Stu Rasmussen (September 9, 1948 – November 17, 2021) was an American politician. She became the nation's
first openly
transgender mayor when she was elected as the mayor of
Silverton, Oregon in November 2008.[1][2]
She had previously been elected twice in the 1990s as mayor of
Willamette Valley before coming out as transgender.[3] She was also three times a member of the city council.[4] She was assigned male at birth, identified as a man, preferred masculine pronouns, had
breast implants, and had a
femininegender expression.[5] She 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. She ran for the House again in 1998 as a Democrat, losing with 41% of the vote.[6]