Content note for sexual violence, attempted suicide
“I objected to the barriers put up in front of a person like me, as I am a fully functioning member of society who wanted to fulfill my own potential.” - Georgina Beyer
After enduring a transient childhood and a youth burdened with struggles surrounding both her gender and Māori identities, Georgina Beyer emerged as both a transformative and trailblazing figure in New Zealand’s political and social arenas. She became the world’s first openly transgender mayor, only to follow up that landmark achievement by being elected a Member of Parliament and becoming the world’s first openly transgender person to hold significant public office. Beyer thus broke new ground for trans visibility on an international level, and paved the way for both greater acceptance and wider representation of LGBTQ+ individuals in politics. Her serpentine path towards said life in government included both time spent as a sex worker as well as a tragic act of sexual violence enacted against her, each of which emboldened her with a sense of resilience, courage, and authenticity. Beyer ultimately weaponized her identities and life experiences in a political career marked by an unwavering commitment to advocate for marginalized communities, fight for human rights, and continuously challenge societal norms.
Assigned male at birth, Georgina Beyer was born in November of 1957 at Wellington Hospital in Wellington, New Zealand. Her birth parents were Noeline Tamati and Jack Bertrand, which meant Georgina was of both European and Māori (Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Raukawa, and Ngāti Porou) descent. She was named at the time after her grandfather, Lieutenant Colonel George Bertrand, who had been second in command in the Māori Battalion. From an early age, however, Georgina knew she was a girl, recalling in the New Zealand publication Stuff in 2018: “I played it out till it got disciplined out of me, bullied out of me, abused out of me…until I found myself in control of my own life.”
Right after she was born, Georgina experienced a turbulent childhood. Her father, a compulsive gambler, was imprisoned for theft, and her parents divorced shortly thereafter. Within a year of her own birth, Georgina’s mother gave birth to a second child, who she ultimately placed for adoption. Georgina, meanwhile, was sent away, first to live in a Salvation Army home, and then to live with her grandparents on their farm in Taranaki, a region located northwest of Wellington. Georgina would remain living there until the age of five. After her parents’ divorce, her mother remarried Colin Beyer, a prominent New Zealand lawyer, and the new couple moved to live in Upper Hutt. Georgina returned to live with her mother and stepfather, and eventually changed her surname to that of her stepfather.
At the age of seven, Georgina began attending Upper Hutt Primary School, but new marital problems arose between her mother and stepfather, and she was sent away to Wellesley College boarding school. While there, Beyer attempted suicide, having felt rejected by her parents. After the new couple divorced in 1971, financial constraints meant Georgina could no longer attend a private school, and she then briefly attended Onslow College as a result. She then moved with her mother to Papatoetoe to be closer to her mother’s family and friends, where she began attending Papatoetoe High School. While at this school, Beyer discovered her love for acting. Deciding she wanted to make a career out of it, she left school for good at the age of sixteen, against her mother’s wishes.
Beyer then briefly went to live in Sydney, Australia, where in 1979 she endured a traumatic sexual assault. She recalled at the time feeling unable to seek help from the police, which is when she first began tinkering with the idea of pursuing a political career. Regarding this troubling incident, she noted: “Once I got out the other end, it gave me a real fire in my belly. That shouldn’t have happened to me. That shouldn’t happen to anyone.”
In 1984, Beyer underwent gender-affirming surgery, which she noted as having helped make her “feel complete.” Despite this, she recalled that finding work as a trans woman at the time was nearly impossible, and that to get by she worked illegally in the sex industry and claimed she had a “psychosexual disorder” in order to receive health benefits from the government. In 1987, Beyer returned to New Zealand where she continued working as a sex worker but also started finding acting work with increasing success. Within the year, she received a Guild of Film and Television Arts (GOFTA) Award nomination for best female performance for the television drama Jewel's Darl. Simultaneously, Beyer became an integral part of the Wellington gay nightclub scene, where she worked as both a singer and a drag performer.
In 1990, Beyer moved to the town of Carterton, where she worked as a radio host and became the local news presenter as part of the inaugural breakfast crew on the radio station Today FM. At this time, she also revisited her earlier thoughts about a political career and began taking an interest in local government, eventually winning an election to serve on a local school board. Then in 1995, Beyer made international history when she was elected mayor of Carterton, making her the world's first openly transgender mayor, not to mention the first female mayor of Carterton as well as the first Māori mayor in the Wairarapa district. Beyer later told the Windy City Times in 2008 that “my mayoralty happened, despite the conservative nature of my constituents, because I was upfront and honest about myself, had ability and was trusted.” In 1998, Beyer was re-elected as mayor, receiving 90% of the vote.
Then in 1999, Beyer made history yet again when she was selected as the Labour Party’s candidate for the Wairarapa electorate, and was elected with a 3,033-vote majority to become the world’s first openly transgender Member of Parliament. Upon her victory, Beyer made a landmark inaugural speech, remarking:
“Mr. Speaker, I can't help but mention the number of firsts that are in this Parliament…yes, I have to say it, I guess, I am the first transsexual in New Zealand to be standing in this House of Parliament. This is a first not only in New Zealand, ladies and gentlemen, but also in the world. This is an historic moment. We need to acknowledge that this country of ours leads the way in so many aspects. We have led the way for women getting the vote. We have led the way in the past, and I hope we will do so again in the future in social policy and certainly in human rights.”
As an MP (Member of Parliament), Beyer supported and pushed for progressive policies that were near and dear to her heart, particularly ones relating to LGBTQ+ rights, sex work, and Māori rights. In 2003, for example, she influenced three other MPs to vote for the Prostitution Reform Act, which passed with 60 votes for and 59 against with one abstention and decriminalized prostitution in New Zealand. In her speech to Parliament arguing for the bill’s passage, Beyer publicly identified herself as being a former sex worker, stating: “Madam Speaker, I shall take the liberty of assuming that I am the only member of this House with first hand knowledge of the sex industry…I think of all the people I have known in that area who have suffered because of the hypocrisy of our society, which, on the one hand, can accept prostitution, while, on the other hand, wants to push it under the carpet and keep it in the twilight world that it exists in.”
In 2004, Beyer fought for the passage of the Parliament’s Civil Union Act, which legalized civil unions for same-sex couples at a a time when gay marriage was still illegal in New Zealand (it would be legalized in 2013). While the Act was being deliberated, Beyer bravely stood and confronted followers of the Destiny Church on the steps of the Parliament building who had organized a mass “enough is enough” protest to oppose the legislation. Beyer reportedly remarked to the conservative, religious objectors: “Why do you hate people like us?” “You’re not going to win – you haven’t. I have trust in New Zealanders that they will be fair minded, as they always have been–that the democracy that I live in made it possible for somebody like me to be here, in this place.”
Beyer was also a strong advocate for the use of the Māori language by both government and public institutions, and she played an instrumental role in the passage of the Māori Language Act in 2003. In 2004, she became a vocal opponent of the proposed Foreshore and Seabed Act, which declared that the lands many Māori groups believed they had a rightful claim to would in fact be owned by the Crown. Being of Māori descent herself, Beyer initially asked her Labour Party if she could abstain from the vote entirely, but was denied the request and ultimately voted in favor of the Act.
Regretting the way in which this scenario played out, Beyer later remarked that “from that time on…I would never be torn between who and what I am as far as my heritage is concerned, and political expediency.” Within a year, Beyer announced that she would not seek reelection, perhaps as a result of such tensions faced with her electorate committee. Having grown disaffected with politics, Beyer officially resigned from Parliament on February 15, 2007, declaring in her valedictory speech: “If one person’s life has been inspired by my success or offered a window of hope…then I am proud, but humbled.”
The years that followed Beyer’s departure from politics, however, were extremely challenging, as she struggled to find work that matched her levels of experience. By 2010, she publicly announced that she was struggling financially, had applied for welfare, and was living off of unemployment benefits. In 2013, she began suffering from renal failure, and started spending hours a day on dialysis, before receiving a kidney transplant in 2017.
Then on March 6, 2023, Georgina Beyer passed away peacefully at the Mary Potter Hospice in Wellington, at the age of 65. While an immediate cause of death was not specified, it was likely related to her continued suffering from severe kidney disease. In announcing her passing, her friend Scotty Kennedy described her as a “national taonga (the Māori word for treasure), former Mayor of Carterton, Labour MP, activist, dearest friend and rainbow legend.” Kennedy also added that prior to dying, “Georgie was surround[ed] by her nearest and dearest 24/7…accepted what was happening, was cracking jokes and had a twinkle in her eye, right until the final moment.” As per her own request, no funeral was held for Beyer, but a memorial service did take place.
Upon learning of her death, many of Beyer’s fellow politicians remarked on the impact she had made and on the legacy she was leaving behind, including former New Zealand prime minister Chris Hipkins, who stated: “I certainly think that Georgina has blazed a trail that has made it much easier for others to follow.” Helen Clark, another former prime minister, noted that Georgina’s popularity as a politician grew from her brutal honesty, while former finance minister Grant Robertson noted that he would always remember Beyer’s immense courage. Wairarapa MP Kieran McAnulty, meanwhile, described Beyer as "a beloved family member, loyal friend, passionate advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community and a powerhouse of a local politician.”
Beyond the policies she impacted and the molds she broke as a trans woman in politics, Georgina Beyer’s name and life have been memorialized in numerous other ways. After her death, a street in Carterton was named Georgina Beyer Way in her honor. In 1999, she published a book about her life with co-author Cathy Casey, entitled Change for the Better: The Story of Georgina Beyer. In 2001, Annie Goldson and Peter Wells co-directed a documentary film about Beyer called Georgie Girl, which received a number of awards including the Excellence in Documentary Award at the 2002 San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2002 Sydney Film Festival. In said film, Beyer remarked on the many injustices she faced while being the first openly transgender person to hold national office: “I get asked questions no other politician would ever have to answer. Regarding the surgery, you know. 'Did it hurt?', or, 'When you have sex now as a woman, is it different to how you had sex as a man?' Well, honey, obviously.”
Standing alongside her many other experiences and accomplishments, Beyer’s persistent vocal frustration throughout her life with how she and other trans people were treated in the media is yet another bold, admirable aspect of her character. She was often infuriated by the fact that news outlets more often focused on her gender identity and sexuality rather than on her political achievements and policies. Both trans visibility and the ability to see past people’s transness in order to treat them as more rounded, complex individuals still remain issues at the forefront today–Georgina was ahead of her time. “We’ve been around for millennia,” Beyer told The Spinoff in 2018, highlighting the fact that gender fluidity has in actuality been a long-established concept within the Pacific nations. “When you have words in languages to include us, that should send a message that this didn’t happen last week.”
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
Disclaimer: some of the sources may contain triggering material
Beyer, G., & Casey, C. (1999). Change for the Better: The Story of Georgina Beyer As Told to Cathy Casey. Random House New Zealand. https://books.google.com/books?id=ugPaAAAAMAAJ
Factora, J. (2023, March 6). Georgina Beyer, the First Out Trans MP in World History, Has Died at 65. Them. https://www.them.us/story/georgina-beyer-dead-65
Frost, N. (2023, March 8). Georgina Beyer, 65, Dies; Considered First Transgender Parliament Member. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/world/australia/georgina-beyer-dead.html
Haefele-Thomas, A., Combs, T., & Stryker, S. (2019). Introduction to Transgender Studies. Harrington Park Press, LLC. https://books.google.com/books?id=tqyLDwAAQBAJ
McClure, T. (2023, March 6). Sex worker, survivor, Māori TV star: World’s first transgender MP remembered as trailblazer. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/07/georgina-beyer-worlds-first-transgender-mp-remembered-as-trailblazer
Perry, N. (2023, March 6). Trailblazing transgender lawmaker Georgina Beyer dies at 65. AP News.https://apnews.com/article/georgina-beyer-dies-transgender-new-zealand-politician-9ec99c216b3a9600419a02431699071d