Wellington Central MP Fran Wilde’s private member’s bill, which removed criminal sanctions against consensual male homosexual practices, was passed by 49 votes to 44.
Homosexuals
Events In History
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 in July 1986. Read the full article
Page 1 - Homosexual law reform in New Zealand
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
Page 2 - Setting the scene
There is a long history of opposition to sexual activity between men and an equally long history of legislation criminalising this
Page 3 - Birth of the gay movement
Social and political groups for homosexuals in New Zealand began with the Dorian Society in the 1960s. Within a decade, sexual and social liberation was in the
Page 4 - Reforming the law
To bring about change in the law, the gay movement needed a parliamentary champion. It found one in Labour MP Fran
Page 5 - Further information
Further information relating to Homosexual Law
Biographies
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.
Frank Sargeson, born Norris Frank Davey in 1903, was one of New Zealand’s most celebrated writers of the 20th century.
Main image: Stonewall Inn, New York
In 1969 a police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York sparked riots among gay people drinking there.
