Grant Robertson and his deputy leader candidate Jacinda Ardern were clearly disappointed at this afternoon's outcome Even though gay politician Grant Robertson just missed becoming the first openly gay leader of a major political party, the fact that he was almost successful and the lack of controversy around his candidacy sends out positive messages to glbti people, says the manager of the Outline National counselling service. In the final vote for the Labour leadership Robertson lost to Andrew Little by only 1%. "It's fantastic that an openly gay man got within a hair's breadth of the Labour Party Leadership and I suspect his just missing out was down to basic politics rather than any specific homophobia," says Trevor Easton, whose organisation takes calls from thousands of distressed or enquiring glbti people every year. "We've come such a long way from where we were just a few decades ago. The 1980s struggle to decriminalise homosexuality was so contentious and a massive struggle... I can remember being harangued during pro-gay marches down Queen Street by religious activists who thought the legalisation of homosexuality was the work of the devil!" "But there has been very little significant debate regarding his homosexuality, in the major media at least," Easton says, "and that has surely got to make things easier for those who have yet to come out or those who struggle with being out."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 18th November 2014 - 3:05pm