Silverton Oregon is More Progressive Than SF

Why?
Because Stu Rasmussen has just been elected Silverton's newest Mayor. Yay Stu!

This is Stu right here, and even though Stu's got quite an impressive rack (jealous!) you may have guessed that she's also the country's 1st openly transgendered mayor.


(Stu was actually Mayor in the 90's but was not out at that point.)

In addition to having 20 years experience serving the good people of Silverton as an elected official of one kind or another, Stu seems unbelievably down to earth. This is especially impressive for someone who didn't come out of the closet, and in fact had never even heard the word 'transgendered' until 10 years ago.

There's a tab on her home page called 'Reality Check' which starts, "If you just stumbled on this site you may be asking yourself "Is this guy for real?" or "Is that really a guy?". She's so open about it, that the AP reports, "Because Rasmussen's appearance was no secret, the campaign was dominated by policy issues. 'I've blackmail-proofed myself,' Rasmussen said"

Right on Stu! If only all elections could be about the issues and blackmail proof, and if only I could find a flying pony. Why are the simplest things always such a struggle.

Another Long Read About Transgendered Kids

The Atlantic brings the heat again with a really interesting (and really long) article about the challenges of raising kids who may or may not be transgendered but definitely aren't happy.

I was def always in the camp that said let the little rug rats dress and act like they want, but this article brings up some good points. Like, are we indulging our kids too much? What if black kids were saying they desperately wanted to be white? Are some of these kids just pre-gay? Are they pre-gay and think it's more normal to be trans than in a gay or lesbian relationship?????? No body agrees!!! And I feel super bad for these parents.

Anyway, if you're interested then it's a great article, and if you aren't then I promise to post a cute picture of a doggy.