Green MP Russel Norman has announced he will step down from co-leadership at the party’s AGM in May. “This is my ninth year as Co-leader and I think it’s time for a change,” he has announced this morning. Russel Norman with Green MPs at the 2014 Big Gay Out “This is something I have considered for some time and over the summer break I have had the space to think hard about my future. “I concluded that after nearly a decade, it is a good time to find a new challenge for myself, and to spend more time with my family, and now is also a good time for new leadership for the party.” At this stage, he plans to stay on as an MP. Dr Norman, like all Green MPs, is gay-friendly and has supported all lgbti rights initiatives that have come through Parliament over the past three terms. Last year he spoke at the Big Gay Out for the first time, telling the estimated 15,000-strong crowd Conservative Party leader Colin Craig believes "a woman's place is in the kitchen and a gay man's place is in the closet." Craig initiated legal action over the comment, however the pair eventually settled out of court.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 30th January 2015 - 11:16am