This is an unusual column for me.
It is a political and personal story about a candidate that goes to the core of American politics and far beyond.
This story began with a phone interview and a statement that kept playing through my head during the night following the conversation.
The statement came from Michael S. Sealfon, who is running against Dana Ralph for Kent City Council Position No. 7.
Sealfon said during the phone interview, “It doesn’t matter how a person dresses, it matters who he is inside.”
The Sealfon campaign has been surrounded by a whisper campaign. I don’t know who started it or why.
I’ve dealt with many whispered rumors and truths over the years in political campaigns, and I make it a practice to try to be the one person who tells a candidate the truth, or as close to it as I can get. Most candidates have very few people around them who will speak the truth, especially the uncomfortable truth.
The 67-year-old Sealfon is a man who enjoys dressing as a woman. He has pictures on his Facebook site of Barbara Anne, which is who he transforms into when he puts on a wig, a dress and all the other accessories.
This is obviously a very damaging issue for a campaign. Sealfon came to my office and we discussed an anonymous letter that was sent to this paper and others in the community. We talked about the whisper campaign, the pictures on Facebook, and what it meant to his election hopes.
To his credit and somewhat to my surprise, Sealfon agreed to speak openly about the issue, rather than duck or dodge.
“There is a risk,” Sealfon said. “There is more risk to staying in the shadows. I could lose votes, but, I am very honest.”
He described his dressing as a woman as immersing himself completely in a role.
Sealfon, who said he has been happily married for 22 years, described himself as a “Type A person. I always try to be the best. It has always been go, go, go all the way.”
He is a retired Army colonel, he holds a doctorate in chemistry, and was an accomplished amateur hockey player.
He has battled and beaten serious bouts with cancer and dealt with the aftereffects of the treatments.
Sealfon said he began dressing as a woman around 2002. The first time was for a party at a laboratory where he worked. His wife helped him get made up as a woman.
“No one recognized me,” Sealfon said.
He suddenly realized he found an escape from his stressful, high-achievement life.
“When I was dress up I do it all the way,” Sealfon said. “And when I go out women treat me beautifully. They know I am trying to understand what they are like. It has made me a better person. I used to not treat women very well. Now it is the other way.”
Sealfon is part of a group called Emerald City for other men who also dress as women. He said all the men, including himself, are “straight” or heterosexual.
According to Sealfon about 10 percent of the male population likes to dress up as a woman. There are conventions in different parts of the county. He said usually the men involved have very high IQs who lead stressful lives.
“They may have experienced this in their teens,” he said. “When they get to be 40 or 50 and more comfortable in their lives it comes back.”
Sealfon said for anyone to discuss this there is a “tremendous risk. It can mean loss of friends, jobs maybe even an election.”
He noted he came into the campaign late, well after Ralph had been building a political base. Sealfon said he likes Ralph and he will not feel badly if he loses to her.
Part of the reason he decided to get into the campaign was for public service and to experience what a candidate goes through. He plans to write a book chronicling his experiences.
“You reach a point in your life when you have to fish or cut bait,” Sealfon said. “This election is not everything. If I lose I will still be in Kent, helping.”
Sealfon is active in American Legion and in Kent emergency management operations.
The Emerald City group he is part of contributes to many charitable organizations and will host a memorial service for men around the world who have been killed for dressing as a woman.
Public service has always been a big part of Sealfon’s life, from his years in the military, to this election.
This is an unusual story for me.
What is most unusual is not that Sealfon enjoys putting on a dress with nylons and makeup — it is his view of the world, his brutal honesty and his perspective on the election.
His line keeps coming back – not how you dress, but, who you are at your core.
A good lesson for this election and those ahead.
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