Dressed in a cream-colored pantsuit, a political flier clutched in one hand, a soft brown leather purse in the other, she orders a mocha and takes a seat as a group of teenagers stare at her from near the door.

The 58-year-old was born male and still carries the slightly larger-than-an-average-woman build of Charles Staelens Jr., who legally changed his name and underwent surgery in 1998 to become a woman.

She also kept his voice.

He was married for 17 years, owned a construction company, and was a Republican when he ran for city council in Lansing, Mich., where he was raised with his identical twin brother until their parents divorced in the 1960s.

Now she says she is celibate, a telecommunications worker who is “just another cog in the machine,” and a Democrat who in 2004 became the first transgender to run for the state legislature in Michigan.

This farming and manufacturing town of about 83,000 residents, where a sugar factory and a local hospital are among the biggest employers, doesn’t seem to be all that concerned that Robinson previously lived as a man.

But they are scratching their heads that a newcomer, a non-Republican, would run for mayor.

For her part, Robinson says she has been warmly received in Nampa, just 15 miles west of Boise in the sagebrush-ridden high desert.

“Idaho has a bad rap,” she says. “I haven’t found a person I don’t like yet.”

There has been one conflict – in cyberspace.

Robinson threatened to take legal action against the hugely popular micro-blogging Web site Twitter after stumbling on a fake account set up in her name under the title: “Woman with a penis.” The account has since been closed.

“You don’t do that to somebody,” said Robinson, who as an adult, always thought of himself as a woman but waited until his late 40s before undergoing the gender reassignment surgery.

Her job moved her from Seattle last winter to southwest Idaho, where Nampa is the largest city in Canyon County and a Democrat hasn’t held an elected seat in local government in more than a decade. Sen. John McCain received a landslide 67 percent of the vote here during the presidential election last year.

Mayoral races in Idaho are nonpartisan, meaning that candidates do not have to declare a party.

Robinson, who appeared in the pages of The National Enquirer in 2003 and was a guest on Oprah with her twin brother and ex-wife in 2005, is challenging a two-term incumbent mayor, former teacher, and a graduate of Northwest Nazarene University, one of eight liberal arts colleges in the country affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene.

“It doesn’t seem like her chances are high – or there at all,” said Joseph Shafer, a boutique owners in Nampa. “We’re one of the most conservative counties in the state. I think we’re one of the most conservative in the country.”

Shafer also works as a barista at the Flying M coffee shop, where Robinson met on a recent evening with her campaign manager, Leah McManus, a coworker and 32-year-old mother of two. Robinson’s ex-wife, Linda, serves as campaign treasurer.

The two were married for 17 years and still live together.

“People are going to say I haven’t been here long enough, but if you get me behind the mayor’s desk I’m going to run this city,” said Robinson, a self-described activist. “Right now, it’s a good ol’ boys club.”

Still, she said, she feels hopeful that at least her gender status will not be used against her.

While running for Lansing mayor in Michigan in 2003, Robinson said a religious group walked through the city with signs that screamed: “Homosexuality is a sin” and “Down with transgenders.” During her 2004 run for the Michigan statehouse, pictures of her were posted online at the extremist Web site “Stormfront White Nationalist Community ”

Her name was listed on the primary ballot along with her former identity, Charles Edward Staelens Jr., because of a state law that required a candidate’s former name to be included if it had been changed during the past 10 years.

There are about 450 openly gay, lesbian and bisexual officials serving at the local, state and federal level, said Denis Dison, spokesman for the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. That’s up from about 275 five years ago.

The Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group identifies, trains and supports openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender candidates and officials. The group has not endorsed Robinson.

“Idaho has one openly gay in office in the entire state,” Dison said. “The fact that there are not more tells you a little bit about the environment there … it’s still very difficult in a lot of places.”

Robinson says that if she’s elected she’ll bring transparency to city hall, including televising council meetings. She would also try to give tax breaks to small business and actively recruit corporate jobs.

Last month, the state Department of Labor said one out of every eight workers in Canyon County did not have jobs and the unemployment rate had climbed to 11.9 percent. Statewide the rate was 8.8 percent in July, a 26 year high.

“It’s time for a change,” said 32-year-old Gerald Walton-Grice, a lifelong Nampa resident.

As for the candidates?

“I don’t care if they’re gay, straight, transgender, red, yellow or purple,” Walton-Grice said. “It doesn’t matter.”

Amber Koger and Jeri Underwood and their three children were not allowed to receive the discount because the state does not accept same-sex marriage and defines a family as between one man, one woman and children.

Mark Lowe, executive director for the Lava Hot Springs State Foundation, said that as a state institution, Idaho law must be followed, meaning the family would not be permitted to receive the family discount.

Read the full KTVB story here.

Ta-Nehisi Coates and Dan Savage are having conversation about outing today. The back and forth started with Coates’ discussing an interview with Kirby Dick, director of Outrage. Coates confesses he understands the impulse to out those who stay in the closet and actively pursue an anti gay political agenda; however, he’s not clear if the outrage is worth the cost.

“I’m skeptical of man’s ability to bring justice to these people, in this fashion. It smells of divine retribution dispensed by childish mortals. What if the guy you outed kills himself? Can you wash your hands of that? Would you truly feel no guilt?”

Savage admits outing is callous but in some cases the full hammer is more than justified.

“Outing someone, as I wrote when I helped out one asshole and declined to participate in the outing of another, is a brutal tactic and should be reserved for brutes. [Larry] Craig and [Charlie] Crist more than qualify,” Savage responded referring to the Idaho’s former senator and Florida’s governor. “I don’t wanna be dramatic, but Craig and Crist have blood on their hands.”

I’m leaning toward Coates on this. Aside from ruining the life of someone who spent a lot of effort in destroying the lives of others, what is the political upswing with outing? What do we get from it? Could be my naive blinders on, but I’m not sure gays and lesbians get anything when an anti-gay person is shown to be who he/she is. Yes we lose a foe but outside of that not much else changes.

Lastly, this is something I can’t break from: anti-gay bigotry stings no matter if the offender likes his sodomy from Beyonce or Beckham. Or both.

In presenting the bill, LeFavour, the the state’s only gay lawmaker, told the committee that gays and lesbians in Idaho “live in fear” that they can be fired. “This is a way of prohibiting the most egregious forms of discrimination,” she said.

“By virtue of its omission, many employers and individuals feel it is OK.”

About 50 members of the LGBT community filled the Senate State Affairs Committee hoping to see the measure advance to a vote on the Senate floor.

They were visibly upset when it was dismissed on a simple voice vote.

Sen. Russ Fulcher (R) told that committee: “Senator LeFavour looks at this as a genetic difference and others, including myself, look at this as a behavioral difference. Given that, the debate becomes, ‘Do you look at making provisions based on behavior?’ ”

“I’m not interested in giving special rights,” he said. “I don’t want to see anybody persecuted or harassed, but I think we have an experience of the past showing that when we give special rights to people, it always comes back to bite us.”

The vote effectively kills the measure this year. A similar bill failed the same way a last year.

LeFavour vowed she would bring in the bill again next year.

Craig created his “Fund for Justice” last spring, after the Senate Ethics Committee chided him for spending $213,000 in campaign funds to pay legal and public relations fees without the panel’s approval.

Most of the donations to the fund range from $50 to $300 and came from personal friends and neighbors. His legal expenses are believed to be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Craig, a three-term Republican from Idaho, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in August 2007 after he was accused of soliciting sex from an undercover police officer at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Sgt. Dave Karsnia said Craig tapped his feet and swiped his hand under a stall divider in a way that signaled he wanted sex. Craig has denied that, saying his actions were misconstrued.

After his arrest and guilty plea became public, Craig held a news conference to say he is not gay and that he pleaded guilty only to avoid the scandal of a trial.

Since then Craig has been fighting to withdraw the plea.

County District Judge Charles Porter refused, saying Craig’s plea “was accurate, voluntary and intelligent, and … supported by the evidence.”

Craig appealed that ruling to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, which heard arguments earlier this month.

His attorney told the court that Craig wants to correct a “manifest injustice” and that those fighting against the senator failed to show he had participated in any criminal conduct.

Prosecutors maintained that Craig’s plea was entered voluntarily.

The court has yet to issue a ruling.

Craig has a long history of voting against every LGBT issue that came before the Senate and of supporting two attempts to pass an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban gays from marrying.

Craig first promised that he would resign last Sept. 30, then reversed his decision, saying he would stay in office until his term expires in January. Craig did not run for re-election.