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Story: Gender diversity

Sarah Lurajud, police officer

After 20 years in the police force, including receiving a national award for bravery, Sarah Lurajud became New Zealand's first openly transgender police officer. She remained in her job and worked as a liaison officer with the transgender and gay communities. Watch this clip from the 2008 TVNZ documentary Finding Sarah, as Lurajud describes the efforts she has made to reconcile her gender identity and her profession.

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TVNZ Television New Zealand

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How to cite this page

Johanna Schmidt, Gender diversity – Human rights and discrimination, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/28898/sarah-lurajud-police-officer (accessed 10 June 2026).

Story by Johanna Schmidt, published 30 March 2011, reviewed and revised 4 May 2021 with assistance from Gender Minorities Aotearoa.

Comments

Finn Inia
07 March 2024
I think the video of Sarah is extremely outdated and is uncomfortable with the level of deadnaming and referencing to the peoples pre-transitions rather than the journey. The trans people are trying to make the whole doco about their lives being trans but the director has made it up to show how they've changed from one gender to another which is ultimately incorrect and often hurtful when in the context of current situations like with the bathroom policy people are believed that "perverts" transition in order to spy on little girls in the bathroom which is a transphobic representation, which is helped by the directors use of talking about so called "trans people's past" of "This girl used to be a man"