Mel Wymore, Transgender Man, Runs for New York Council Zoning. School overcrowding. The design of New York's transportation system. These are just a few of the subjects that Mel Wymore, a candidate for City Council on the Upper West Side, brought up in an interview before addressing the elephant in the room: that, if elected, he would be the first transgender member of the Council. "I'm not running because I'm transgender," said Mr. Wymore, 50, who was born female but now, after testosterone therapy and top surgery, identifies as transgender. But, he said, that "doesn't mean that being transgender doesn't bring a certain perspective." Although gay men and lesbians have broken many electoral barriers - serving as mayors, state legislators and members of Congress - the same is not true of the transgender community. Only a few, including a Democratic district leader in Westchester County and a former member of the Hawaii Board of Education, have been elected to office around the country. "I think there is a feeling that there is too much difference there," Mr. Wymore said. But he said he believed: "This is the seat. This is the community that's ready to go forward. The race, for the Sixth District seat occupied by Gale A. Brewer, who is term-limited, is competitive and has drawn a number of candidates, including Marc Landis, a district leader; Helen Rosenthal, a former chairwoman of Community Board 7; and Ken Biberaj, a vice president of the Russian Tea Room. Melissa Sklarz, a transgender woman, said that the race was full of worthy candidates, and that as president of the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City, she could not make an endorsement. But she described Mr. Wymore's candidacy as "an opportunity for transgender people everywhere." "He's a great representative," Ms. Sklarz said. "Many people only know of transgender, I guess, from watching Chaz Bono on "Dancing With the Stars." Mel Wymore brings a much different, broader experience. Mr. Wymore's story is, naturally, complicated. As a child, growing up in Arizona, he recalled, he was always a tomboy and extremely happy. But in puberty, he said, "that started to fade." He had difficulty adjusting to playing the role of a young woman, and over the years - through falling in love and marrying a man, moving to New York and having two children - he felt ill at ease. Fifteen years ago, he became attracted to a woman and decided that he was a lesbian, so he came out and divorced. But relationships with women foundered. Then, five years ago, a group called the Yes Institute, which teaches students about gender identity and sexual orientation in an effort to prevent suicide, came to his children's school, and he observed. He was fascinated; still searching for clues to his unhappiness, he flew to the institute, in Miami. There, watching a clip of Oprah Winfrey interviewing an 8-year-old who was born a girl but had decided to live as a boy, he had a revelation. "My jaw dropped, because I could have been that child," he said. At first, he was daunted by the prospect of confronting his family with another drastic change. But within a few months, he said, he knew that he wanted to begin exploring a more masculine identity. "This was an opportunity to take off the gorilla suit I felt I'd been wearing all my life and really be myself," he said. Shortly after he made his decision in 2009, he was elected chairman of Community Board 7. At his first meeting, he told the board about his transition and received support, he said. Much harder were the conversations with his son and daughter, now 18 and 15, although he said that they, too, had been understanding. "We have had very deep conversations and some negotiations around what makes them comfortable," he said, adding that they could still always call him "Mom." Among the things Mr. Wymore said he was proudest of from his term as community board chairman, which ended in 2011, were the negotiations over the coming Riverside Center, a major mixed-use development on the Upper West Side. As a result of pressure from the board and Ms. Brewer, the developer, Extell, agreed to build a 100,000-square-foot school and contribute $17.5 million toward renovating an adjacent park. Mr. Wymore, a systems engineer and entrepreneur, also worked on new zoning rules proposed by the city's planning department that would limit the ground-floor width of new stores on Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, a change he said would help create a more lively array of business along those avenues. While Mr. Wymore wants to focus his candidacy on these kinds of issues, rather than gender identity, he is also happy to talk about his story, and often has a sense of humor about it. One challenge of making the transition, he said, was being unsure whether to use the men's or women's restroom. Asked how he handled it, he smiled and said, "I know where every gender-neutral bathroom is on the Upper West Side."