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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