The "gay comments" which have landed Rodney Hide in hot water with a group of ACI Glass employees were just harmless "banter," says the Act MP. Hide says the comment arose out of good natured banter which bounced between the ACI group and his own group of MPs who were both meeting for several days at the same Auckland resort. He says one of the men going in to a bar toilet after himself asked if he minded being followed. “I replied that I didn't and then as part of the banter said something like he wasn't gay, or anything, was he. It was said in the same jovial way that he had asked me if I minded him following me into the toilet. I thought nothing of it. It was just the first reply that came to mind,” says Hide. In a brief email interview with GayNZ.com the MP says he is comfortable with gays and homosexuality and has a good relationships with parliament's gay and transgender MPs.