind of went through it together. It was pretty obvious I was making a change, it had to happen in my head. They were ready before I was," he said.

"I think the first courageous act was coming out in the first place. The community was very receptive and accepting, with a few exceptions," he added.

In a separate interview with JustOut, a lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender publication based in Portland, Rasmussen said: "I am a dude. I am a heterosexual male who appears to be a female."

Rasmussen has a live-in girlfriend, Victoria Sage, for the past 35 years.