Trans Candidate Defamed on Twitter

Melissa Sue Robinson, a transgender candidate for mayor of Nampa, Idaho, plans to sue Twitter after someone created a false account under her name and posted lewd information, reports KTRV-TV.

Robinson said she checked Google and found "something very lewd, very malicious, just downright nasty" with her name on it. The Twitter account used the title "woman with a penis," and had tweeted lewd remarks to a Michigan reporter.

Robinson said she asked both Twitter and Google to remove the account over one month ago, but it still exists here. Robinson is working to build a defamation of character and violation of privacy lawsuit.

The 58-year-old Robinson announced in June that she would challenge incumbent mayor Tom Dale for the chance to lead Nampa, a booming city about 20 miles west of Boise. A self-described progressive, her plans include the passage of an LGBT rights ordinance, transportation improvements, and development of the downtown area.

Robinson is the former owner of a construction firm in Michigan, where she finished third in Lansing's 2003 mayoral race. She founded the National Association for the Advancement of Transgendered People.