Georgina Beyer, a trailblazing New Zealand politician who in 1999 became the world’s first openly transgender member of Parliament, has died. She was 65. Friends of Beyer said she died peacefully Monday afternoon in hospice care. They did not immediately give a cause of death, although Beyer had previously suffered from kidney failure and underwent a kidney transplant in 2017. New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he didn’t know Beyer well personally but knew she had a very big following within New Zealand and had made a lasting impression on the nation’s parliament.
