A biological male who claims to be a female has become the first “transgender” person elected to Newcastle Council.
Paige Johnson, formerly known as “Phill”, was put at the top of the Labor ticket in Ward 2 for this year’s NSW council elections after two previous attempts at being elected to local government.
Mr Johnson is a civil engineer at Lake Macquarie City Council and Vice President of homosexual advocacy group Hunter Gender Alliance, and pushes extreme gender ideology on social media.
In a social media post after the election Mr Johnson wrote: “While my focus is certainly on local government, I understand what this victory means for our trans and gender diverse community.
“Hearing your stories about what visibility means for you over the course of the campaign and at polling booths yesterday is so heartening and inspires me to do what I do.”
Mr Johnson was endorsed as a Labor candidate under the name Phill in 2021, saying at the time that he was standing in order to fight for the party’s values such as “celebrating diversity”.
In November 2022 he claimed that he had become a “transgender woman” named Paige and was going by “she/her” pronouns.
“Since beginning to affirm my gender early last year I now have more self-happiness than ever. It’s so lovely to finally be me and take this step towards personal wholeness. For the first time in my adult life I’m able to feel true elation,” he wrote.
“After thinking about this for so many years and knowing who society expected me to be was incongruent with who I really am, when I began transitioning I was still honestly surprised at how calm and at ease I was – just how right everything felt for the first time in my life.”
His post was accompanied by a photo of himself in a dress wearing the “transgender flag” as a cape.
Mr Johnson told ABC News that he hoped his election as a Newcastle councillor could have a wider effect and that he would be able to influence state politics.
“We are quite behind the country when it comes to laws affecting LGBTQ people, particularly trans rights, so there are critical reforms that need to be done,” he said.
“I’m turning my mind to things like the equality bill that’s been held up in New South Wales Parliament for the past year or so.”
Mr Johnson also called for the removal of “cruel and unnecessary barriers” to changing gender on birth certificates, and law changes to force religious schools and organisations to comply with demands from the LGBT community.
Header image: Paige Johnson (second from right) celebrating on election night (Facebook)
