Historian Michael King has revealed in the new Penguin History of New Zealand that homophobia in government may have cost a senior civil servant the top administrative job in the Commonwealth. King's book says that NZ Prime Minister Keith Holyoake was told in 1965 that the head of his department, Alister McInotsh, was a security risk because of his homosexuality and as such could not be considered for the position of Commonwealth Secretary-General. McIntosh's nomination was withdrawn “on health grounds”, having been denied the opportunity for being the inaugural Secretary-General, for which he had been widely tipped as a favourite.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Tuesday, 14th October 2003 - 12:00pm