As Investigate magazine has included some additional information from the Family First leaders and party surveys, I thought I'd provide an update of what risks and opportunities are posed for LGBT communities from the electoral quarter. Why is this relevant to us? The Investigate version carries an additional set of additional, planned and hypothetical legislative reforms that are not (yet?) included on the "Value Your Votes" website. It also includes fundamentalist micro party "Conservative Party" leader Colin Craig. Avoid this character and his outfit at all costs. Craig will be remembered as the third place getter in the Auckland super mayoralty elections, and the organiser of a pro-belting "March for Democracy" back in 2007. As many of us suspected, he isn't a single issue zealot, he's a hardcore social conservative zealot on issues like discriminatory barriers to same-sex marriage and inclusive adoption reform as well. Moreover, the hardcore fundamentalist Kiwi Party micro party has also been talking merger with them, so we could be in for a second "Christian Coalition" if they bear fruit. (As the candidate and leaders survey only included parties within the current parliament and the Conservative Party, the Kiwi Party wasn't listed, however). How did the others do? Of necessity, I've had to mostly limit my attention to issues to do directly with our communities, such as discriminatory barriers to same-sex marriage proper, support or opposition to inclusive adoption reform and stances for or against attacking the current comprehensive scope of sex workers rights under the Prostitution Law Reform Act, which would threaten transgender sex workers if street soliciting was attacked, as was proposed under the Manukau residential anti-soliciting private members bill. For feminist voters, it would do well to remember that Peters, Colin Craig and Don Brash are all anti-abortionists, however. Inclusive adoption reform was a pleasant surprise, as Brash, Hone Harawira and Peter Dunne (!) all stated support for the principle of co-parent adoption in the context of lesbian and gay couples. Unsurprisingly, Winston Peters and Colin Craig were also opposed, while Greens co-leader Metiria Turei also supported legislative reform when it came to inclusive adoption reform. However, when it came to sex workers rights, Brash was undecided about banning soliciting for sex work in residential areas and Dunne supported such a ban. Brash opposed criminalising clients of sex workers, as did Dunne. There are also some interesting developments when it comes to euthanasia and cannabis reform, which Don Brash supports, while Hone Harawira, Metiria Turei and Winston Peters were all undecided about euthanasia law reform, and Hone Harawira and Tariana Turia supported cannabis law reform while predictably, Dunne was against both prospective legislative reforms. When it came to the issues of binding citizens referenda, it was good to learn that while Colin Craig and Winston Peters backed binding citizens referenda, they were the only political leaders who did so. Key, Harawira, Turia, Turei, Goff, Dunne (!) and Brash all opposed them. I suspect that Maori political leaders may have quite justifiable views that these could be abused by right-wing extremists to attack Treaty rights, which must not be allowed to happen. I concur with this judgement and would also extend it to other human rights and civil liberties concerns. I'm surprised that McCoskrie hasn't been criticised from the quarter of the Catholic Right over its inclusion, given that the anti-euthanasia lobby is concerned about the use of binding referenda to introduce either euthanasia or assisted suicide. This reinforces some of my earlier evaluations. Again, it is clear that we should not vote for Winston Peters at any cost. He has always opposed LGBT and other progressive legislative and social reforms, and it is clear that he could not be trusted if he was returned to Parliament. One suspects that the same applies to his prospective caucus. Fortunately, there are probable financial and organisational barriers to this scenario. Even if Brash and Dunne do support inclusive adoption reform, their parliamentary records indicate support for discriminatory barriers to same-sex marriage proper. On the other hand, Hone Harawira and the Mana Party are starting to look even better. It is also refreshing to see the rejection of dangerous and discriminatory binding citizens referenda across the political spectrum, apart from the extreme right. Craig Young - 29th September 2011