Georgie Stone, who stars in the Australian series Neighbours, has become a groundbreaking child trans campaigner and adored TV celebrity at the age of 21.
Georgie has made history as the first trans character on the soap opera when she debuted as Mackenzie in 2019.
All eyes are on the child star’s next moves as the legendary serial comes to an end after 37 years on the air. She is happily established in Melbourne with her family and twin brother Harry.
Let’s take a look at Georgie Stone’s life, from her transition to a female to her ardent activism and successful job…
The Transgender Journey
Georgie reported that she was experiencing gender diversity and desired to transition to a girl when she first attended Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital in 2007.
Georgie made the shift to female at the age of eight, following a lengthy legal struggle over hormone blockers.
Georgie described her feelings at the time as “powerless.”
“There was someone up there making a very significant decision about my body, it felt incredibly terrible,” she continued.
Georgie became Australia’s youngest person to be granted reversible hormone blockers at the age of ten, and her treatment set a precedent that led to a change in the law regarding hormone treatment for young trans individuals.
Georgie thinks she is fortunate not to carry a big burden of guilt with her, in part because she grew up with loving parents, however she tells HuffPost UK that the “process” of dealing with shame is ever-present in her life.
“It’s strange because I’m happy of who I am and proud to be trans, but there are times when I just truly wish I wasn’t,” Georgie told the Huffington Post.
Dream about acting
The young actress, determined to pursue her ambition of becoming an actress, set her sights on Australia’s most popular serial, Neighbours.
Faced with a lack of transgender characters on the soap, Georgie penned a letter to one of the show’s executives in the hopes of landing a position.
Georgie told HuffPost UK, “I genuinely had to invent this character for myself.”
“In Australia, there are no roles.” None. To get a role, I had to write to an executive producer.
“You can imagine how rare these opportunities are.”
Since joining the Australian soap as Mackenzie in 2019, Georgie has worked hard with scriptwriters to ensure that her character is as representative of the trans experience as possible.
“I wanted it to be done carefully and sensitively since it is a very personal subject,” Georgie said of her character’s plotline, which sees her transition from male to female.
“It’s about the operation,” she added, “but it’s also about making it obvious that this procedure isn’t going to turn Mackenzie into a female; she already is.”
Mackenzie is “an other reality version of myself,” according to Georgie: less confident, less at ease in her own flesh, but ultimately sharing the tremendous experience of being trans in this moment of transition.
Activism
Georgie has earned multiple honours for her advocacy in the LGBTQ+ community, having studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Melbourne and having a huge break as an actress on Neighbours.
Georgie gathered 16,000 signatures on a Change.org petition in support of gender hormone therapy and met with then-Attorney-General George Brandis during her transition.
Georgie was named to the Gay News Network’s list of 25 LGBTI Australians to Watch in 2017 and in 2016.
Georgie went on to win the Victorian Young Australian of the Year Award in 2018, where she met the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
She praised Prince Harry for the Invictus Games, stating that as a proud, young trans woman, she found the theme of celebrating diversity personally motivating.
She made history as the youngest person to receive a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2017, when she was named a winner of the Human Rights Awards.
“I want to do everything,” she declares. “I feel like I’m finally figuring out who I am outside of my trans identity. And it makes me happy “Woman’s Weekly was the source of her information.
