“Certain people need to be represented in council. Everyone’s voices [should] be heard because it’s not only one group of people living in Tauranga,” Marx said.
In Tauranga, 10 per cent of people identify as LGBTI, according to council data.
Marx attended school in Mount Maunganui, Tauranga and in Australia before returning to New Zealand about five years ago when she worked in Auckland as a healthcare assistant.
She said it was through this work, and becoming a smokefree practitioner and volunteer coordinator at Tauranga and Whakatāne hospitals, that she realised how important representation was for certain communities.
“I think that was the first time where I’ve seen, firsthand, inequity addressed in a fast and kind of diverse way. We had all sorts of people with all sorts of background … it was the best form of teamwork I’d ever seen and [it’s] that kind of teamwork we need, in the council.”
Marx is studying political science and social policy at the University of Waikato and will reduce her studies if elected.
She said she had not been to any council meetings.
“I don’t have much experience … I do have, surrounded around me, experts and people who know those fields that I can go to and ask for advice,” she said.
Marx works as a peer support at Gender Dynamix New Zealand and said her “community-focused” career background also mitigated the lack of local government experience.
She listed infrastructure, public transport, housing and parking as key issues that needed addressing.
Reihana Marx is running in the Tauranga elections and if successful, could become the city's first transgender woman elected into council. Photo / Alex Cairns
She said the city needed both intensification and urban sprawl to cope with its growing population.
“I think certain areas could be expanded but areas like Te Papa, where there’s kind of no more space available, we have to utilise what we already have and I think we’re starting to get to that point where a lot of suburbs are like that.”
Marx said electing a good council team would help Tauranga tackle those issues.
She referenced the work of Beyer, the world’s first openly transgender mayor and MP.
Beyer, who died on March 6, 2023 aged 65, was a key influence in Marx’s decision to stand for council.
Former mayor and MP Georgina Beyer, pictured shortly after receiving an MNZM for services to LGBTI rights. Photo / Mark Tantrum
Marx said she watched footage of Beyer in 2004 confronting Destiny Church members protesting civil unions and was moved by Beyer’s mana and advocacy for the Rainbow community.
“She led the takatāpui (LGBTI) movement in ways that I hope to be able to.
“She has inspired me to kind of stand up and be more political and voice concerns and struggles for the takatāpui community.”
Marx began her transition journey in 2021 and said she was prepared for what the election campaign might throw at her, particularly criticism from conservative sectors of society.
“Just being takatāpui in itself is a struggle. I’ve already had to kind of create my own safe space and my own kind of network I can go to to be supported.
“So, it’s nothing new to me. I understand it’s going to be more intense and more frequent but I’m honestly used to it … being looked at sideways, going to malls, walking down the streets. That doesn’t bother me anymore.”
A 2023 Tauranga Vital Update survey report found 56 per cent of Rainbow community respondents believed the city was “fairly” to “very” welcoming and 61 per cent said they felt lonely some or all of the time; compared to 36 per cent overall.
“I want to show those people that there is support out there for them and that there are people fighting for them and their rights … I hope I can get that chance to be that someone that they can look up to.”
Marx said Tauranga’s first city council election in five years was an opportunity to create a better and more inclusive city: “I think Tauranga’s ready”.
In 2020, the Local Government Minister sacked the elected council and replaced it with commissioners, whose term ends in July with the election.
A Tauranga City Council spokesperson said the council did not collect data on the gender of elected members but staff did not believe a transgender person had been elected before.
Electoral officer Warwick Lampp said data was not collected about candidates’ gender.
Marx said from her research, she believed she could be Tauranga’s first transgender councillor.
“That victory, if I do get elected, would kind of be a victory for the entire city and New Zealand.”
Kiri Gillespie is an assistant news director and a senior journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, specialising in local politics and city issues. She was a finalist for the Voyager Media Awards Regional Journalist of the Year in 2021.
Clarification
This story has been amended to clarify Marx was a volunteer coordinator, not volunteer, at Tauranga and Whakatāne hospitals. Prior to that, she was a volunteer during the Covid-19 pandemic.
