On Valentine's Day 2007 Georgina Beyer brought down the curtain on her 8 year career in government. The first transsexual in the world to be elected to parliament, her short time in national politics had been remarkable for its candour and courage as well as for its achievements. On the tenth anniversary of her resignation, Georgina tells Justin Gregory from RNZ's Eyewitness programme that she left it all behind with no regrets and little ceremony.

On Valentine's Day 2007 Georgina Beyer brought down the curtain on her eight-year career in government. The first openly transsexual person in the world to be elected to parliament, her short time in national politics had been remarkable for its candour and courage, as well as for its achievements.

"I've now found myself to be a Member (of Parliament)."

At times it must have seemed to Georgina Beyer that she had spent most of her career in politics in the passenger seat of a car. During the election campaign of 1999, Georgina - who back then didn't have a licence - was driven over almost all of the enormous, mostly rural, Wairarapa electorate by a volunteer driver.

Once she had won the seat, her duties as an MP saw Georgina back on those same roads most days of the week. Now that she was leaving parliament for the last time, it seemed somehow appropriate that Georgina should do so by simply driving away; but this time, in control of the vehicle.

"I just got in my car and drove home. There was no sadness."

Georgina Beyer (Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Porou) was born in Wellington in 1957 and given the name George Bertrand. After leaving home, she pursued a career in acting while also working in the Wellington gay nightclub scene and spending some time in the sex industry.

In 1984 she underwent sex reassignment surgery and some years later, seeking a new start, she moved to the small Wairarapa town of Carterton. In 1992 Georgina stood for election to the local council and narrowly missed out on a seat but in a by-election a year later, she romped home.

The following year Georgina ran for the top job in the town and won, becoming the world's first transsexual mayor, Carteron's first female mayor and the first Māori mayor Wairarapa had ever seen. Media around the world wanted a piece of the story and, overnight, Georgina became a star. It was inevitable that sooner or later one of the big political parties would come calling and, in 1998, they did.

Georgina Beyer's official portrait as Carterton's mayor…

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