Winston Peters' gay-friendly virus seems to have been cleared from his system – the NZ First leader told his party's conference at the weekend that the ruling Labour Party were "gender-bending control freaks". Peters had surprised many recently over his dogged pursuit of Police Minister George Hawkins over the David McNee case, and the failure to prosecute his killer Phillip Edwards over a mysterious incident that occurred at the home of art curator Peter Shaw prior to the McNee killing. Peters even told Queer Nation that the homosexual panic defence was unjust, and that his party would be seriously considering a ban on its use. NZ First MPs were responsible for some of most backward and offensive comments during the first parliamentary debate on the Civil Union Bill, with deputy leader Peter Brown expressing horror at the thought of two men being able to adopt a child, Dail Jones expressing patronising disbelief that two men or two women could have the same level of enjoyment as he would have in his heterosexual relationship, and Bill Gudgeon calling the bill an abomination for all mankind.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Tuesday, 2nd November 2004 - 12:00pm