The youth wings of all eight political parties are this morning standing in favour of marriage equality at a media conference before the second reading of Louisa Wall’s Bill on Wednesday. The conference this morning (pic thanks to Jan Logie) The conference outside Parliament includes youth representatives of New Zealand First, whose MPs voted in a bloc against the first reading of the Bill as they believe there should be a referendum on the issue. New Zealand First Youth’s policy is also that there should be a referendum on marriage equality, but their members are overwhelmingly in favour of an affirmative vote. The Young Nationals, Young Labour, Young Greens, Mana Rangatahi and Act on Campus all have formal policies in support of marriage equality. The Maori Party and United Future do not have formal youth wings but their MPs are supporting marriage equality and they will have young representatives participating in the joint statement and conference. With all eight parties’ youth wings represented, the media conference is a political first for New Zealand. MPs in favour of the Bill are also in attendance to offer support.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 11th March 2013 - 10:42am