Club’s first trans leader steps up
in Queenstown
THE new transgender president of Rotary Club of Queenstown has thanked the man she used to be as she takes office.
Monica Mulholland made national news last May when she was nominated as the club’s presidentelect, two months after coming out as a woman.
At Tuesday’s changeover night in Queenstown, she thanked her former self ‘‘for the trials and tribulations that he’s been put through’’.
She likened him to a booster rocket — ‘‘his job was done and he fell away’’.
Ms Mulholland also singled out her wife, Joan Kiernan, who became the club’s first woman president in 2006.
She said a transgender woman, expresident of another Rotary club, had been her pathfinder.
‘‘Without her, I probably wouldn’t have been here today.’’
Also singled out for their
❛. . . his job was done and
he fell away❜
understanding were Jan Chappell, who was local Rotary president when Ms Mulholland announced her transition, and then presidentelect Keith McIntosh.
Ms Chappell had said: ‘‘If the members do not accept you, I’ll resign myself’’.
Ms Mulholland said ‘‘that was a turning point for me — thank you.’’
A wealth management adviser who grew up in County Cork, the eldest of nine children, Ms Mulholland settled in Queenstown in 2001.
Her agenda for the next year is to connect and inspire.
‘‘We will spend more time away from the traditional structure of having a meal and a lecture, and engage far more in activities which promote fellowship and friendship. We’re also going to connect more with our community.’’
Queenstown’s accepting stance jars with that of Rotary’s Avonhead club in Christchurch, which does not accept women members.