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Skirt-wearing lawyer’s extra-ordinary life
Thought this was a really kewl and inspiring article.
Skirt-wearing lawyer’s extra-ordinary life
By EMILY WATT – The Dominion Post | Saturday, 10 May 2008
Here’s something you definitely didn’t know about lawyer Rob Moodie:
He’s actually a little bit shy.The man who delights in shocking the public – who has sauntered along
Lambton Quay in an Alice in Wonderland dress, and who will take on the
might of the judiciary and flash his lace garters at reporters on the
way to court – is nervous in social situations.“My wife Sue laughs when I say this,” he says.
“I’m quite comfortable in fronting up to speaking at a gathering of
hundreds of people, but put me in a room with a glass of wine in my
hand and ask me to mix and circulate and I’m looking for the back
door.”Outwardly, Dr Moodie is cocky and courageous, a man who takes on
seemingly impossible cases with the tenacity of a dog with a bone.He represented his friend, former police superintendent Alec Waugh,
who was reinstated with a $1.5 million payout six years after being
forced out of the police, and declared victory this month in the
14-year battle of Keith and Margaret Berryman after the High Court
quashed a coroner’s ruling that they were “mostly” to blame for a
man’s death on a bridge to their farm.Though the judgment was not all the Berrymans had asked for, Dr Moodie
called it a “100 per cent victory” and is seeking $4.5 million
damages.To his detractors, his success must be all the more bemusing given his
flamboyant technique.Dr Moodie has tried to sue the solicitor-general, defied court
suppressions and posted a secret document on the Internet (a move that
cost him a $5000 fine and three months’ suspension), clothes his
six-foot-plus frame in a dress, and changed his name by deed poll –
first name Miss, last name Alice – in protest against the “old boys
club” of the legal fraternity.Dr Moodie is kooky, but you’d be a fool to underestimate him.
“I’m one of those people that tends to stick at things until it
works,” he says of his stint as a millionaire Mexican goat farmer.
“And when it works I move on.”His career has not been one of your typical shrinking violets. He has
been a pilot who quit because flying during peacetime was too boring,
a dapper young CIB detective in a three-piece suit and suede shoes who
rose to the ranks of inspector (while studying law part-time, topping
his class and finishing a PhD a year quicker than expected), a Police
Association boss in pearls and a dress, a goat farmer in Texas and
Mexico, and mayor of Manawatu.Latterly, of course, he has been a thorn in the side of the judiciary,
battling often for free for issues he believes in.“Nature, or in some people’s minds, God, provides us with a
programming which includes a reaction against dishonesty and fraud.
It’s a natural instinct,” he says.“I don’t take people on. I’ve never done that, ever. I take on issues.”
He will turn 70 in October, but the battles are not over.
“I’ve got tons of energy,” he says.
He is still fighting for sacked Radio New Zealand boss Lynne Snowdon
and is working on a case, similar to the Waugh case, that will soon
become public. And he’s writing a book entitled Shit Justice.He is, he says, an “ordinary heterosexual” , married for 25 years, a
father of three. The cross-dressing is something he has always done,
something he is very comfortable with.“I’ve always regarded myself as a bit of a hybrid in a lot of ways.
I’m a normal male, obviously, but I’ve got enormous respect for the
feminine values. Everybody’s different in their sexuality.I don’t believe it’s just a male or female distinction. It’s a
continuum from one to the other.”He muses this may have stemmed from childhood in Otago.
From the age of seven, he grew up in the Lookout Pt boys home, a
pariah of the local school and rejected by his family.He was one of 10 children, but all the sons were sent away and made
wards of state when his father died of tuberculosis. “I came from a
family where all of the boys were not wanted,” he says.During the war he saw women as the leaders and decision makers, while
the men went off to fight. He still views masculinity as a sort of
weakness.Though the dresses were commonplace at home, they became a political
statement in April 2006 when the court brought contempt proceedings
against him.“I decided I had to arm myself so I got myself a pretty dress and
changed my name.”He has dropped the moniker Miss Alice, but Dr Moodie still wears a
skirt at times.Last weekend, he wore one to Bunnings Warehouse.
At first the young guys in the store were taken aback, but by the end
of the visit, he says, “they realised it’s just an ordinary guy in a
skirt”.If so, they would have been mistaken. Skirt or no, there is not a lot
that is ordinary about the shy Rob Moodie. -
4 Replies
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It’s a pity there are no Ron Moodie’s or Georgina Beyer’s in Australia….well, I can’t think of any at the moment.
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Hi Karen, maybe you and me could be U up for the challenge : – )
I have thought and have firmly believed for a long time that once we can can wear skirts the same as women can wear pants with no-one caring then we will be a long way towards our utopia. but unfortunately that means that fashion has to have a big change, its trying but can not seem to get there or we just have to become more visable not so much as TG but as people who wear skirts. The times I have worn skirts to the shops, out for walks or even full time when I travelled across Australia you know apart from a couple of sideways glances No One could give a stuff, we really owe it to ourselves to get out the closet and get out there by taking a leaf out of out NZ cousins book.
cheers
Rhi
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hi….. can i say i met mr Rob Moodie. or miss Alice i spent some time with him while up in fielding near pam.e had a good talk. was nice to meet him i went up there for a vist & we had a bbq while there i stayed for 3 days meeting other trans therei must say i had a neat time any way just a bit of news. ….noeleena….
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Love to Rhiannon!! I have the same experiences…no-one really cares enough to confront me about it when I’m out dressed.
Are we our own worst enemies in worrying too much – sometimes I think we are.
I know there’s a fear of getting bashed, which is mentioned in other posts, but heaps of straight people get bashed too for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time…and it’s just accepted as bad luck.
