Silverton transgender mayor shrugs off dress code complaints

[2QT2BSTR8]

Source: KGW.com

Video article

Read more: http://www.kgw.com/video/video-index.html?nvid=383115

---

This group just needs to get over itself. I would have no problem with my transgender mayor wearing something like this. No offense against women, but I have seen shorter or equivalent on women.

This article is also on CNN front page, which links to their own video.

[izquierdista]

1. I could have done without the closeup

But the legs from half a block away.....:thumbsup:

[tomm2thumbs]

2. looks just like Gypsy from La Cage fame

oh the good ol' days

for those without video speed, a pic

[KamaAina]

3. Awesome!

That'd be my kind of town, if it weren't so cloudy and rainy up there most of the time!

Do you suppose "Silverton Together" would have its collective knickers in a twist if they invited Caribou Barbie to speak and she wore the exact same outfit? :shrug:

[MADem]

4. The mayor broke the dress code. That was a miniskirt, and the code says "no" to them.

Aside from that, the mayor broke the bounds of good taste.

The "I look goooooood" statement at the end suggests that the mayor is delusional, because the mayor looked like a train wreck. Horrible.

There are plenty of "warm weather" outfits that would have looked fine--that wasn't one of them. I thought that footage, at first, looked like a clip from that "The Point" show about prostitutes they used to show on HBO....

[tblue37]

5. The code also prohibits tank tops.

Just the other day someone posted an article about how women these days make the mistake of assuming that relaxed dress codes mean they can get away with wearing va-va voom clothes to the office.

Generally speaking, it is just not a good idea for women to dress that way while at work if they want to be taken seriously--unless, of course, they are "working girls."

[MADem]

7. I am no fashion expert. I wasn't sure what a "tank top" is.

That costume looks like a too short dress with too high shoes.

I do agree that there's something to be said for "appropriate" dress in the workplace. I know I'll probably be derided as a fuddy duddy (which I am) but I really think fewer clothes translates to less power. And I do think there's a subset of this population that likes it that way, and a further subset that goes along with it because they don't realize that being regarded as "sexy" is a transient thing, and time will take its toll. And when it does, you'll end up looking like that mayor, and wondering where the wolf whistles (and promotions) went!

[LisaL]

15. Tank top is a type of a sleeveless shirt.

[AlbertCat]

6. Well, it'll give'em something to do in Silverton for a while.

[Politicalboi]

8. I think the shoes

Made her look more like a hooker than the dress. But that's me. And believe me I am no fashion expert by any means. I think a pair of sandals would have made a big difference. I wonder what the kids thought.

[cindyperry]

9. No offense but

yikes.

[Techn0Girl]

10. The difference to remember is....

Even though this person is referred to a "transgender" the person in question has repeatedly said in public news interviews that he is a man who likes to wear ladies clothing. In other words , a transvestite: someone who is sexually turned on by wearing clothes of the opposite sex. The mayor has referred to himself as a man and I respect his wishes by referring to him in the gender that he prefers.

Many times people confuse transvestites with people who actually have had sex changes and are NOT sexually aroused by the wearing of clothes of the opposite sex. People who have had sex changes (usually known as transsexuals) , with few exceptions, generally want to just fit into society and be known as simply men or woman and tend to hide or minimize their past history regarding their former gender. A lot of you here probably pass such people by and interact with them every day without noticing anything different or unusual. I'm sure that there are one or two right here on DU no doubt.

Unfortunately flamboyant transvestites are often confused with "transsexuals" by popular media which in turn leads to confusion in the general public's mind as well. Such confusion makes in infinitely more difficult for people who have changed sex and who have always felt themselves to be a member of their preferred gender to be taken seriously by the general public. This confusion leads to their not wanting to discuss their past for fear of being identified as someone like this mayor - or so I've heard anyway.

Such confusion and misunderstanding is often made worse by the fact that the more flamboyant transvestites generally like their past histories to be known and many times make quite an effort to get the word out regarding their actual physical sex: like running for mayor as a "transgenderist" or wearing inappropriate clothing while in meeting - knowing that both things will make for "good" press. Compounding all this , the politically correct term "transgender" has been used to lump together transvestites as well as people who have changed their sex, making it even more difficult for transsexual men and women to be taken seriously in the general public's mind.

I just wanted to post this to point out a few things some of you may not have thought of before and to indicate some differences between this person (a transvestite) and an actual transsexual person.

[tomm2thumbs]

12. quality post!

[2QT2BSTR8]

13. Agreed! Thank you for adding that to the conversation!

[Ian David]

17. There are some who cross-dress for arousal, and others who just feel more "comfortable" that way.

If the mayor is not transgendered, but is instead a fetishist as you say, then it would be nice to have a link backing that up.

[Techn0Girl]

18. More "comfortable" eh?

I've heard some transvestites use the "more comfortable" line before. I didn't believe it then either. But it's a common excuse because only the most insane would really want to admit to a sexual fetish when they could instead rationalize it with even the most transparent of excuses.

I have, on the other hand, known of people who , for reasons that I can not understand need to understand, live their lives as women yet retain male sex organs. Such people never ever refer to themselves as "men" nor do they dress or act inappropriately. Unlike the man referenced in the article.

[Ian David]

19. The difference is, one merely feels happier, the other feels horny.

I don't think it's fair to assume that one is merely a "transparent excuse" for the other.

[LisaL]

24. He says he is "mostly a heterosexual male."

http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_110608_news_transgender_mayor.18a1f2fa7.html

[Ian David]

25. So? n/t

[sarcasmo]

11. Great outfit.

[LisaL]

14. I don't think this outfit looked good or was appropriate for work.

Even if this was a biological female and not a cross-dressing male.

[tammywammy]

22. Agreed n/t

[REP]

16. Not appropriate work attire

The mayor's gender status is irrelevant; the dress is not professional attire (except for hookers and manicurists).

[Ian David]

20. I think Eric Idle should be allowed to wear whatever he wants to work. n/t

[crim son]

21. I can't think of many jobs where the miniskirt and high heels would be deemed appropriate attire.

The outfit is in bad taste, and in particularly bad taste for a visit to the classroom. It has nothing to do with transgenderism or anything other than professionalism. IMHO of course.

[Techn0Girl]

23. I think it has to do with....

....voters finally getting it through their heads that who they elect will actually have an effect on the community.

If you elect a transvestite to be your mayor then it should come as no surprise when the middle aged man starts to wear miniskirts and five inch heels to city meetings and your town becomes a national joke. Well who would have thought ...duh.

And I'm from California and it irks me no end how the same voters who voted in a 2nd rate movie actor with no political or community service experience and a long standing record of misogyny and inappropriate drug use to State Governor scratch their heads wondering why the State is bankrupt.

Same thing.
Until more people take a real personal responsibility in finding out what exactly they are electing to office this sort of thing will occur again and again and...

[Ian David]

26. Der Gropenfuhrer bankrupted the state because he's a Republican. Not because he's an actor.

The California Republickers all signed the Grover Norquist pledge not to raise taxes, no matter how much spending and expenses increased, because they WANTED to bankrupt California- to make government small enough to drown in a bath tub.

The bankruptcy of California is not Der Gropenfuhrer's tragic failure- it is the successful implementation of the Republick Party's plan.

That is the Republick Party's plan on a national level as well.

They WANT to bankrupt America.

[Techn0Girl]

27. You're right and I would like to agree with you but....

.... for the fact that lately "transgenderism" has embraced transvestism under it's gender non-specific umbrella. This allows sexual fetishists to hide within the mix and gives them some sort of air of legitimacy. It's akin to allowing pedophiles into a divorced fathers right's group. The two are not identical in any way yet the pedophile will maintain over and over again that he has "the same love of children".

Look, each to their own and whatever floats your boat is OK with me as long as it doesn't harm others and/or become a drain on society. But a person who has lost control of their own behavior (such as this transvestite mayor) to the degree that they rationalize their fetishes as something society as a whole should embrace is going to continually display poor judgment as a whole ust as this mayor is now doing while elected to office. It's going to be a long hard haul to get him out of there (want to bet he's won't sue for gender harassment?) before he does much more damage.

I can almost forgive (but not quite) the Silverton voters for not knowing the difference between a transvestite and a transsexual (or a transgenderist for that matter) but the damage is done now and it's going to be a nasty battle getting him out of there when he used the new Oregon gender preference laws to justify his behavior (which I expect to become increasingly bizarre).