Okay, so this is a bit of a random question, but one I have been pondering for a while. I really would like to be a politician when I get older. I am an excellent public speaker and love the idea of being in a position of power and being involved in decision making. However, I have been wondering if my trans status will get in the way of this. I am fairly young (I can't post my age) and I plan to go stealth when I transfer to a new school next year. I have already gotten a name change and I am scheduled to go on testosterone in a couple months. It is my wish that the testosterone will render me unrecognizable to individuals that I associated with pre-transition. I am hoping that when I get older, I can somehow prevent it from getting out that I was born female, but that is not easy to do when you are a public figure. I'm afraid that if I were to become a politician, some fellow that used to know me when I was younger will pipe up and say "Hey! I knew him when he was a girl!" I do not like to think of the dysphoria that would spawn from this and how it could affect my image, but I hate the idea that I will be prevented from attaining my goals simply because of an unfortunate accident at birth. What are your opinions on this dilemma?

If I were to run for office and someone were to point out that I was FAAB, my response would be: "So what?". This isn't something I should be ashamed of. Of course, I know that this is easier said than done.

It also depends on where you live. There are certain places where being trans would be a problem, and others where it would be utterly irrelevant or might even go in your favour. Also, it will take you many years to gain office, if indeed you ever do... by which time I daresay you will have been fully transitioned for quite some time, so you should have some good coping mechanisms for dealing with dysphoria.

I will be honest with your, I don't think being transgender would get in the way for being a political person more than for any other jobs. However I don't think it would be posible for being a public political and being 100% stealth.

The media dosen't really care much what you prefern or not, they just want to make money and if your a public person it would likely get out sooner or later to at least being mentioned, depending on diffrent facts.

If you want to make sure of being 100% stealth you shouldnt get invold with the media too much.

If you end up in the public eye at all, it will come out - this is with any profession really. The only way you might have a chance of not coming out is to move far away to some small backwoods town and hold some minor office there. Even then, there will probably be people trying to dig up dirt on you.

If you're really concerned about stealth, maybe look into something a bit more conducive to it where you can still use these qualities

QuoteI am an excellent public speaker and love the idea of being in a position of power and being involved in decision making.

That description covers a ton of professions.

With anything political there will be mudslinging and you can bet that it will come out. And it won't be a positive on your part. Before you know it the opposing party will have you eating babies and birth, and claiming tht you are a "freak of nature" and, if elected, you may force everyone to transition and so on. Remember politics is like a courtroom, all the voters need is a shadow of a doubt about you and they will vote the other party 99% of the time whether it's true or not.

I agree with Not-so Fat Admin in that if you want to get into politics, go small. Move to an area and let the people get to know you and be open about who you are. After so many years and you have gained their trust that you have their best interest at heart, then run for office.

Small town politics is dog eat dog, but state and national level it is out and out canabalism on the Hanabel Lector scale.

Quote from: Jess42 on May 08, 2013, 08:41:18 AM
With anything political there will be mudslinging and you can bet that it will come out. And it won't be a positive on your part. Before you know it the opposing party will have you eating babies and birth, and claiming tht you are a "freak of nature" and, if elected, you may force everyone to transition and so on. Remember politics is like a courtroom, all the voters need is a shadow of a doubt about you and they will vote the other party 99% of the time whether it's true or not.

I dont really agree on that.

Politicals can be jugmental and cruel no matter for whatever reason,
but its not like there allowed to excactly bully people or make fake rumours of others, so people regardless or religion sexualety or gender should be able to join. but again I cant speak of every single persons view and it sure depends on where your from.

One of political of my country have came out as a mtf. and yes it been noticed of corse but it haven't had a special fokus beside for the media attention which lasted some weeks. I think Obama also had some transgender on his side, it also got some attention but not more than that.
the rought parts arnt really for what they are, more of there opinions, it can be pretty hardcore being a transgender political person if your have to debate transgender stuff and the other person who is agenst is to tell his honest opinion, but this arnt diffrent from any other debation like religion, imigrations and so on.

Believe me, this is something you can't hide.  Everything, and I mean everything, is investigated.  It is incredibly cut throat and people will do whatever they can to destroy and tarnish the image of their opponent.  Many campaigns have trackers which go around and film candidates at all times. Nothing really goes unseen if they do their job well.  Also, they will dig up and use anything that they believe may harm your campaign. So, if you do want to get involved in politics, please understand that you will be outed publicly.  There is no shame in being who you are, but not all of us want our private information in the public eye.  By becoming a politician, you are sacrificing that luxury in a major way. 

Can you be successful?  This really depends on what office you are running for and what location you running in.  At this point in time, I think national positions like congressman, senator, or a presidential run would be quite difficult.  Large state positions would be challenging as well.  However, if you were to run for a local council or state assembly things would be easier.  Still, you would need to be prepared for ignorant attacks against you and would have to be up for quite a challenge.  Yet, I can imagine a state representative in a region like San Francisco would be a possibility.  You just have to be realistic about the region and the position. 

If you are considering going into politics, I would suggest you get involved and see first hand how things are.  You could always volunteer or intern for a political campaign in your area.  Next year midterm elections are coming up and will be fairly competitive without the shadow of a presidential election.  This may be a great way for you to learn the process and meet some important people. They never turn away people who are looking to offer free labor for their field program.  Most campaign staff live their lives at their job (the hours and goals you are given are quite insane). Be prepared for that if you ever take up a paid job in the campaign world. If you are more interested in the governmental/legislative side of things, you could try to get an internship at a government office. That way you will see what goes on inside. 

Having said all this, there is more to politics than being a politician.  You can still be heavily involved in the political process without becoming a politician. There are many case workers, government staffers, ngo staffers, lobbyists, campaign staffers, political consultants, political non-profit groups, etc...  Besides being a politician isn't as amazing as it may seem. Believe me, it is quite hard to get party nominations and you need to first build up lots of loyalty and connections.  It may sound appealing, but it is quite difficult to get yourself in that position and not fun trying to do so.  If you aren't wealthy or well connected, prepare for lots of tough work to establish yourself.  Since you are young, I am sure you will have time to learn more about politics and find your niche within it.

Wishing you lots of luck!

You might run a "clean" campaign, but don't count on that from your opponent.

My sister found that out when she ran for a local office where she lives.

Quote from: Sarah Louise on May 08, 2013, 11:52:50 AM
You might run a "clean" campaign, but don't count on that from your opponent.

My sister found that out when she ran for a local office where she lives.

I think the only way you can run a clean campaign woud be to have the politicians gagged and just have their names on the ballots. Politicians that can't talk, there is a great idea.

there's been FTM politicians, I think there's one still in office in Australia or New Zealand. I'll look it up later and post the name for you.

I wouldn't worry much, because things are changing and you probably won't run until you're in you're 30s, 40s or older. Things should be more relaxed then.

(I am not sure what country you live in, I am assuming the US or other western nation)

edit to ad: heres a list from wikipedia of some trans politicians, some are from the US http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Transgender_and_transsexual_politicians

you might also want to check out our political and legal news section, I am following the Pakistani elections because they have some transwomen running.

The only way you could really succeed in politics would be to really come out and say you're transgender right from the start.  To not mention it would be considered a lie (even if it's just withholding truth) by the public.  So if you want to be stealth, you can't be in the public eye, it'll never happen, you'll eventually be outed and then there will be an outcry.  If you found yourself comfortable to admit it from the get go then I can't see any reason why you couldn't be successful.

Public speaking, power and decision making isn't just for politicians though, just like Not-so Fat Admin said, it's relevant for many professions, and in a managerial role you'd do all this.  I have some power in my work and I teach what I do so I do public speaking too.  And what I think and say goes a long way in the decision process at my work.

I'm in the media industry so I can never hide that I'm transgender.  I already have a lot of IMDb credits with my female name, so when I change my name those past credits will then read (credited as [my birth name]).  I accept this.  Once I transition and go to other jobs I'm not exactly going to tell people as soon as I meet them, but if they check my IMDb and ask me about it, I'd be open about it.  That's just what I have to deal with because I'm in a media based profession, and I'm not even in the public eye!  Now I COULD really dig in there and get everything changed and change my surname and get around it but at the end of the day I just need to work with someone I've already worked with and the gig is up, and I work in a pretty small world industry where I could work in Singapore or London and bump into someone I've worked with.  Maybe as time goes on you'll find that you can handle this issue, and maybe you won't.  But I can absolutely assure you, as someone who is pretty heavy into politics, you'll never keep it a secret in politics.

I'd be honest about who you are as transgendered. There was an MTF transexual who recently ran as a republican in the southern U.S. recently. Not sure whether she won or not, but the fact that she even ran, as a republican! no less, shows that strides are being made in the right direction in the United States (I don't want to assume you live there though). Yeah, there's a ton of public scrutiny on politicians and everything seems to come out eventually. You'd be taking a risk by running without saying you are transgendered and might get in initially but then lose your position. I don't think anyone should be discriminated against by choosing to hide that (it's a legitimate choice) but it could happen. Honesty is the fresh, new thing and it looks great on politicians no matter what the subject! Good luck!

(P.S. I'm an artist and I have had to negotiate any public images I might present along with the probability of me switching names. It's absolutely nothing at my level compared to a politician's lack of privacy- I am not Andy Warhol after all. But ya, I have had to change the way I present myself, even taking down some of my more feminine looking self-portraits from the public eye. If you are like me and have not transitioned it's got to be a difficult decision in your case I would think, if you decide to run openly as transgendered, would you say you are pre-op? Or wait until you are further along in the hormone cycle to run?)

Melbourne has an intersex mayor. Tony Briffa I think his name is.

There are many politicians in Australia and NZ of all gender orientations, it isn't an issue here.

I have a different attitude to some of the posters here. I'm out I'm not in stealth and can never be. I deal with people from the top are of politics  to law to medicine to all areas of society.

I don't care about people knowing I'm a woman, I'm proud of it. No one has ever bothered me about it. If they did it would be an advantage to me. I use everything to advantage.

If you wish to go into politics do so. Stand tall and proud and be you. What other people think of your gender or sexuality is of no consequence. Your integrity and hard work are all that matters.

JMO

Cindy

I agree with Cindy. My only suggestion would be to wait until you are comfortable enough to be as open and proud as she is. Who you are is a strength and you don't want to come across as if you think it as a weakness or people will be influenced by that.