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.”

“I know how to do more with less,” said entertainer Robert Burck, clad as usual in a pair of white briefs, boots and a cowboy hat, as he announced his bid Wednesday in Times Square.

On most days, the 38-year-old ordained minister collects tourists’ tips while posing for photos with “Naked Cowboy” emblazoned across his underwear, cracking jokes and making up funny songs on the guitar strapped across his bare chest.

He’s running as a write-in candidate against Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a buttoned-down billionaire vying for his third term.

The Naked Cowboy insists he doesn’t need clothes to campaign.

“You’re not going to be seeing me buying a whole new suit because I’m running for mayor – not on the city’s dime,” he said.

Besides, he said, “Being naked is a whole lot more than having no clothes on: It’s about transparency in politics, it’s about telling the naked truth.”

Last year, the Naked Cowboy called Bloomberg “an excellent choice” for mayor. Now, Burck says that he, himself, would be the better candidate.

“I go out into the public every day and deal with every type of person in the world – black, white, brown, plaid,” Burck said.

For the past decade, he’s earned as much as $1,000 a day working the square from about 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and donating some earnings to charity.

Burck has a political science degree from the University of Cincinnati. He’s also written several self-published motivational books and cut a country music album.

On Wednesday, he reeled off his promises as mayor, including $10,000 loans to 1,000 small businesses at no interest, energy efficiency (he doesn’t use air-conditioning), and taxi call buttons on street corners.

He also wants to build a Times Square chapel, marrying both straight and gay couples there in a “billion-dollar wedding business that will rival Las Vegas.”

As for campaign funds, the frugal candidate said: “I have no expenses. I own 40 pairs of underwear, a car and a suitcase.”

Then he took a quick poke at his wealthy opponent: “He’s got billions and what does he buy with it? Publicity.”

In Times Square, plastered with neon publicity, Burck was a traffic-stopper.

Tourists atop double-decker buses cheered him and a bike messenger howled his support.

“He really talks to people,” said Lew Blevins, who runs a nearby band equipment shop. “He’s an energetic person who really cares about New York City – it’s heartfelt.”

Naugle, who was prevented from running by term limits, backed Seiler. How much Naugle’s support helped Seiler is unknown.  A former state legislator, Seiler had a huge war chest and spent heavily.

Two gay candidates trailed despite newspaper ads by the Dolphin Democrats, the county’s LGBT Democratic Party club, which made sure the LGBT community knew Naugle had endorsed Seiler.

Nevertheless, it is doubtful Seiler will be as polarizing as Naugle. He has received an LGBT community award and although he did not reject Naugle’s endorsement, he said during the campaign he supported diversity in the city.

Seiler defeated ex-city Commissioner Dean Trantalis, businessman Earl Rynerson and attorney Steve Rossi. Trantalis and Rynerson are openly gay.

Trantalis was elected to the City Commission in 2003 and has served as Deputy Mayor. Although he is openly gay, Rynerson ran on a conservative platform.

Seiler will be sworn in on March 17, officially ending Naugle’s 18 year grip on the city.

In 2007, Naugle created a stir when he claimed that gay sex is rampant in public washrooms on the beach and called for the city to spend a quarter-million dollars on a replacement toilet that he said would end the problem.

The remarks angered the city’s gay community which launched a “flush Naugle” campaign to flood his office email with “virtual toilet paper.” The police department said there had been only one arrest at the toilet on the stretch of beach known for its gay sunbathers.

Naugle announced he would issue an apology, but instead turned it into another broadside against the gay community.

The conservative Democrat said he was apologizing for what he claimed was underestimating the problem and said that the county had the highest rate of new HIV/AIDS cases involving men having sex with men in the country.

Naugle then suggested the county tourism office should rethink its ad campaigns that welcome gays to the area.

Last year, nearly one million gays and lesbians visited Broward County, spending more than one billion dollars.

Naugle is not seeking re-election. Four candidates are vying for the job. Naugle is supporting Jack Seiler for mayor and Romney Rogers for City Commission.

In the days leading up to the election the Dolphin Democrats, the county’s LGBT Democratic Party club, took out ads in local gay and alternative newspapers making certain the LGBT community knew who Naugle was backing.

Club president Justin Flippen predicted that Naugle’s support would damage a candidate’s chances with gay and lesbian voters. But Naugle said he wasn’t concerned, noting he had been elected “eight consecutive times, and all by wide margins.”

“I’m positive beyond the shadow of a doubt that if I were on the ballot this Tuesday, I would be elected by a very wide margin,” he told The Sun-Sentinel newspaper.

Two of the four candidates running for mayor are openly gay. Dean Trantalis is a lawyer and businessman.  He was elected to the City Commission in 2003 and has served as Deputy Mayor. Earl Rynerson is a businessman and although openly gay is running on a conservative platform.

In 2007, Naugle created a stir when he claimed that gay sex is rampant in public washrooms on the beach and called for the city to spend a quarter-million dollars on a replacement toilet that he said would end the problem.

The remarks angered the city’s gay community which launched a “flush Naugle” campaign to flood his office email with “virtual toilet paper” and the police department said there had been only one arrest at the toilet on the stretch of beach known for its gay sunbathers.

Naugle announced he would issue an apology, but instead turned it into another broadside against the gay community.

The conservative Democrat said he was apologizing for what he claimed was underestimating the problem and that the county had the highest rate of new HIV/AIDS cases involving men having sex with men in the country.

Naugle then suggested the county tourism office should rethink its ad campaigns that welcome gays to the area.

Last year nearly one million gay and lesbian visitors to Broward County, spending more than one-billion dollars in the county.

If Adams had exploited an innocent youth or abused his power in office to obtain sex, I would not be defending him. The affair with Beau Breedlove, however, was consensual and Breedlove told the Oregonian newspaper:

“I do not see any relationship that I ever had with Sam as me being taken advantage of. I do not feel like I was ever a victim.”

Given this reality, I am having a difficult time understanding exactly why this is a controversy. The hypocrisy, double standard and anti-gay undertones are unmistakable. If a 42-year-old male politician had hooked up with an 18-year-old Hooter’s girl, he would get high fives. If he’s gay, people with pitchforks want to hang him from a high tree. For the conquering straight male, the affair would be a sign of virility. For the gay man, it is the mark of vulgarity.

This all goes back to the despicable stereotype that evil homosexuals recruit children into the so-called “lifestyle.” People have to realize that sacrificing Adams won’t erase this insidious myth from the minds of ignorant people who choose to believe it.

As in most self-righteous inquisitions, the pious finger pointers say it is “not about the sex, it is because Adam’s lied” to the media about the tryst. This is the same disingenuous nonsense that Ken “Porn” Starr and the GOP used to rationalize their attempted coup of Bill Clinton.

In my view, Adams is the victim of an overzealous media asking questions about a relationship that was none of their business. There were only two legitimate questions that should ever have been asked of Adams:

Was Breedlove of legal age?

Did Adams supervise him at work?

We know the answer to the first question (barely legal), and Breedlove was an intern in the state capitol, which had nothing to do with the city council, where Adams had served as a commissioner.

So, why is this a story?

When asked about this affair during his campaign, Adams had every right to mislead reporters. What detractors call lying, was really just personal discretion. What next, are we going to pass sunshine laws that mandate public officials must sign sexual disclosure forms listing all sexual liaisons and post their names on the Internet? Because, that is essentially what people want when they insist Adams had an obligation to discuss his private life with the media.

Like starving vultures, the press is now sensationalizing the issue. For example, ABC News’ website published an Associated Press story headlined, “Gay Teen Sex Scandal Mayor Won’t Resign.” This is misleading and irresponsible journalism that makes Adams appear to be a letch who hangs around middle schools with lollipops.

To be fair, Adams did let down the GLBT community. When asked about the affair during his campaign, he should have either told the truth or said, “none of your business.” Instead, he accused his primary opponent of gay baiting and complained, “This is one of the worst smears you can make against a gay guy. It preys on the homophobic stereotype that gay men cannot be trusted with young people.”

Adams diminished the noble cause for equality when he hid behind it to conceal his relationship. He should have acted with more integrity and not made his personal saga about the larger GLBT community.

Still, Adams did apologize profusely and should be allowed to move on. Human beings are not perfect, especially politicians. Last week, hundreds of citizens rallied in front of City Hall in support of Adams, giving him the strength to fight on.

Finally, I’m not begrudging those who think that it is irresponsible and wrong for Adams to have had sex with someone half his age. Those who believe that Adams does not share their values, have every right to vote him out of office when he is up for reelection. But the notion that Adams should be recalled is nothing short of an ugly witch-hunt.

The political judgment of Sam Adams is certainly questionable. There is no question, however, that his actions do not warrant the harsh judgment of those who demand that he resign. One may not like the mayor’s personal choices, but this so-called “scandal” is nothing more than a fake crime scene in search of a real crime.

Adams is no superman, as many supporters thought he once was, but he is also no scoundrel. It is time people stop taking potshots at the mayor, and let him return to work so he can repair the potholes his constituents elected him to fix.

“Tomorrow, I go back (to) work as your mayor. I know I have let you down and made mistakes. I ask your forgiveness,” Mayor Sam Adams said in a statement. “I believe I have a lot to offer the city I love during this time of important challenges.”

Adams, who was just sworn in on Jan. 1, publicly apologized this past week for lying early in his campaign about the relationship with an 18-year-old man in 2005.

The scandal has resulted in an investigation by the Oregon attorney general and has divided the city and its gay and lesbian community. The police union and four Portland newspapers have called for his resignation, but Adams has found strong support to remain, including a Friday rally on his behalf at City Hall that drew more than 400 people.

In his statement, Adams said he would “work harder than I ever have in my life” to help see the city through the tough economic times.

Two of the leading business associations in Portland had taken a wait-and-see stance.

Steve Holwerda, Chairman of the Portland Business Alliance, said in a statement the board had differing views on whether Adams should resign but they agreed it was a critical time for the city and some of its major development projects.

“Whether or not he stays in office should be based on whether he can lead our city effectively and with the integrity that all our citizens deserve,” Holwerda said.

But the board of the Portland Area Business Association went further and said Adams should remain in office, but added, “pending the outcome of official investigation.”

The teenager, Beau Breedlove, was a legislative intern when he met the mayor at age 17. He and the mayor both say their sexual relationship started after his 18th birthday, in June 2005.

Breedlove, now 21, told The Oregonian on Saturday that the relationship was consensual.

“I do not see any relationship that I ever had with Sam as me being taken advantage of,” Breedlove told the newspaper. “I do not feel like I was ever a victim.”

When Adams confirmed the relationship this past week, he said it was inappropriate because of the age difference; Adams is now 45.

He also said he lied early in his mayoral campaign and asked Breedlove to lie as well because rumors at the time falsely suggested the relationship involved a minor.

“I screwed up. I blew it. There’s no way to sugarcoat it,” Mayor Sam Adams said during a City Hall news conference scheduled after he cut short a trip to the presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C.

Adams was elected easily last year, making Portland the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor. He was sworn in Jan. 1.

Rumors of the relationship had surfaced when the then-city commissioner was getting ready to run for mayor in 2007, but he and the teen both denied it at the time.

In a statement he released Monday confirming the relationship, Adams said he lied then because the rumors claimed the teen was underage. He said the relationship did not begin until after the teen turned 18 in June 2005. That is the legal age of consent in Oregon.

At the time, the teen was a legislative intern whom Adams mentored on being gay and in public service. He is now 21 and has not made any public comments acknowledging any relationship with Adams. He did not return a request for comment Tuesday from The Associated Press.

In his City Hall remarks, Adams said their relationship was inappropriate because of their age gap; he is 45.

And he admitted he asked the teen initially to deny the relationship. “I am deeply sorry that I asked him to lie for me,” he said.

Adams stressed the issue is about a public official lying, not sexual orientation, and he would work to regain the public’s trust.

“I will be subject to greater scrutiny because of this, and that is appropriate,” he said.

“My reputation has been impacted. Friendships have been impacted, and that’s appropriate as well.”

Adams said he would cooperate in any investigation. He said he has no plan to resign, but left open the possibility: “If it were no longer in the city’s best interests that I stay, yes, I would resign.”

Commissioner Randy Leonard, who defended Adams when the rumor surfaced in 2007, has now called for an investigation. Leonard’s chief of staff, Ty Kovatch, voiced concern about Adams’ decision to ask the teen to lie.

“It reveals a much more strategic and planned effort to mislead people,” Kovatch said.

Leonard said he believes Adams can continue as mayor – unless “further omissions and discrepancies” emerge.

Sam Adams, 45, was sworn into office at 12:01 a.m. New Year’s Day at City Hall during a ceremony attended by a crowd of about 40 that included his mother and his partner.

Adams won the job seven months ago in a primary race by capturing 58 percent of the vote and therefore negating the need for a runoff election.

None of Adams’ opponents raised his sexuality in the race. Neither did he.

“This is a testament to how fair-minded Portlanders are that it wasn’t an issue,” Adams said. “I spend my time on the basic issues of life. A part of that includes equal rights, but that’s not even close to a majority of the time.”

Adams grew up in a working-class household that he said was at times dependent on food stamps and subsidized housing. Just as being a gay man drives much of his political activism, he said, his working-class background influences his ambitions as mayor.

“My passions for public service includes promoting social justice equality for all, but it obviously also includes finding good jobs for people, which is also part of my family’s background of not being able to always have economic security,” he said. “Being gay is part of me, so is being Irish-American, so is being from a small Oregon town.”

Adams served 11 years as chief of staff to Mayor Vera Katz and was elected in 2004 to the City Council.

The new mayor said he and other city officials have so far requested $880 million in federal funds for dozens of “shovel-ready” projects to improve parks, roads and the water system in Portland, which has a population of about 575,000.

In two weeks, the city plans to announce a job stimulus package, he said, though he declined to give details.

“What I’ve found is in each of those recessions is government falls prey to the national frailty,” he said. “What’s also frustrating is it’s happening at the very time when government is needed most.”

Rasmussen has been a fixture in Silverton politics for more than 20 years, and had twice before been mayor of the small city 45 miles south of Portland. Those terms, however, were before Rasmussen began earing dresses and 3-inch heels in public, receiving breast implants and beginning to transitioning.

Silverton has made Rasmussen the country’s first openly transgender mayor, according to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a group that works to help openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people win elected office.

Rasmussen, 60, unseated incumbent mayor Ken Hector, with whom he had long clashed, by 1,988 votes to 1,512.

Because Rasmussen’s appearance was no secret, the campaign was dominated by policy issues.

“I’ve blackmail-proofed myself,” Rasmussen said.

The story of Rasmussen’s election was first reported by JustOut, a bimonthly publication for Portland’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.

“Stu never sought this recognition out,” said JustOut reporter Stephen Marc Beaudoin. “He’s interested in doing a great job for the community that he loves. The gender identity thing is just a total backseat thing.”

That comes across when Rasmussen speaks in his decidedly masculine voice.

“I am a dude,” he said. “I am a heterosexual male who appears to be a female.”

His longtime live-in girlfriend, Victoria Sage, told The Oregonian newspaper that she and Rasmussen have been an item for almost 35 years.

The party has been in disarray since Royal, a Socialist member of Parliament, was beaten by Sarkozy for the presidency in May 2007. The party has so far failed to mount an effective opposition.

Delanoe, who is openly gay, and Royal, who is gay-positive, are among eight candidates seeking the Socialist Party nod to run against Sakozy in 2012.

This week the party has been meeting to adopt a platform. Each of the candidates has proposed their own manifesto. The winning platform will give its candidate a clear advantage for the leadership.

In an initial vote, Royal came out on top, about 29 percent ahead of Delanoe, who was second. A final vote is expected on the weekend and the party will meet in November to chose a candidate for the presidency..

Delanoe’s platform calls for a “decidedly reformist left, that is pro-European, pro-environment and efficient.” Royal seeks to move the party closer to the middle.

In the last presidential election, conservative Sarkozy claimed the middle ground – a move credited with helping him win.

In March, Delanoe romped to an easy re-election as Paris mayor.

If he were to win the presidency, it would make Delanoe the first openly gay man in modern times to lead a major power.

In 1998, while he was a relatively obscure city councilor, Delanoe came out in a television interview, breaking an unwritten French law that a politician’s private life should remain private.

He later said that friends urged him not to go public, but that he overruled them because of the good he felt it would do to advance gay rights. “Would not my intervention help, even if only in a small way, to lighten the burden of secrecy borne by so many people?” he wrote in his 2004 biography.

In 2001, Delanoe was elected the capital’s first ever Socialist mayor and the first gay person to head a city government in a major city.

A year later, Delanoe was stabbed by a deranged homophobe as he presided over an all-night cultural party at city hall.

He was rushed to the hospital, suffering a single stab wound to his abdomen. Doctors at Pitie-Salpetriere hospital operated on Delanoe for more than three hours. He would spend nearly a month in the hospital.

Police arrested a man at the scene. During interrogations, he told investigators he hated gays and politicians.

Since becoming mayor, Delanoe has been hugely popular, particularly with the poor and middle classes.

But his popularity also is high outside Paris -  and a growing number in the Socialist Party see him as their strongest hope for defeating Sarkozy.

Last year when she ran against Sarkozy, Royal said that if her party formed the next government she would introduce a gay marriage bill.

“Opening up marriage to same-sex couples is needed in the name of equality, visibility and respect,” Royal told gay publication Tetu.