Enza Anderson takes a stance at Toronto city hall

“I was reading a paper one day,” Enza Anderson said, reflecting back to 2000.

She paused to sip decaffeinated coffee from a paper cup and shifted to get comfortable in her City Hall cafe booth. “I saw an article that made the front cover of the Greater Toronto section of The Toronto Star. It was about Mario Gentile, a former city councillor for the City of York who had served jail time for taking bribes. Here he was in a picture, hoisted by his colleagues to run for city councillor again.”

Anderson looked up from her coffee to make sure her outrage was registered.

“So here’s this guy who had the audacity to register to run for city councillor again after he had betrayed the public trust in taking bribes. I thought, wow, the corruption just does not stop. It continues and continues. I thought, I should run for mayor because I could do a better job and an honest job. It was a simple knee-jerk reaction.”

So began the political life of what was kindly considered a fringe candidate: a transexual political neophyte wading into the elections of Canada’s largest city. She was a sideshow at best, some thought. Only Anderson didn’t perform to expectations: she surpassed them. Far from the fringe, the former “Supermodel” placed 3rd.

“I was so surprised,” Anderson exclaimed. “I hated being portrayed as a fringe candidate. I hated it because I was serious and I presented some really great platforms. It was the media at the time ... if you weren’t in that circle of politicians you were considered a fringe candidate. “

Anderson paused again to take a sip from her decaf and glanced at the city employees conducting urgent conversations around her. She flipped her hair back, the better to take one final sip from her cup.

“But I got 13, 585 votes,” she said precisely. “I came in third out of 26 [candidates]. I thought to myself, I won! I made a statement and I came in third and I didn’t lose. I mean, I lost the mayor’s race but I won in terms of changing perspectives. That was my first race and everyone else in the list of candidates had run previous years but a first timer finished third!”

It was a stunning debut, and a shot across the bow of everyone’s preconceptions, queer or straight.

“Being transgendered and transitioning and wanting to be female, I’ve always looked at my life as functioning outside of the box,” Anderson said. “It’s nice to live in the gay village and be amongst your peers and feel comfortable and welcome, but I thought you also have to survive outside in the real world. That was my attempt to say, I want to function outside in the real world too. I want what everybody else is wanting and getting and doing. I wanted to show people that this city is made up of more than just the Asian community, the Italian community, the Portuguese community, the Black community ... there are other people who contribute to this city who are just as diverse, and can present great ideas.”

The Toronto 2000 elections stayed with Anderson throughout the decade. It gave her the confidence to strut her stuff in other political arenas, challenging the conventions of left and right, straight and queer. It’s what propels her still, towards what she hopes will be a city councillor’s seat won in Toronto’s 2010 elections.

For now, she has a media person, and someone with information technology experience, working in the background, preparing for Anderson’s new year registration in the Toronto elections.

“I’m going to register in early January and then in the springtime I will have an official campaign launch.  Before the end of spring I’m going to launch my platform and get all the issues out and let the people know what I stand for.”

Next:  Enza Anderson discusses the seat she's targeting in city council.