Georgina Beyer: world's first transsexual mayor, world's first transsexual Member of Parliament
In honour of Day 3 of 14valentines. Today's subject is health. There's an essay on the subject here. This post is a tribute to a New Zealand woman I greatly admire. You might enquire why I'm not saving it for 'politics', but I have something else planned for then.
Georgina Beyer: Stripper, Prostitute, Transsexual, Mayor, Member of Parliament, Mana Wahine (Woman of Respect)
Georgina Beyer was born George Bertrand in 1957. She recalls playing dress-ups with girlfriends from as young as four years of age; "I was happier dressed as a girl than a boy," she wrote in her autobiography, A Change for the Better.
As a seventeen year old she moved to Wellington and became part of the gay and drag scene, changing her name to Georgina (Beyer was her stepfather's surname). Life was not easy for a young Maori drag queen in 1970s Wellington, and Georgina earned a living stripping in clubs like Exotique1 and the Purple Onion.
Prostitution almost inevitably followed. "I was propositioned regularly. The patrons thought I was a woman. I got away with it because the men usually wanted a quick blow or a hand job for $30." If they wanted more she relied on "trick sex", the success of which depended on how drunk the customer was.
Growing out of Wellington, Georgina moved to Sydney, and gravitated to Kings Cross where more of the same followed. It was in Kings Cross that she made her biggest mistake, getting into a car with four men who whisked her away from the city and brutally raped her. They intensified the assault when they discovered she had a penis.
It was, Beyer now says, "hitting rock bottom" and was the turning point of her life. Back in New Zealand she carried on her life as a drag queen and stripper but set about changing things. She pursued her talent for acting, and she decided to have a sex change, finally undergoing sexual reassignment surgery in 1984. She describes her surgery as "the most significant and greatest achievement of my life". She has commented since (unfortunately in a magazine article I cannot re-find, so this is paraphrased) that following surgery she could never again work as a prostitute, her new "hole" meant too much to her.
Georgina retreated to the small rural town of Carterton for drug rehabilitation, becoming a community organizer and embracing the town that, in turn, embraced her. She also began to take an interest in local politics, first winning election to a local school board, and subsequently being elected mayor of Carterton in 1995, serving in that role until 2000. This made her the world's first transsexual mayor.
In 1999 she surprised the political commentators by winning the Wairarapa seat for Labour (our Left wing party) and becoming the world's first transsexual MP. This was all the more astounding because Wairarapa was considered to be rural conservative heartland New Zealand and a stronghold for National (our Right wing party). The seat was considered unwinnable - at the previous election Labour had polled only 14% of the vote. In the event the vote swung 32% away from National.
Political Career
• Late in 1992 ran for the Carterton District Council in the local body elections becoming the highest polling unsuccessful candidate, losing by 14 votes.
• 1993 won a by-election with a clear majority.
• 1995 elected Mayor with a 48% majority.
• 1998 re-elected Mayor with 90% majority.
• 1999 elected Member of Parliament for Wairarapa with a 32% swing from National to Labour.
• 2007 retired from parliament.
• Served on:
Law & Order Select Committee
Local Government & Environment Select Committee
MMP Review Select Committee
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
Women's Affairs
Maori Affairs
Primary Production & Rural Affairs
Local Government, Environment, Broadcasting and Conservation
Arts Culture and Heritage
• Sponsored/Supported:
Prostitution Law Reform Act
Civil Unions Act
Proposed amendment to Human Rights Act 1993 to include "gender identity" as a prohibited ground of discrimination. The acting Solicitor-General wrote a legal opinion that indicated that transgendered people were already within the ambit of the Human Rights Act, and Beyer withdrew her Bill. She said that this was legal authority that was "good enough for her".
In her own words:
"I was quoted once as saying that 'This was the stallion that became a gelding, and now she's a mayor.'2 I suppose I do have to say that I have now found myself to be a Member! So I have come full circle, so to speak."
(Maiden speech)
[She later added: "I am glad I do not possess one."]
"I am a transsexual. My achievements in local government had been historic internationally as the world's first transsexual to have been elected as a mayor. That was then followed up by a tremendous amount of support in my election into Parliament, which was also historic on the same scale -- the first transsexual in the world to be elected to a parliament. I am very pleased and proud to say that I am now no longer the only transsexual in the world to serve in a parliament. When people have been asking me recently whether I have made a difference, from that count alone I think, yes. And it is not just me; it is the nature and character of our country and its fairness, in my belief, that we can look at a person and put aside some of the foibles and human frailties that occur in all or most of us at some time in our life, no matter what our beginnings have been."
(Valedictory speech, appropriately enough on Valentines day 2007)
"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."
*****
http://www.georginabeyer.com/
*****
1. I never know whether to be ashamed or delighted that my grandfather owned this club. For the most part embarrassed of course, but for a hard man who could be very unpleasant (and often was to us), my grandfather always spoke fondly of Georgina, and would defend his transsexual employees (and indeed transsexual patrons at the family restaurant, which, as befits immigrants, was not in the best part of town) against all comers, with his fists if necessary. I applaud him for that. Many of them came to his funeral last year, where they spoke of him more fondly than my mother did.
2. Wikipedia felt the need to point out, as would never have occurred to me, that in New Zealand the word "mayor" is pronounced like "mare".
Georgina Beyer: Stripper, Prostitute, Transsexual, Mayor, Member of Parliament, Mana Wahine (Woman of Respect)
Georgina Beyer was born George Bertrand in 1957. She recalls playing dress-ups with girlfriends from as young as four years of age; "I was happier dressed as a girl than a boy," she wrote in her autobiography, A Change for the Better.
As a seventeen year old she moved to Wellington and became part of the gay and drag scene, changing her name to Georgina (Beyer was her stepfather's surname). Life was not easy for a young Maori drag queen in 1970s Wellington, and Georgina earned a living stripping in clubs like Exotique1 and the Purple Onion.
Prostitution almost inevitably followed. "I was propositioned regularly. The patrons thought I was a woman. I got away with it because the men usually wanted a quick blow or a hand job for $30." If they wanted more she relied on "trick sex", the success of which depended on how drunk the customer was.
Growing out of Wellington, Georgina moved to Sydney, and gravitated to Kings Cross where more of the same followed. It was in Kings Cross that she made her biggest mistake, getting into a car with four men who whisked her away from the city and brutally raped her. They intensified the assault when they discovered she had a penis.
It was, Beyer now says, "hitting rock bottom" and was the turning point of her life. Back in New Zealand she carried on her life as a drag queen and stripper but set about changing things. She pursued her talent for acting, and she decided to have a sex change, finally undergoing sexual reassignment surgery in 1984. She describes her surgery as "the most significant and greatest achievement of my life". She has commented since (unfortunately in a magazine article I cannot re-find, so this is paraphrased) that following surgery she could never again work as a prostitute, her new "hole" meant too much to her.
Georgina retreated to the small rural town of Carterton for drug rehabilitation, becoming a community organizer and embracing the town that, in turn, embraced her. She also began to take an interest in local politics, first winning election to a local school board, and subsequently being elected mayor of Carterton in 1995, serving in that role until 2000. This made her the world's first transsexual mayor.
In 1999 she surprised the political commentators by winning the Wairarapa seat for Labour (our Left wing party) and becoming the world's first transsexual MP. This was all the more astounding because Wairarapa was considered to be rural conservative heartland New Zealand and a stronghold for National (our Right wing party). The seat was considered unwinnable - at the previous election Labour had polled only 14% of the vote. In the event the vote swung 32% away from National.
Political Career
• Late in 1992 ran for the Carterton District Council in the local body elections becoming the highest polling unsuccessful candidate, losing by 14 votes.
• 1993 won a by-election with a clear majority.
• 1995 elected Mayor with a 48% majority.
• 1998 re-elected Mayor with 90% majority.
• 1999 elected Member of Parliament for Wairarapa with a 32% swing from National to Labour.
• 2007 retired from parliament.
• Served on:
Law & Order Select Committee
Local Government & Environment Select Committee
MMP Review Select Committee
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
Women's Affairs
Maori Affairs
Primary Production & Rural Affairs
Local Government, Environment, Broadcasting and Conservation
Arts Culture and Heritage
• Sponsored/Supported:
Prostitution Law Reform Act
Civil Unions Act
Proposed amendment to Human Rights Act 1993 to include "gender identity" as a prohibited ground of discrimination. The acting Solicitor-General wrote a legal opinion that indicated that transgendered people were already within the ambit of the Human Rights Act, and Beyer withdrew her Bill. She said that this was legal authority that was "good enough for her".
In her own words:
"I was quoted once as saying that 'This was the stallion that became a gelding, and now she's a mayor.'2 I suppose I do have to say that I have now found myself to be a Member! So I have come full circle, so to speak."
(Maiden speech)
[She later added: "I am glad I do not possess one."]
"I am a transsexual. My achievements in local government had been historic internationally as the world's first transsexual to have been elected as a mayor. That was then followed up by a tremendous amount of support in my election into Parliament, which was also historic on the same scale -- the first transsexual in the world to be elected to a parliament. I am very pleased and proud to say that I am now no longer the only transsexual in the world to serve in a parliament. When people have been asking me recently whether I have made a difference, from that count alone I think, yes. And it is not just me; it is the nature and character of our country and its fairness, in my belief, that we can look at a person and put aside some of the foibles and human frailties that occur in all or most of us at some time in our life, no matter what our beginnings have been."
(Valedictory speech, appropriately enough on Valentines day 2007)
"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."
*****
http://www.georginabeyer.com/
*****
1. I never know whether to be ashamed or delighted that my grandfather owned this club. For the most part embarrassed of course, but for a hard man who could be very unpleasant (and often was to us), my grandfather always spoke fondly of Georgina, and would defend his transsexual employees (and indeed transsexual patrons at the family restaurant, which, as befits immigrants, was not in the best part of town) against all comers, with his fists if necessary. I applaud him for that. Many of them came to his funeral last year, where they spoke of him more fondly than my mother did.
2. Wikipedia felt the need to point out, as would never have occurred to me, that in New Zealand the word "mayor" is pronounced like "mare".