Stu Rasmussen
Mayor of Silverton, Oregon
In office
January 2009  January 2015
Preceded byKen Hector
Succeeded byRick Lewis
Personal details
Born(1948-09-09)September 9, 1948
Silverton, Oregon, U.S.
DiedNovember 17, 2021 (aged 73)
Silverton, Oregon, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic (since 1996)
Other political
affiliations
Independent (before 1996)

Stu Rasmussen (September 9, 1948 – November 17, 2021) was an American politician. He became the nation's first openly transgender mayor when he was elected as the mayor of Silverton, Oregon in November 2008.[1][2]

He had previously been elected twice in the 1990s as mayor of Willamette Valley before coming out as transgender.[3] He was also three times a member of the city council.[4] He was assigned male at birth, identified as a man, preferred masculine pronouns, had breast implants, and had a feminine gender expression.[5] He sometimes went by the name Carla Fong.[5]

Rasmussen unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Oregon House of Representatives 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.[6]

In 2013 a musical about Rasmussen, Stu for Silverton, premiered at Seattle's Intiman Theatre.[5][7][8]

Rasmussen, a self-described fiscal conservative and social liberal,[2][4] served as city councilor until January 2009.[9]

He co-owned Silverton's 1936 Palace Theater, which shows first-run movies, since 1974.[10]

Rasmussen died from prostate cancer on November 17, 2021, at the age of 73.[11]

References

  1. Stu Rasmussen. "Reality Check". Archived from the original on April 20, 2012. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Oregon town elects nation's first transgender mayor". Associated Press. November 8, 2008. Archived from the original on January 3, 2009. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
  3. Question, Big (November 9, 2008). "US election diary: The sex change we can all believe in - Americas, World - The Independent". London: Independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
  4. 1 2 Friar, Cathryn. "Stu Rasmussen is Transgendered Mayor » Right Pundits". Rightpundits.com. Archived from the original on November 13, 2008. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
  5. 1 2 3 Ng, David (November 29, 2012). "New musical about transgender mayor heading to Intiman Theatre". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  6. "Rasmussen, Stu". Our Campaigns. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  7. Berson, Misha (July 23, 2013). "'Stu for Silverton' sings about small-town tolerance". Seattle Times. Archived from the original on December 18, 2013.
  8. Berson, Misha (July 23, 2013). "Meet the real Stu from musical 'Stu for Silverton'". Seattle Times. Archived from the original on December 18, 2013.
  9. "City of Silverton, OR > Government > City Council". Webservices.orcities.org. Archived from the original on July 24, 2012. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
  10. Drawhorn, Ornie (November 2011). "Keeping up in a digital age: Palace plans high tech upgrades". Our Town Live. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  11. America's first openly transgender mayor, Silverton's Stewart 'Stu' Rasmussen dies


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