We all have some sort of barrier in our lives we need to overcome whether it is dealing with school issues, money problems or self-confidence.
For Georgina Beyer, overcoming barriers is her specialty.  

Beyer, born biologically male, is the first openly transgendered person to be elected MP in New Zealand and the world.
In her 20s Beyer began working in the Wellington gay nightclub scene as a singer and drag queen performer.
“In the late 1970s to early 1980s, people such as myself were generally considered the scum of society and therefore we lived in this twilight world where opportunity was denied us to function normally to even work,”  Beyer told a crowded room at the U of L  on Sept. 27.
A defining moment in her life was when she went on a trip to Australia where she was attacked and raped by four men.
“I felt like the scum of the Earth the way I had been treated, ”recalled Beyer.
But it was through the assistance of her cultural background, as an Indigenous person of New Zealand, the Maori, that Beyer made it through this ordeal.
“Everyone deserves the right to be positive contributors and treated like every member of society,” she said.
“The only way to change things is to get in amongst it to prove that [we are] worthy to be a fully functioning citizen of [our] communities, “noted Beyer.
In 1984, despite the unfortunate event, Georgina had sexual reassignment surgery and followed her dream of becoming an actress in Auckland. From there, she moved to the small town of Carterton and became part of a community theatre group.
There were a lot of social problems going on due to a budget cut by the right-winged government at the time.
“Our local council was not addressing the issue, and we as a community theatre wanted to assist the people,” said Beyer.
The council responded by saying that it was the provincial government’s job to respond to the social needs of the people.
“You’ve got to have a social conscience about your community. It’s not just about your particular citizens and so forth,” she added.
Beyer wanted to help her community and the opportune time came when the municipal election came around. She was “pushed” into running for a position as a councillor and lost by 14 votes. She later won a by-election.
Beyer gained the respect of her community and was convinced to run for mayor as she had “honesty and integrity.”
In 1993 she was elected  mayor of Carterton, serving five years.
“I became the first Maori ever elected onto the district council. And I am proud to say the proposal [regarding natural resources] I brought forth is still there today,” she said.
Beyer did a lot for her community, including involving the schools by having them do a project about civics to learn about politics.
In 1999, she went on to become the MP of New Zealand and helped pass the Prostitution Reform Act.
“I always knew that I had something better than [what society] wanted me to be and I knew I wanted to employ that in order to selfishly, perhaps, satisfy my own life.”