David Cunliffe Labour leadership contender David Cunliffe has dumped a campaign member who said that some people might have difficulty with the idea of a gay person becoming Prime Minister. The comment was made by long-time Labour worker Jennie Michie before she joined the campaign. "It would be naive to imagine that there would be no resistance to a gay prime minister at this point - I think some people people might have a problem with it but I certainly wouldn't," Michie said, echoing comments also made publicly by senior Labour figures such as past-president Mike Williams. Cunliffe had earlier said that anyone on his staff who commented on Robertson's sexuality would be off his campaign team. Robertson says he always expected there would be some focus on his private life as a gay man. Meanwhile, Dunedin Labour MP has tweeted: "The 'NZ's not ready for a gay PM' is prob the biggest dog whistle I've ever heard. Extraordinary that it's also coming from within the Party." In politics a 'dog whistle' is a comment that supposedly means something relatively innocuous to the general population but sends a more insidious message to a specific sub-group of people.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 10th September 2013 - 5:34pm