Georgina Beyer, the world’s first openly transgender Member of Parliament and mayor has died aged 65.

The “rainbow legend” died at Mary Potter Hospice in Wellington.

Beyer became the first openly transgender mayor in the world when she was chosen to serve as Carterton’s mayor in 1995.

She was later elected as a member of parliament in 1999 as Wairarapa MP and in 2005 elected as the first openly transgender MP.

 “It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share the sad news that Georgina Beyer, the world’s first openly transgender MP, national taonga, former Mayor of Carterton, Labour MP, activist, dearest friend and rainbow legend, passed away peacefully at Mary Potter Hospice, today,” the owners of S&M’s Cocktail Bar, Scott Kennedy and Maclom Vaughan said in a message to the LGBTIQA+ community and close whanau.

“Georgie was surrounded by her nearest and dearest 24/7 over the past week, she accepted what was happening, was cracking jokes and had a twinkle in her eye, right to the final moments.”

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins paid tribute to Beyer, saying he didn’t know her well but extended his condolences to all her family.

Tim Barnett is hugged by Georgina Beyer after his Prostitution Reform Bill was passed in 2003. Photo / Ross Setford

He believed she made a lasting impact on Parliament.

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 “I certainly think that Georgina blazed a trail that has made it much easier for others to follow.”

Beyer was “humbled, grateful and delighted” to be made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to LGBTIQA+ rights in 2020.

Speaking at the time, Beyer said there wasn’t one single victory she would point to and say: “That was it, that was the win.”

Instead, she said it was a slow, steady and patient battle fought over decades to achieve broad acceptance of the rainbow community.

Beyer identified as a woman at the age of 5 and took up choir for the dresses and acting for the dress-ups. Her life took a turn when she became a sex worker because of a lack of job opportunities for a trans woman.

Georgina Beyer and Hone Harawira. Photo / NZME

Beyer was educated for a period at the private Wellesley College before going to a state school in Papatoetoe in Auckland.

Eventually, she returned to Wellington, which was then in its heyday as the transgender capital of New Zealand.

“Because of my transitioning at that time and the lack of social compassion, it forced you to live in this ‘twilight world’. Among ‘people of the streets’, if you like, there was an odd bond because we were all enduring the same sort of social exclusion.

“I guess I got a bit more forceful and assured about who and what I am - and nothing was going to alter my path to achieve what I needed to achieve in becoming a woman.”

Beyer turned to local government to affect change and in 1995 became the first openly transsexual mayor in the world. Photo / Alex Burton

In 1979, she was sexually assaulted by a group of men. Beyer never reported it to the police, but it gave her a new fire in her belly to change the status quo.

She turned to local government to affect change and in 1995 became the first openly transsexual mayor in the world in what had been considered the conservative town of Carterton.

Four years later, Labour shoulder-tapped her to run for the Wairarapa seat but she wasn’t expected to win. It had always been a deep shade of blue and Beyer was up against high-profile Paul Henry.

“I had a name as a mayor and I suppose I ticked a lot of the identity politics boxes: Māori, transgender, woman.”

Beyer spent eight years in government and counted decriminalising prostitution and bringing in civil unions among her proudest achievements.

She credited the latter for being the building block for the wave of support for marriage equality a decade later.

In 2017, Beyer had a life-saving kidney transplant and it took her a long time to get better. Finally fighting-fight, she’s spoken at the prestigious Cambridge and Oxford Unions.