NZHistory.net.nz, New Zealand history online - law reform

Homosexual law reform in New Zealand

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

20 years out!

Setting the scene - homosexual law reform

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

Background to reform

There is a long history of opposition to sexual activity between men and an equally long history of legislation that criminalised this activity. New Zealand took its cue from English social and legal traditions.

Birth of the gay movement - homosexual law reform

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

The birth of New Zealand's gay movement

Stonewall Inn

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. The early 1970s saw the growth of the modern feminist and gay movements.

Reforming the law - homosexual law reform

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

The Homosexual Law Reform Bill

'Support the bill' poster

To bring about change in the law, the gay movement needed a parliamentary champion. It found one in Member of Parliament Fran Wilde. She consulted with gay groups to develop a private members bill, the Homosexual Law Reform Bill, which she introduced to the House of Representatives on 8 March 1985.

Fran Wilde

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

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.