Events In History
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9 July 1986Homosexual Law Reform Bill passedWellington Central MP Fran Wilde's bill, which came into force in August, removed criminal sanctions against consensual male homosexual practices. Read more...
Articles
Homosexual law reform
The homosexual law reform campaign moved beyond the gay community to wider issues of human rights and discrimination. Extreme viewpoints ensured a lengthy and passionate debate before the Homosexual Law Reform Act was passed 27 years ago, in July 1986.
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Page 2 – Setting the scene
There is a long history of opposition to sexual activity between men and an equally long history of legislation that criminalised this activity.
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Page 3 – Birth of the gay movement
Social and political groups for homosexuals in New Zealand began with the Dorian Society in the 1960s. By the next decade, sexual and social liberation was in the air.
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Page 4 – Reforming the law
To bring about change in the law, the gay movement needed a parliamentary champion. It found one in Member of Parliament Fran Wilde.
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Page 5 – Further information
Further information relating to Homosexual Law Reform.
Biographies
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Wilde, Frances ('Fran') Helen
Fran Wilde was a Cabinet minister in the Labour government of the 1980s, and is perhaps best known for her private members bill for homosexual law reform. She left Parliament to become the first female Mayor of Wellington.
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Davey, Norris Frank
Frank Sargeson, born Norris Frank Davey in 1903, was one of New Zealand’s most celebrated writers of the 20th century.
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The word "FAG" was scrawled on the floor of the Lesbian and Gay Archives by arsonists before they set fire to the premises. There was an upsurge in anti-gay activity during the campaign; bashings of gay men became more common.
