Stu Rasmussen’s been the mayor of this town before. But never before in a skirt and 2-inch heels.

In Silverton, the sleepy Salem, Oregon suburb 40 minutes outside of Portland best known for its lush Oregon Garden and quaint antique shops, the small town’s new mayor-elect is poised to get some major attention in the days and weeks ahead as people come around to realize we’ve got another Oregon first on our hands: the recently elected Rasmussen is the first openly gender fluid, transgender-identified mayor of any American city.

Rasmussen is a 60-year-old native Silvertonian who’s been a small business owner for most of his adult life, and a public servant in his beloved hometown for going on two decades. He served two consecutive terms as Silverton’s mayor, in 1988 and 1990, when he still dressed exclusively as a male.

A self-described gender identity crisis in the mid-90’s, coupled with a series of ego-crippling losses in Oregon state House and Senate races – including losing to the now-notorious anti-gay legislator Marylin Shannon in a 1996 race – forced Rasmussen to withdraw from public service (that’s Stu then, pictured above, in a 1996 Oregon Senate race ad photo). He thought his political career was over.

But then Stu discovered the Northwest Gender Alliance, and gradually became more comfortable with outwardly expressing his feminine identity. As reported in this 2004 article in Just Out, Rasmussen realized then that he could express his fluid gender identity with confidence and still be accepted in small-town Silverton. He underwent reconstructive “top surgery” in 2000 on his chest, including breast implants. Rasmussen says the surgery was transformational for him.

Soon after, he “got bit by the public service bug again” and ran for Silverton City Council in 2004. “And I got elected,” Stu says by phone from Silverton, recounting his rise again only hours after learning of his win in the mayor’s race. “Boobs and all. I tell people this country has a long and proud history of electing boobs to public office.” (and that’s Stu now, in a 2006 file photo from the Secretary of State’s office, at right)

Chatting with Stu, one gets the feeling that the politician’s wit is part of what makes his gender fluidity more “palatable” for the Silverton public. Describing his work as owner of the Palace Theatre, an old-school movie house and quasi performing arts center in downtown Silverton, Rasmussen says “obviously I’m in the entertainment business. I give people something to talk about, like, what sort of shoes is Stu wearing?” (cue rim shot)

But the seasoned enterpreneur and public servant has serious plans and policies in the works for his hometown once he’s inaugurated this January: studying and fixing a major earthen dam in danger of disaster; transportation and downtown business district planning; sewer and water issues; addressing skyrocketing property taxes.

It’s clear that Rasmussen is, above all, a wonk’s wonk when it comes to city management. That may be one of the reasons Stu claimed victory by about eleven percentage points (that’s 470-odd votes in Silverton) over eight-term incumbent Ken Hector in the mayoral race.

On the phone with the freshly minted mayor-elect the afternoon of November 5th, I spoke with Rasmussen about his historic win in the Silverton race, how he deals with gender fluid-phobic residents in his own community, and what he plans to bring to the Silverton mayor’s office.

Stephen Marc Beaudoin: Congratulations on winning the race. How does it feel?
Stu Rasmussen: Today was either going to be a good day or a great day – and it turned into a great day. My campaign message must have struck home, because it was very well received.

SMB: What was that message?
SR: That I’m concerned about the condition of the dam that forms our reservoir and I want to take a look at that and make sure it’s safe. The failure of the dam would wash away a goodly portion of our residential area. Other issues were that I feel the city is wasting money. We pour a million dollars into putting traffic lights in when a hundred dollars to put in a stop sign would do the job.

SMB: Would you call Silverton a conservative community?
SR: It’s a 50/50 split between exceedingly conservative and artsy-fartsy.

SMB: Do people say nasty things about you in town?
SR: The only thing I hear is, ‘Stu is the way he is – he’s a little odd, but he’s the smartest guy in town.’ I’ve got street cred here for being involved in public service long before I came out as trans… they seem to be putting up with it rather well.

SMB: Were you surprised by your win?
SR: The guy that I beat out here [Ken Hector] was an 8-term incumbent. He figured he’d been anointed instead of elected, and he doesn’t like me. He may be homophobic or trans-phobic, I don’t know.

SMB: What is Silverton known for?  Why visit?
SR: It’s home to the Oregon Garden, probably the most beautiful garden in the state of Oregon. It’s an eclectic little community, with a classic 1950’s downtown – you drive into the city limits and you swear you’ve just gone back to 1956.

SMB: Now that you’ve been elected, what’s your biggest challenge ahead?
SR: The biggest challenge is keeping Silverton Silverton. I like it the way it grew up around me, I don’t want it to turn into a major metropolis.

SMB: And to those who have trouble seeing past your gender identity, you say what?
SR: [laughs] Get over it. What I really believe is even though you don’t agree with my lifestyle, we want to make Silverton the best that we can. And that’s my mission.