Benjamin Cody Doyle (born ) is a New Zealand politician, representing the

Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand (), commonly known as Green or the Greens, is a Green politics, green List of political parties in New Zealand, political party in New Zealand. Like many green parties around the world, it has four pillar ...

as a Member of Parliament since replacing

Darleen Tana Darleen Sheree Tana Hoff-Neilsen is a New Zealand environmental scientist, businessperson, and former politician. Tana was elected to represent the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand as a Member of Parliament in the 2023 New Zealand general el ...

, who was removed in 2024. Doyle is the first

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

Member of Parliament.

Early and personal life

Doyle was born in , and grew up in Whangaparāoa. They are of

Ngāpuhi Ngāpuhi (also known as Ngāpuhi-Nui-Tonu or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland regions of New Zealand centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei. According to the 2023 New Zealand census, the estimate ...

, Scottish, and Irish descent. They lived in Auckland through high school and university. Doyle was a teacher at

Auckland Girls' Grammar School Auckland Girls' Grammar School (AGGS) is a New Zealand secondary school for girls located in Newton, New Zealand, Newton, Auckland. Established in 1878 as Auckland Girls' High School, it is one of the oldest secondary institutions in the countr ...

and

Manurewa High School Manurewa High School is a secondary school in Manurewa, South Auckland, New Zealand. It is a large multi-cultural school, with an enrolment of over 2,300 students. History Manurewa High School was opened on 2 February 1960. Prior to this, stude ...

. Later, they held positions of head of Māori at

Melville High School Melville High School was a state co-educational secondary school located in Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island ...

and head of social sciences at Rototuna Senior High School. They then worked as a kaupapa Māori researcher and facilitator at the

University of Waikato The University of Waikato (), established in 1964, is a Public university, public research university located in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university performs research in nume ...

, and as a community organiser for artists and

LGBTQIA+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group is ...

communities. Until becoming an MP, they worked at

Burnett Foundation Aotearoa Burnett Foundation Aotearoa (formerly the New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF)) is New Zealand’s national HIV prevention and healthcare organisation. Its funding is derived from grants, donations and the Ministry of Health. Burnett Foundation ...

. Doyle is

takatāpui (also spelled ; ) is a Māori language term that is used in a similar way to LGBT. When speaking Māori, LGBT people of any culture are referred to as . In English, a person is a Māori individual who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgende ...

and disabled. , they live in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

with their partner and child.

Political career

2023 general election

Doyle spoke against allowing the anti-trans activist

Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull Kellie-Jay Nyishie Keen-Minshull ( Keen; born June 1974), also known as Posie Parker, is a British anti-transgender and gender-critical activist. She is the leader of the political party Party of Women. She describes herself as a woman's ...

(known as Posie Parker) into New Zealand, saying "Posie Parker should not be allowed into Aotearoa. In letting her enter, the minister has chosen to allow hateful anti-trans rhetoric into Aotearoa. That is unacceptable." Doyle contested the electorate in the . They were 18th on the Green Party list. Doyle came third in the Hamilton West electorate with 3,230 votes. The Green Party won 12 list seats in the election, and therefore Doyle was not elected at 18th on the party list.

First term, 2024–present

Following the removal of

as a List MP in October 2024, Doyle was declared elected on 22 October 2024. They said about Tana's removal: Doyle is the first non-binary member of New Zealand's parliament. In their first term, they are a member of the Māori Affairs committee and the Green Party spokesperson for ACC, internal affairs, and takatāpui and rainbow communities, and associate spokesperson on Māori and early childhood education and sexual and reproductive health. In early 2025, businessman and former

New Zealand First New Zealand First (), commonly abbreviated to NZ First or NZF, is a political party in New Zealand, founded and led by Winston Peters, who has served three times as Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, deputy prime minister. The party has form ...

member Rhys Williams launched a social media campaign targeting Doyle over a photo album Doyle had posted to their personal Instagram account, @biblebeltbussy, in 2023. The album, captioned " bussy galore", garnered controversy over the inclusion of a photo of Doyle posing with their child. On 9 April, Doyle addressed a press conference where they explained that their social media posts did not have a sexual meaning, and that they had received "a significant number of threats to my life and the safety of my child and family."

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle, Benjamin 1990s births Living people Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Unsuccessful candidates in the 2023 New Zealand general election Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand MPs New Zealand list MPs Takatāpui Non-binary politicians LGBTQ members of the Parliament of New Zealand New Zealand politicians with disabilities Ngāpuhi people Māori MPs