Stu Rasmussen

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]

Stu Rasmussen
Mayor of Silverton, Oregon
In office January 2009 – January 2015
Preceded by	Ken Hector
Succeeded by	Rick Lewis
Silverton City Councilor
In office January 2004 – January 2008
Silver Falls Library Board
In office 1997–2001
Silverton City Councilor
In office January 1992 – January 1996
Mayor of Silverton, Oregon
In office January 1988 – January 1992
Silverton City Councilor
In office January 1984 – January 1988
Personal details
Born	(1948-09-09)September 9, 1948 Silverton, Oregon, U.S.
Died	November 17, 2021 (aged 73) Silverton, Oregon, U.S.
Political party	Democratic (since 1996)
Other political affiliations	Independent (before 1996)

He had previously been elected twice in the 1990s as mayor of Silverton before coming out as transgender.^[3] He was also three times a member of the city council.^[4] Stu described herself as a "gender anarchist", and used both he/him and she/her pronouns.^[5] He sometimes went by the name Carla Fong.^[6]

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.^[7]

In 2013 a musical about Rasmussen, Stu for Silverton, premiered at Seattle's Intiman Theatre.^[6][8][9]

Rasmussen, a self-described fiscal conservative and social liberal,^[2][4] served as city councilor until January 2009.^[10]

He co-owned Silverton's 1936 Palace Theater, which shows first-run movies, since 1974.^[11]

Rasmussen died from prostate cancer on November 17, 2021, at the age of 73.^[12]

See also

• List of transgender public officeholders in the United States