National leader Don Brash's support for the Civil Union Bill has disappeared in a pile of steaming Maxim rhetoric, while Labour's Muslim MP Ashraf Choudhary has come out in support. Brash now favours a referendum, as the select committee submissions convinced him the public see the Bill "as part of a more general attack by this Government on the institutions of civil society". Submissions to the select committee against the Bill were overwhelmingly from fundamentalist Christians, some advocating death for gays. Meanwhile, Ashraf Choudhary, notorious for abstaining on conscience votes, says he has decided to support the Bill after much soul-searching. He felt in recent years Muslims and other ethnic people had been subjected to a lot of pressure. "Throughout this time we have asked for tolerance from the people of New Zealand and I believe it is incumbent on us to show tolerance for others," he says.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 1st December 2004 - 12:00pm