Transgender Politician Sued for "Fraud" by Losing Opponent

Posted by Cara , Feministe at 7:45 AM on November 24, 2007.

This post, written by Cara, originally appeared on Feministe

So this is utterly repulsive: City Councilperson Michelle Bruce is being sued for fraud by her failed opponent. Why? Because Bruce is a transgender woman.

Four years after she won a City Council seat, making her what is believed to be Georgia's first transgender politician, Michelle Bruce is battling a lawsuit by an unsuccessful opponent who claims she misled voters by running as a woman.

Michelle Bruce, a transgender member of the Riverdale, Ga, City Council, is being sued by a woman she beat in an election.

Ms. Bruce, a tall woman with shoulder-length graying hair, said she has always identified herself as transgender.

"I've always been Michelle," she said. "If someone has a problem with that, I can't help them. It's a personal issue."

Ms. Bruce, 46, who runs an auto repossession business, began her political campaign in 2003. Running unopposed, she landed one of four Council seats and promised to attract more jobs and residents to Riverdale, a town of 12,000 about 12 miles south of Atlanta, lined with rundown strip malls and used car shops.

Three rivals ran against her in the Nov. 6 election. She captured 312 votes, not enough to avoid a Dec. 4 runoff against the second-place finisher, Wayne Hall, who earned 202 votes.

The third-place finisher, Georgia Fuller, who collected 171 votes, filed a lawsuit claiming election fraud.

The complaint, identifying Ms. Bruce as "Michael Bruce," says she misled voters by identifying herself as female. It asks a judge to rule the November election results invalid and order another general election.

Ms. Fuller did not return calls seeking comment, but her lawyer said voters in Riverdale tended to favor female candidates, particularly if they were incumbents.

"It gives her an unfair advantage," said the lawyer, Michael King. "It's not just sour grapes. The people need to know whether the election is fair."

You know, I'm already not feeling very well today. But I can confidently say that yes, this is the cause of the nausea I'm currently experiencing.

Of course, I can't say that I'm surprised by the open and hostile transphobia. But that should never minimize our collective disgust over the matter. Claiming that one's full history of gender statuses is important to an election is ridiculous. It's also blatantly prejudiced in that it 1. suggests that Bruce is not a "real" woman and that her gender is somehow open for discussion, and 2. suggests that it is somehow Bruce's fault that our culture automatically assumes every person to be cissexual unless told otherwise. And referring to Bruce by a male name, I hope we can all recognize by now, is also purposely disrespectful and offensive.

I only hope that the case will be thrown out, but in the end that's really not the point. The point is that Bruce did not win the election by a wide enough margin, so she will go head to head again with her closest opponent (not Fuller) on Dec. 4. The idea clearly isn't to win a lawsuit, it's a direct attempt to defame and humiliate Bruce before the public has a second chance to vote. Bruce herself acknowledges such. And though I've been following unethical election tactics by Republicans for some time, this has to be one of the worst. [Note: The political affiliations of all people in this story are not stated in the article and therefore I am currently unaware of which political parties they are aligned with, if any. In any case, I don't care if Bruce is a Republican or any other kind of conservative, nor do I care if Fuller is running on a Democratic/liberal ticket. Or vice versa.]

In the end, all I can do is give Bruce credit for how well she is handling this abhorrent situation:

City Attorney Deana Johnson said Ms. Bruce's identity was no mystery to her constituents.

"She has served as councilperson for four years as Michelle Bruce," Ms. Johnson said. "It sounds like a case of politics."

Ms. Bruce will not say if she had surgery to change her gender, saying it is a personal matter.

She deflected most questions about her personal life, instead addressing her hopes for Riverdale, a town she said was in search of an identity.

"People want a candidate that will listen to them, protect them, save them money and be there for them," Ms. Bruce said. "And I always will be."

Good for you, Ms. Bruce. And a big FUCK YOU to the AP for having the gall to ask such an inappropriate question. The idea that people somehow have the right to know about the status of a transgender person's genitals -- questions that you would never ask a presumed cissexual person -- is insulting on every level, as is the idea that if a transgender person has not had "bottom" surgery (or any other kind of surgery, for that matter), they are not "really" the gender that they identify as. Genitals do not make up a person's world. And though transitioning is generally a very big part of a transgender person's life, I'm tired of seeing trans identity treated like it is the only and/or most important part of who a person is. Personally, I can't fathom what it would have to do with Bruce's electability (unless, say, she was actively promoting anti-transgender rights laws).

I think that the assholes who are filing this suit, if they're really honest with themselves, also realize that Bruce's gender is completely irrelevant to how deserving she is of holding office. But whether or not voters will agree, we'll have to wait to find out.

UPDATE Unfortunately Michelle Bruce was defeated in a run off election. Details here.

Tagged as: homophobia, transgender

Cara is a 22 year old feminist and liberal with a BA in English, Text and Writing. She works as the vojavascript:author_remove(34382)lunteer Fundraising Intern at her local Planned Parenthood affiliate. She lives in Upstate NY with her Australian husband and their bratty cat.