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This banner was made for the memorial event held for Georgina Beyer (Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Porou) (1957-2023). She didn't want to have a funeral, so her friends organised a memorial event at the Embassy Theatre on the evening of 18 July 2023.
Beyer was the world's first openly transgender / whakawahine mayor and Member of Parliament. She was the mayor of Carterton from 1995-2000 (elected twice), and (Labour) Member of Parliament for Wairarapa from 1999-2007. Both victories surprised many as Wairarapa was a conservative rural electorate. She played many roles in her life, including as a sex worker, actor and drag performer. She was a trailblazing activist, champion for LGBTQI+ communities, and campaigned for prostitution law reform and civil unions, and supported many Māori causes, including promoting Te Reo Māori.
Born George Bertrand in 1957, Beyer grew up on a Taranaki farm and was raised by her grandparents until about five years old. Her mother Noeline was from the Tamati whānau, and her father was Jack Bertrand. She was not brought up in Te Ao Māori. In 1962, her parents divorced, and her mother Noeline married Colin Beyer, a Wellington lawyer. Georgina's surname was changed to his, but they did not get on. Beyer was sent to the all-boys school Wellesley College in Eastbourne as a boarder. When Noeline’s second marriage failed the family moved to Auckland.
During her teen years, Beyer began to question her gender and started experimenting with dresses at 13. She increasingly identified as female as she grew older, while the adults around her tried to curb her and condition her out of it. She had a difficult relationship with her mother Noeline who did not support or accept her. Noeline died from cancer aged 43 years on 4 May 1978. Noeline had stipulated that Beyer attend her funeral in men’s clothing, which she did, but she went home to change back into Georgina, and returned to the after-match – it was the last time she felt that she had to be swayed by what anyone thought of her.
Beyer left school at 16, dreaming of becoming an actor. A life-changing moment was attending a drag show where she saw other ways of being. She began her public life as a drag diva on Auckland’s cabaret circuit and worked in the sex industry in the 1970s and 80s. Life as a sex worker was not easy and could be dangerous, particularly for Beyer as a marginalised person being transsexual and Māori. She was gang raped in Sydney, and experienced homophobic and transphobic attacks. The knowledge that police would probably not treat a rape complaint seriously sparked the flame that would later see her become a politician.
Beyer was determined to live openly as transgender and had gender reassignment surgery in 1984 at the age of 27. The cover photograph of this programme features an elegant portrait of Beyer taken in 1986.
She achieved acclaim as an actor in film, theatre, and a range of primetime television shows. She was nominated for a Guild of Film and Television Arts award (Gofta) for Jewel’s Darl (1985) and was the subject of a feature-length documentary, Georgie Girl (2001), which screened internationally. This portrait of Beyer also promoted the documentary.
Beyer moved to the Wairarapa where she worked part-time in a community centre in Carterton in the early 1990s. She made an impact on the small town. Her desire to bring about change saw her successfully stand for Carterton District Council in 1993. In 1995, she became mayor of Carterton. She became their first female and first Māori mayor, and the world’s first openly transgender mayor. She was so popular that she was re-elected three years later in a landslide. Beyer was encouraged by Helen Clark (Prime Minister, 1999-2008) and Labour Party icon Sonya Davies to stand for Parliament. She won the Wairarapa seat comfortably, sparking media interest from around the world.
She quickly proved to be an eloquent and effective speaker, supporting LGBTQI+ rights, prostitution law reform (2003) and legalising civil unions (2004). She was hugely popular as an electorate MP and doubled her majority in the 2002 election. However, a low point was feeling pressured into voting for the controversial Foreshore and Seabed Act in 2004, and this sowed the beginning of the end of her parliamentary career. She resigned in 2007.
Life beyond Parliament was not easy. It was hard to find appropriate work and she suffered ongoing health issues (kidney and heart disease). But her profile remained high, and she was always beloved by the people of Carterton. In 2018, she presented at both Oxford and Cambridge Unions.
She won numerous awards, including being made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to LGBTQIA+ rights in 2020. Beyer died on 6 March 2023.