A TRAILBLAZING REBEL
From sex worker to MP, the transgender politician’s star always shone brightly
When Woman’s Day broke the news that Georgina Beyer, the world’s first transgender MP and mayor, was suffering from the same chronic kidney disease as the late Jonah Lomu, she told us, “I’m sure as hell not going to sit back and think, ‘Woe is me.’ I refuse to be defeatist. This health issue has cast a huge shadow, but I’m going to be positive and proactive.”
That was in 2013, but it was an attitude that she took until the end last week, when the trailblazing politician took her final breath, surrounded by her loved ones at a Wellington hospice at the age of 65. “She accepted what was happening, was cracking jokes and had a twinkle in her eye right until the final moment,” tells her friend Scotty Kennedy.
Of Te Ati A¯wa, Nga¯ti Mutunga, Nga¯ti Raukawa and Nga¯ti Porou descent, Georgina was born in the capital in 1957 and named George Bertrand. She left school at 16 and became a firm fixture on the
Wellington club scene, where she worked as a singer, actress, drag queen and sex worker. She underwent genderreassignment surgery in 1984, burning all her belongings the night before.
“Because of my transitioning at that time and the lack of social compassion, it forced you to live in this twilight world,” Georgina recalled in 2018. “Among people of the streets, if you like, there was an odd bond because we were all enduring the same sort of social exclusion.”
That ostracism made her “more forceful and assured about who and what I am”, and convinced her she would try to change attitudes by living a proud life as a trans woman by running for public office.
In 1995, Georgina was elected as mayor of Carterton and, four years later, she was voted in as Labour’s
MP for Wairarapa, beating broadcaster Paul Henry, who stood for National in what was considered a safe conservative seat.
In her maiden speech in Parliament, Georgina declared, “I was quoted once as saying this was the stallion that became a gelding and now she’s a mare [mayor]. I suppose I do have to say that I have now found myself to be a member, so I have come full circle.”
She became known for her rousing, often-unscripted speeches, with a particularly powerful one helping secure the key votes that passed legislation to decriminalise sex work in 2003. Former prime minister Helen Clark remembers, “Georgina had a sharp wit… Her lines always brought the house down.”
When she left the Beehive in 2007 – after six years as an MP and a stint on the first season of Dancing With The Stars NZ in 2005 – Georgina also said she was proud of her work in getting the Civil Union Bill across the line.
‘I’m prepared to die. I’m not scared. I’ve had an amazing life’
After being diagnosed with kidney disease, Georgina was often on dialysis four times a day, seven days a week, but she refused to have a transplant done privately and insisted on joining the public waiting list.
She later recalled, “It was the rebel in me, I suppose, but I really objected to handing over control of my life in practically
every aspect to medical professionals.”
When a heart condition was diagnosed in 2016, pushing back her scheduled transplant, Georgina told us, “I’m prepared to die. I’m not scared. If it all ended sooner rather than later, I’ve had an amazing life.”
She also joked that there was a silver lining to her illness, quipping, “I used to be a chunky girl, but now I’m down to a more healthy 64kg – people will see these glam pictures in Woman’s Day and think I’m faking it!”
Finally, in 2017, she received her kidney transplant, telling us, “It’s unbelievable – miracle of miracles! The medical and surgical experts didn’t expect the treatment to be effective, but now if all things go well, life can return to normal… This is the gift of life and I’m welcoming it with open arms.”
That same year, she hosted the Auckland Pride Gala, where she performed a lip sync to Whitney Houston’s Greatest Love Of All before an enraptured sell-out crowd. “The ovation was fabulous,” she recalled.
Since her passing, the praise from her peers has been similarly phenomenal. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the late MP had left a “lasting impression on Parliament”, adding, “Georgina has blazed a trail that makes it much easier for others to follow.” Wairarapa MP Kieran McAnulty, who was babysat by Georgina as a child, added that Aotearoa had “lost a great one”.
But the final word should go to Georgina herself. When asked about her journey from sex worker to politician by The Australian Women’s Weekly in 2017, she grinned, “All those years selling my arse on Vivian Street, I stood on the shoulders of those who went before. Now people stand on my shoulders. There are now transgender doctors and lawyers. People can at last reach their potential.”