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N orman
(G enderqueer )
R ockwell
Silverton's cross-dressing city official
december 3.2004 ■
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tu Rasmussen is the kind of woman who
“1 think it says a lot about this town that I’d
could stop traffic— and he knows it.
come in second for City Council," he says.
The leggy, 56-year-old redhead is sit
W hat Rasmussen loves about his town is its
ting across from me at a cafe table over-
Norman Rockwell feel. He says people live in
Itxtking Silver Falls in Silverton. Dressed in a
Silverton for it small-town values of community
miniskirt, tall black txxus and cleavage-revealing
involvem ent, neighborly caretaking and
black top, Rasmussen’s appearance invites
involvement in public schtxiling. As a city
head-turning. And that is just how he likes it.
councilor, he has pledged to maintain a “home
“1 like to have fun, and it just happens to
town lifestyle.”
involve being me,” says the Silverton native. He
Part of that lifestyle for Rasmussen has
waves to a group of jeans-clad women sitting
meant nearly 30 years with his life partner, Vic
nearby. They return his neighborly hello.
toria Sage. They met when she was working at
Most everybtxiy in Silverton knows Stu Ras the snack bar of a Portland cinema and he did
mussen. T he co-owner of the Palace Theater
maintenance on the projector. Though they
has been a city official numerous times in the
have never married, Rasmussen calls Sage “the
past two decades— four years as mayor, eight
love of my life.”
years on the City Council— and he was just
W hile Sage had always been comfortable
elected to one of the City C ouncil’s three open
with Rasmussen’s cross-dressing, the decidedly
seats for 2005-2008.
heterosexual Rasmussen was happy to discover
The former software engineer calls himself a
that other women find him attractive as well.
fiscal conservative and social liberal. O nce a pro
“They arc really attracted to my feminine
ponent of growth in economically flailing 1980s
side,” he says. “They know when we get together
Silverton, now he’s a voice for “turning off the
we’re not just going to watch football. W e’re
spigot” on growth. At the same time Ras
mussen was trading in his plaid work
shirts for heels and ruby-colored jewelry,
his hometown was transitioning from
timber to art galleries and antiques for its
sense of self. So many people have moved
to Silverton in recent years, it is reaching
capacity for its sewer and water systems.
Rasmussen says he has been a cross
dresser all his life, though he has only
been out for the past 10 years. For many
years he was ashamed; he thought he was
the only man in the world with a pro
clivity for women’s clothing and there
fore must he “sick and bad.” T hen an
Internet search revealed a much wide,
world to him and, he says, “the flcxxl-
gates opened.”
He found his way to Northwest G en
der Alliance, which he credits with help
ing him get to a place of being comfort
able with himself. In the mid-1990s he
started getting his nails done and was
stxm going out in public dressed entirely
in women’s attire. Though he was terri Silverton City Council member Stu Rasmussen
fied at first, he six>n «realized “90 percent outside the Palace Theater
of the problems [he faced] were right
between my own ears.”
going to go shopping and talk about some
Rather than being ostracized from his com
thing real.”
munity, he instead found acceptance. There
Comfortable with the terms genderqueer and
were the occasional snickers behind his hack,
transgender, he says he has nonetheless never
hut for the most part Silverton embraced him as considered having a sex change.
they always had— as one of their own and as a
“I can he perfectly happy in a m an’s htxly,”
trusted leader.
he says.
“People get over the package really fast when
He did, however, save up his money and get
they discover the person is com petent,” he says.
breast implants four years ago.
In fact, he sees an advantage to being a cross
“Cleavage is a cross-dresser’s nirvana," he
dressing politician in a small town because
says. He had worn prosthetic breasts for a few
years to "try out being a guy with breasts." Now
“everybtxly knows everybtxly” and because
that he has the real thing, he says he has regret
longtime residents do not, ironically, judge peers
ted it “for all of about 15 seconds” when he first
by their appearance.
opened his eyes after the surgery.
W hen I press him for what is unique about
O ne of his favorite adornments for his bust is
Silverton that makes it so open-minded, he
a T-shirt he had made that answers any silent
shnigs it off.
“This is something that could be done any passershy who may be wondering, “Why does
Stu do that?" It reads simply: “Because girls have
where,” he says. “People are people everywhere."
more fun.’ j n
N ot that he doesn’t think Silverton is special.
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