36 Facts About Georgina Beyer

Georgina Beyer resigned in 2007, and, in 2014, unsuccessfully stood for election on behalf of the Mana Party.

Georgina Beyer's parents were living in Hataitai at the time of her birth.

Georgina Beyer was of European and Maori descent.

Georgina Beyer's mother had a second child with her first husband in December 1958, who was placed for adoption.

Georgina Beyer was sent to live with her grandparents on their farm in Taranaki during this second pregnancy.

Georgina Beyer attended Upper Hutt Primary School and from age seven, after the family moved to the Wellington suburb of Crofton Downs, Ngaio School.

Georgina Beyer then moved with her mother and brother to Papatoetoe to be near family and friends, with Georgina Beyer attending Papatoetoe High School.

Georgina Beyer began acting while at that school and decided to make a career out of it, leaving school at 16.

Georgina Beyer was the local news presenter and part of the inaugural breakfast crew on radio station Today FM, then owned by Paul Henry.

Georgina Beyer was elected mayor of Carterton in 1995, which made her the world's first openly transgender mayor, as well as the first female mayor of Carterton and first Maori mayor in the Wairarapa district.

At the 1999 general election, Georgina Beyer was selected as the Labour Party's candidate for the Wairarapa electorate.

Georgina Beyer was easily re-elected with an increased majority of 6,372 votes.

In 2001, Annie Goldson and Peter Wells co-directed a documentary film about Georgina Beyer called Georgie Girl.

Georgina Beyer influenced three MPs to vote for the Bill, which passed with 60 votes for, 59 against with one abstention.

Georgina Beyer then supported the Civil Union Act 2004, which legalised civil unions for same-sex and opposite-sex couples at a time when gay marriage was still not an option in New Zealand.

Georgina Beyer confronted followers of Destiny Church on the steps of the Parliament building during their protest against the bill.

Georgina Beyer withdrew the bill after the Solicitor-General provided a legal opinion confirming that gender identity was already covered by existing law.

Georgina Beyer supported use of the Maori language by government and public institutions, and was instrumental to the passage of the Maori Language Act 2003.

Georgina Beyer personally opposed the government's seabed and foreshore legislation of May 2004, but voted in favour of it due to her electorate's preferences.

Georgina Beyer asked the Labour Party if she could abstain from the vote but was refused; she later said that vowed that "from that time on that I would never be torn between who and what I am as far as my heritage is concerned, and political expediency".

In early 2004, Georgina Beyer announced that she would not stand in the 2005 elections.

Georgina Beyer announced that she would seek a position on the Labour list, without recontesting the Wairarapa seat.

Georgina Beyer stated that a rally by the conservative Destiny Church the previous month had influenced her decision, as she believed that the message of such rallies must be opposed.

Georgina Beyer resigned from parliament effective from 15 February 2007, and gave her valedictory speech to Parliament on the previous day.

In 2010, Georgina Beyer stated that she was struggling financially since leaving politics and was applying for welfare.

On 27 July 2014, the Mana Party announced that Georgina Beyer would stand for Mana in the Te Tai Tonga constituency in the 2014 New Zealand general election.

Georgina Beyer expressed her wariness towards Kim Dotcom, saying that "he [was] using his power and position to seek retribution on people who have done him wrong", and wished that he would have taken a backseat in campaigning.

Georgina Beyer further criticised Dotcom for "pulling the strings" behind Internet-Mana.

Georgina Beyer believed the relationship between the two parties was not mutually beneficial, considering that Mana candidates did not receive equal treatment within the partnership.

Georgina Beyer said that her campaign ran on "thin air", and later refused to participate on the national tour.

Georgina Beyer regarded her 2014 candidacy as "a way of making amends to Maori for voting for the foreshore and seabed bill".

Georgina Beyer was a keynote speaker at the first International Conference on LGBT Human Rights in Montreal in 2006 and the second International Conference in Copenhagen in 2009, as well as for the Egale Canada Human Rights Trust's annual Gala, held in Toronto on 24 September 2010.

Georgina Beyer was invited as a speaker to a public event at Oxford University's debating society Oxford Union on 23 October 2018, and at the University of Cambridge's Cambridge Union on 31 October 2018.

Georgina Beyer was the first person of Maori descent to address the Oxford Union.

In 2000, Georgina Beyer was voted Supreme Queer of the Year at the Queer of the Year Awards.

Georgina Beyer died on 6 March 2023 at the Mary Potter Hospice in Wellington, at age 65.