Rainbow Labour MP Charles Chauvel is resigning from Parliament to take up a position with the United Nations in New York, advising on Parliamentary Development and Democratic Governance. “I have written to the Speaker, resigning my seat effective Monday 11 March,” he says. The new move follows the former New Zealand AIDS Foundation chair’s work as part of the United Nations' Global Commission on HIV and the Law. “I found my work on the Commission extremely interesting, and a very worthwhile way to make a contribution on issues that I feel strongly about and where I had some relevant experience to offer. This new full-time role with the UN presents a similar opportunity to make a difference and I look forward to the challenges that it will present.” Labour Leader David Shearer says Chauvel is a talented and dedicated MP who has made a huge contribution to the Labour team. “He will be missed,” he says. “We thank him for his commitment to standing up for New Zealanders and for working to make people’s lives better. “We wish Charles well with his new role. He will do New Zealand proud in this international assignment.” Chauvel, a former lawyer, has been a stalwart advocate for the glbti community and during his time in Parliament has consistently spoken out on justice and human rights issues. He was a crucial figure in the repeal of the ‘gay panic’ defence, and recently successfully had Parliament back a motion condemning anti-gay legislation in Uganda and Nigeria. He went into politics after doing quite a bit of public litigation in the 1990s, including trying to get some grossly anti-gay hate publications being circulated by fundamentalist Christian groups declared indecent or objectionable after their publication led to assaults on lesbian and gay people and attacks on their property. Chauvel has told GayNZ.com Daily News this helped him to realise that using the parliamentary process from the inside to work for fairness was likely to be a more effective way of achievement change than any other.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 19th February 2013 - 1:34pm