The title of this recording is "Georgina Beyer - Rainbow Voices of Aotearoa New Zealand". It is described as: Interview with Georgina Beyer, from the documentary Rainbow Voices of Aotearoa New Zealand. It was recorded in Rainbow Room, Parliament buildings, Molesworth Street, Wellington on the 7th March 2019. Georgina Beyer is presenting.  Their name is spelt correctly but may appear incorrectly spelt later in the document. The duration of the recording is 12 minutes, but this may not reflect the actual length of the proceedings. A list of correctly spelt content keywords and tags can be found at the end of this document. The content in the recording covers the 2010s decade. A brief summary of the recording is: This summary pertains to the audio recording titled "Georgina Beyer - Rainbow Voices of Aotearoa New Zealand," which was recorded in the Rainbow Room of New Zealand's Parliament buildings on March 7, 2019. The speaker, Georgina Beyer, discusses their experiences and contributions as a trailblazing political figure in New Zealand. The summary provides an overview of Beyer's journey to becoming the world's first openly transgender individual elected to Parliament, as well as serving as the Mayor of Carterton prior to that. Beyer expresses pride in being supported by the people of Wairarapa, a conservative electorate, and underscores the importance of acknowledging the challenges faced by transgender individuals who could not be open about their identity. During their first term in Parliament, Beyer was involved in significant legislation, including the Civil Union Act and the Prostitution Reform Act. Beyer supported the Civil Union Act, partnering with colleague Tim Barnett and activist Dame Catherine Healy. They highlight a particularly challenging moment when confronting opposition during the 'Enough is Enough March' led by the Destiny Church. Despite the adversarial atmosphere, Beyer stood their ground, defending the rights of the rainbow community. Beyer goes on to discuss the transformation in societal attitudes, citing the eventual support for marriage equality from unlikely figures such as John Banks and Lockwood Smith. The speaker considers these changes as indicative of the progress towards equality and recognition of diverse communities in New Zealand, highlighting the eventual shift in public opinion and legislative progress. Beyer also reflects on the Prostitution Reform Act, drawing on their personal history as a former sex worker to advocate for the legislation which aimed to improve health, safety, and human rights within the sex industry. Beyer stands by the act, which remains on the statute books, as a positive regulation of the sex industry. In addition to their legislative work, Beyer served as the chairperson of the Social Services Select Committee for three years and was a member of the Primary Production Select Committee. Beyer notes the significance of the Rainbow Room within Parliament, established discreetly to avoid controversy with the aim of representing the rainbow community in a tangible way. The full transcription of the recording follows.  It includes timestamps every thirty seconds in the format [HH:MM:SS].  The transcription begins:  Hello, I'm Georgina Beyer. Um, I was elected to Parliament in 1999 after having served two terms as Mayor of Carterton in the Wairarapa. I was the world's first out transsexual to have been elected to a Parliament and indeed to have been elected as a Mayor for that matter. My arrival in Parliament was, um, taken with some surprise, I guess. My electorate was a rural, conservative seat. [00:00:30] Wairarapa, one of the largest general seats in the country at the time. And so while it was remarkable.. Uh, that a transsexual had been able to be, um, elected as a constituent CMP. I think the story really lies behind those who supported me getting into Parliament, and that is the people of Wairarapa. I was very proud of that. I had no idea at the time, uh, that I was, uh, considered to be the world's first out transsexual. I added the [00:01:00] out bit myself at a United Nations Human Rights Conference in, uh, Montreal, um, a while later. Because I decided that I needed to pay homage, uh, to those who may have been transgender. But could never have been out and if they had served perhaps in parliaments or whatever before so that was just my little Acknowledgement I think to those who may not have been able to be as out as I was able to be. I have often been credited with having been a [00:01:30] trailblazer and I will accept that as being true Because as the first out transsexual to serve in a parliament, I had no mentors. I had, I had to navigate my way myself. Uh, through the mire of political life, I guess. Yes, I had the support of colleagues and the support of caucus, and that we were serving in government was a huge, um, advantage. Two matters came up in our first term, um, that [00:02:00] really made me dive into the thick of it. Uh, the first one being, uh, what is now the Civil Union Act. Uh, the second one being what is now known as the Prostitution Reform Act. With civil unions, of course I was going to help, uh, with the parliamentary campaign at least, which was led by, uh, the sponsor of the bill, um, Tim Barnett, who was my Labour colleague and later to be a senior government whip, uh, for the Labour Party. Um, [00:02:30] outside of Parliament, the campaign was led.. By a lady we now know as Dame Catherine Healy, and she had spent 30 years, I guess, working on prostitution reform when it finally came to pass, but with civil unions. I guess I acquitted myself very well when we had what has now come to be known as the Enough is Enough March, led by the Tamaki. Um, when the 8, [00:03:00] 000 arrived at Parliament to protest against civil unions, um, it was a dark day, I feel. And the rest of the country seemed to feel so too. The imagery they presented that day, um, was, uh, reminiscent. of scenes from Nazi Germany and general public were horrified, frankly. I would defend their [00:03:30] right to protest, absolutely. Um, but I stood on those steps for the two or three hours that they held their rally in front of parliaments holding the rainbow flag. joined by other members of Parliament, Sue Bradford, Sue Kedgley, Tim Barnett, Chris Carter, various others came out to support me as I stared them down from the steps of Parliament. Um, at one point I just lost it. We had 150. approximately of our [00:04:00] supporters, um, who were pro the civil union bill and they had been surrounded, uh, by the 8, 000 Destiny Church people and they were abused, they were jostled, they were shoved and I could see all of this happening from the steps. When they finished their rally, I wanted to immediately run straight down to them. They were all gathered around the Seddon statue in front. Parliament, uh, but such was the abuse that I received that my minder, for want of a better term, Ramon [00:04:30] Maniapoto, said, hey, hey, hey, come back behind the barriers, which I did. At that point, I was so angry, I suppose, I marched across the forecourt of Parliament yelling out loudly, why do you hate us? so much. What is this? What is this that you're teaching your children this hatred towards us? It's not right, and words to that effect. I was yelling, which I seemed like a screaming banshee, because they had a sound system the [00:05:00] Rolling Stones would have been proud of. So I was trying to shout over that so that they might hear me. That ended up on the news that night, and many of our rainbow people around the country. Went to hallelujah, our voices there to stare down this great adversity we were facing from these people. [00:05:30] One of the proudest moments of my parliamentary life I have to say, sorry for getting a bit emotional about it, but it was significant and of course civil unions came to pass. And then it was followed, what, less than 10 years later by Louisa Wall's presentation of marriage equality to the country. And considering the venal debate that happened over civil unions throughout the country, marriage equality [00:06:00] managed to slip through, uh, pretty well supported from within the parliament, and more importantly, uh, from a majority of New Zealanders. You see, with patience, and perseverance, the country by and large will come on board because they can see all we want is equality. We are of no harm to anyone else. We just want to enrich our own lives with equality. And it has been for the [00:06:30] better of New Zealand that we have been able to make positive contributions to our country and to live lives that are far more liberated than when I was young. Well done, New Zealand. One thing I'd like to say, just to add on, um, to that about civil unions. I guess it's probably been mentioned that John Banks, the Honourable John Banks, had been quite an opponent to anything that was going to [00:07:00] give liberty to the rainbow community in this country for many years. I happened to end up being mayor of his hometown, Carterton. Um, in order to illustrate how over time people can soften their attitudes, I never thought I would see the day when John Banks would vote in favour of marriage equality. That Lockwood Smith would give one of the greatest [00:07:30] gay speeches in the house in his, uh, third reading speech, uh, for marriage equality. It went global. Good God, I think he ended up on Ellen DeGeneres. So you see, patience is a virtue. Over time people will come to see that we are not the scum of the earth people think we are. We are ordinary New Zealanders with a bit of a difference who want to be positive contributors to our society and live fulfilled [00:08:00] lives. I've mentioned one of the other pieces of legislation I became involved with, uh, in Parliament, um, was the Prostitution Reform Act. Again, another bill that was sponsored, uh, by Tim Barnett. Um, with my history, my colourful history, of course I had once been a sex worker and worked in the, um, sex industry for a period of time in my early life, my late [00:08:30] teens into my mid twenties. So when this bill came up, of course I was probably the only authority in the house on the sex industry at the time, and I think I mentioned so in my first reading speech. The purpose of the Prostitution Reform Act wasn't so much to condone prostitution, but it was more of a, um, health and safety issue. Um, it was about human rights. Um, it [00:09:00] was about putting regulation into an area that exists in the twilight world. And once you put the disinfectant of light upon it, you tend to, um, diminish, uh, the criminal elements that generally would run. Um, it gave rights to sex workers and to clients. And, um, this provides more safety, I think. Um, I stand by the Prostitution Reform Act, which was world leading, [00:09:30] um, in its day. And, uh, there was a lot of critics, critiques about it. But we are, what, 10, 15 years down the track from that, um, legislation coming to pass. And, um, It still sits on the statute books and is now probably tacitly entrenched. And I think that it has turned out to be a very, um, good piece of legislation to deal with what some would consider a rather unsavoury matter. But you cannot ignore such [00:10:00] matters. People's lives are at risk, health and safety is at risk, HIV, AIDS, blood, uh, you know, um, transmitted diseases, all of those kinds of things that can be involved. Uh, as a result of people engaging in the, um, sex industry. So I'm, I still stand by that piece of legislation. It was a very divided, bitter, um, conscience vote, uh, debate. And it passed by the slimmest of margins possible. One abstention. [00:10:30] And the bill passed. So it was a far, far closer, um, run matter. When, uh, voting through the third reading, uh, than it was, for example, civil unions. And, um, I think that this country can be proud of, um, facing up to some harsh realities. Uh, regarding this matter and, um, that we have done a pretty good job of, uh, uh, regulating it now. Um, amongst many duties I [00:11:00] had while I was in Parliament and other than my responsibilities as a constituency MP for the wider upper, Um, I was also, uh, chairperson of the Social Services, uh, Select Committee for about three years actually, which is quite a long time to be chairing, um, a Select Committee, uh, like that. Um, quite often, um, we would, uh, um, hold our select committee meetings in the Rainbow Room here at Parliament. Our home room, for want of a better term, was the one in the suffrage room, actually, further down the corridor. But [00:11:30] quite often, we would, uh, uh, convene in here, in the Rainbow Room. Um, also, I was a member of the Primary Production Select Committee, and this.. was its home select committee room, uh, normally. So that was odd. I can remember when, um, Margaret Wilson, the right honourable Margaret Wilson, who was, uh, Speaker of the Parliament, and it was her that initiated a rainbow room to be established, of course, along with the lobbying help of Tim Barnett. [00:12:00] And, um, And I can remember it was quite low key that this was going to become the Rainbow Room. They didn't want to upset the cart in that proceeding with, uh, any members, say, of the opposition, um, becoming just to be nasty about it and lodge, uh, an opposition to it, um, uh, being established. So it sort of slipped into the house. Because, you see, we have a women's suffrage room. We have a Pacific Island room. We have a Maori Affairs room. [00:12:30] And, uh, and various others, so it seemed quite appropriate, uh, given the proud history we have in this country over rainbow issues, um, that we should have a rainbow room, a representation for our community, um, in a, uh, solid bricks and mortar, um, sense, uh, here at Parliament. And here it is. The full transcription of the recording ends. A list of keywords/tags describing the recording follow. These tags contain the correct spellings of names and places which may have been incorrectly spelt earlier in the document. The tags are seperated by a semi-colon: 2010s ; Aotearoa New Zealand ; Brian Tamaki ; Chris Carter ; Destiny Church ; Georgina Beyer ; Germany ; God ; Job ; John Banks ; Lockwood Smith ; Margaret Wilson ; Marriage Equality ; Montreal ; Māori ; Nazi Germany ; Pacific ; Parliament buildings ; People ; Rainbow Room ; Rainbow flag ; Tamaki ; United Nations ; abuse ; barriers ; blood ; board ; books ; bricks ; children ; church ; civil unions ; community ; conference ; conscience vote ; conservative ; difference ; emotional ; equality ; gay ; government ; hate ; health ; history ; human rights ; imagery ; inheritance ; legislation ; liberty ; lobbying ; marriage ; mayor ; meetings ; news ; other ; patience ; protest ; rainbow ; rally ; reading ; representation ; rural ; safety ; scum ; select committee ; sex ; social ; social services ; speech ; straight ; support ; teaching ; time ; transexual ; transgender ; unions ; vote ; work. The original recording can be heard at this website https://www.pridenz.com/rainbow_voices_of_aotearoa_new_zealand_georgina_beyer.html. The master recording is also archived at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, New Zealand.  For more details visit their website https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.1089895. Georgina Beyer also features audibly in the following recordings: "Carmen Rupe memorial, Wellington", "Georgina Beyer profile", "Out in the carPark", "Part 2 - Opening ceremony at Parliament - Wellington Pride Festival 2016", "Enough is Enough - MP Georgina Beyer confronts Destiny Church followers", "Georgina Beyer - places and personalities", "Georgina Beyer - significant legislation", "Georgina Beyer - people remembered", "Rainbow elders panel (2018)", "Opening of Wellington International Pride Parade (2018)", "Launch of the ILGA World Conference 2019", "Rainbow Room interviews", "Our Stonewall", "Poutokomanawa: The Carmen Rupe Generation - opening night", "Poutokomanawa: The Carmen Rupe Generation - storytelling", "Wellington International Pride Parade 2020", "Georgina Beyer and Brian Tamaki debate civil unions", "Rainbow Voices of Aotearoa New Zealand documentary", "The Life and Times of Georgina Beyer", "Georgina Beyer - Maiden Speech (9 February 2000)", "The Rainbow Perspective - Georgina Beyer" and "Kāpiti Gay PrideNZ 2017". Please note that this document may contain errors or omissions - you should always refer back to the original recording to confirm content.