Kelly Ellis Lawyer and transgender rights advocate Kelly Ellis has been selected as Labour’s candidate in the Whangarei electorate. The TransAdvocates co-founder often works with demoralised transgender clients, and was integral in the successful push for Corrections to change its policy in regards to housing female transgender prisoners in men’s jails. If she is elected, she will be New Zealand's second openly-trans MP, following in the footsteps of Georgina Beyer. She’ll take on National’s new candidate Shane Reti in an electorate his party has held since 1975. However Ellis has previously told GayNZ.com Daily News that if she won the nomination, she’d be confident. “With the swing to Labour we'll see this election, a less-popular new National candidate and a strong performance from our team, there is no doubt a win is achievable,” she said.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 23rd March 2014 - 5:01pm