Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Media Take: Three decades on from law reform

Christopher Dempsey

Mon, 11 Jul 2016 20:01:40 +1200

I've been thinking a bit lately about how brutal AIDS deaths were then. It's hard to grasp.

Brutal. I came out in 1986. I moved to Wellington in '88 where I was scooped up by the generation ahead of me and taught safe sex. They were frightened, and meticulously worked…

Joe Wylie

Mon, 11 Jul 2016 14:24:56 +1200

Winston Peters' politics, like those of his mentor Muldoon, are inherently divisive. By promoting one group of citizens passing judgement on another he continues to prove that he simply never got the concept of human rights.

izogi

Mon, 11 Jul 2016 11:33:17 +1200

On the topic, did anyone else happen to catch this weird rationalisation of Winston Peters, a couple of days ago? I can only find it reported in that one place on Stuff, and I'm amazed that he hasn't been called out for and questioned further on it.

Apparently the majority…

Russell Brown

Sun, 03 Jul 2016 18:04:35 +1200

My brother John was so pleased that the bill passed before he died of AIDS 9 days later. It didn’t make up for the faeces and hate letters in the letterbox or the unknown, unannounced Drs coming to the door wanting to see him – one from Australia.

Fucking hell…

mnpound

Fri, 01 Jul 2016 20:26:23 +1200

My brother John was so pleased that the bill passed before he died of AIDS 9 days later. It didn't make up for the faeces and hate letters in the letterbox or the unknown, unannounced Drs coming to the door wanting to see him – one from Australia. His partner…

TracyMac

Sun, 26 Jun 2016 13:36:32 +1200

I'm glad I came out that year. There was a lot of targeting of young people to sign those petitions – so many people I know apologised to me subsequently because they signed out of ignorance and/or weight of expectations.

As for the Salvation Army, the apology was a gesture,…

Craig Ranapia

Thu, 23 Jun 2016 23:41:25 +1200

Ugh, you're quite right Vern(on) Young is a second cousin of mine, who is also a top-shelf human being but has as much interest in politics as I have in rugby. :)

nzlemming

Thu, 23 Jun 2016 23:04:11 +1200

Except it's Venn Young, for those playing along at home, and father of Jonathan Young and, according to Wikipedia, Audrey Young [citation needed]

nzlemming

Thu, 23 Jun 2016 22:19:06 +1200

With the benefit of hindsight, its always easy to fall into the comforting belief that Homosexual Law Reform was someone inevitable.

That's just not true. And if someone doesn't tell the truth — including the history of Vern Young's bill twelve years earlier — it not only distorts history but…

Sacha

Thu, 23 Jun 2016 18:50:24 +1200

he indifference of networks to commissioning a documentary

Hoping they see this episode as a small proof of concept.

Russell Brown

Thu, 23 Jun 2016 16:56:36 +1200

Watching a petition-wielding Sallie approach a skinhead on Queen Street, and said skinhead gleefully scrawling.

Things had come down several notches by the time of Destiny Church's 'Enough is Enough' march in 2004, but I've always been surprised that it seemed to be only me who noticed a group (of…

Renée Taylor

Thu, 23 Jun 2016 16:39:28 +1200

I marched with all the rest and when we came to the Salvation Army Citadel they yelled out abuse at us and I've never forgotten it. Then I walked with my granddaughter in the marriage equality issue in Wellington and it was like a walk in the park. Lovely. People…

Craig Ranapia

Thu, 23 Jun 2016 07:57:11 +1200

I’ve long been quite conflicted, because I know that the Salvation Army helped my alcoholic father and I’m grateful for that.

I totally get and respect that, and I feel the same conflict from a slightly different angle. But they still actively campaigned against Law Reform (and IIRC the Human…

Kumara Republic

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 23:57:56 +1200

I really do not understand how some bigots are so scared of the world and the diversity of human experience in it. Yet they so clearly and harmfully do.

Some of them have repackaged themselves as "defenders" of gay & womens' rights against "feral people of colour". On any other day,…

Conrad Heine

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 23:42:06 +1200

My abiding memory of the time... the obsession of Norm Jones and his ilk with sex acts – the "bill to legalise sodomy", etc. I still don't get why some political pundits would praise him as a "character". And the anti-bill petition on the counter at Don Oliver's gym in…

Mark Graham

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 22:28:56 +1200

Still does.

Mark Proffit

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 22:16:32 +1200

It is hard to believe that it is 30 years since I finally could love who I wanted without committing a crime. I still remember been at public meetings & demos to support HLR as a student in Wellington.

Now some 30 years later I find myself in Sydney where the…

Russell Brown

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 21:08:41 +1200

Oh, also: Sunday’s Neighbourhood episode focuses on K Road and is presented by the very talented Ramon Te Wake. There’s a law reform-themed show called ‘The Bill’ at Artspace, it turns out.

It’s on TVNZ on Demand here.

Russell Brown

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 20:48:26 +1200

I recall being stoked as a straight man witnessing the spectators at the Hero Parade opening our collective arms in celebration not just ‘tolerance’. Felt like the culture had caught up (even if only in that place).

I did interviews with Rex Halliday and others for Planet and we ended…

Jeanette King

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 20:11:55 +1200

The Salvation Army – yes, they do some good work, particularly in the drug and alcohol area. but I always tell collectors two reasons why I won't donate to them: their opposition to the Bill and that I can't bring myself to donate to an organisation with the motto 'Blood…

AndrewJ

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 18:42:16 +1200

I remember being a scrawny 5th former at Gisborne Boys High and having a couple of much bigger, older boys stand over me and tell me i was a faggot if i didn't sign. To my credit i didn't.

Sacha

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 17:33:07 +1200

30 years ago gay rights should have been awarded in an afternoon session in the beehive but bigotry dominated reason for 3 decades.

Reckon. Was a privilege to discuss this with Johnny Givins after the show. He observed that the law changes before culture and practice do. I recall being…

Samthecat

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 16:07:29 +1200

My dad was gay as is my son. My revulsion at the uniform wearing and flag waving on the steps of Parliament at the time the petition was presented remains to this day. I won't donate to the Salvation Army and no one else in the family has since then.…

Tom Johnson

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 15:34:17 +1200

I remember marching down Queen Street in 1986 for what is basically a human right. To be your orientation.

Jesus, in hindsight it aches me to think how long it took to get gay marriage accepted legally .All the parliamentarians who blocked gay rights over the next thirty years should…

Stephen R

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 14:14:55 +1200

Gay men and lesbians who campaigned for the bill were subject to beatings.

In Christchurch in 1985/86, it wasn't just the people actively campaigning. My girlfriend's flatmate got beaten up, for being one of a couple of blokes walking through Hagley park on their way home to Addington from a…

Emma Hart

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 14:04:37 +1200

I’ve long been quite conflicted, because I know that the Salvation Army helped my alcoholic father and I’m grateful for that.

They sort of helped my alcoholic father too. He went through their treatment program, found God, changed his will in their favour, and a month later he died in…

Carol Stewart

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 14:01:54 +1200

Giving to the Sallies again and watching a Springbok rugby game. Defining cultural moments for some NZers after years, even decades, of refusal.

And buying Chilean wine. I remember my parents going through a phase in the 70s of boycotting Chilean wine in response to the coup d'etat in 1973.…

Russell Brown

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 13:33:59 +1200

I always nursed a liberal atheist soft spot for the Sallies. They behaved like Christians rather than just talked like them. But the whole petition episode soured me and others on them for years. I hope they’re suitably embarrassed about their role in enabling that kind of intolerance. I’d be…

Dave Patrick

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 13:28:31 +1200

That petition was very dodgy – someone brought a copy round at work (steel mill, very blue collar) and asked if I wanted to sign it. I said no, if it had been pro the legislation I would have – and got some funny looks. One of the guys signed…

Carol Stewart

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 13:27:54 +1200

Fran Wilde can be enduringly proud of the way she handled the situation.

I was talking about this with my hairdresser yesterday. He remembers Fran Wilde coming into the Dorian Club in July 1986 and telling them that her Bill had passed into law. It must've been amazing.

Hilary Stace

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 13:25:01 +1200

Giving to the Sallies again and watching a Springbok rugby game. Defining cultural moments for some NZers after years, even decades, of refusal.

John Morrison

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 13:23:14 +1200

At my sister-in-law's recent wedding I spoke about how difficult it was for those brave advocates and I asked the guests to thank them so we could celebrate this wedding.
Fran Wilde is some strong woman which I have personally expressed to her years ago.

Joe Wylie

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 13:18:30 +1200

it was taken over by Keith Hay and Peter Tait who, with the assistance of The Salvation Army, campaigned for signatures in streets, schools and workplaces.

The way in which the signatures were collected was often ethically dubious.

In the early 80s I took on a work experience kid who…

Ken Double

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 12:46:22 +1200

I always nursed a liberal atheist soft spot for the Sallies. They behaved like Christians rather than just talked like them. But the whole petition episode soured me and others on them for years. I hope they're suitably embarrassed about their role in enabling that kind of intolerance. I'd be…

Hilary Stace

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 12:29:18 +1200

Fran Wilde was my local MP and friend and even though she's a strong person, it got very tough for her at times. I remember baking a cake once to take to her office as a small gesture. I see Fran from time to time and always encourage her to…

Russell Brown

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 12:27:30 +1200

I went to a public meeting at Henderson High School, and can vouch for the extreme nastiness of Hay and Tait.

Apart from their simple contempt for other human beings, I think their nasty streak was brought out by the dawning reality that they were losing – not only in…

tony j ricketts

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 12:15:10 +1200

I went to a public meeting at Henderson High School, and can vouch for the extreme nastiness of Hay and Tait. Fran Wilde can be enduringly proud of the way she handled the situation.

I recall anti-bill leaflets named Hay and Tait as sharing an address.

looking forward to the…

Public Address

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 12:15:10 +1200

Discussion from blog post.