A Christian MP's bill banning gay marriage will be supported by all of NZ First through its first reading in Parliament. The bill, sponsored by United Future MP Larry Baldock, will also amend protections for gays contained in the bill of rights, and is expected to be voted on today. NZ First Deputy leader Peter Brown says that in spite of the public having their input on the subject last year during the civil union debate, it was only fair to let them have their say again. "It's not our role to simply say it doesn't count because it's all been dealt with before," he told GayNZ.com. "This is obviously an issue that does concern some people, and here's an opportunity to air it again." He denied that Baldock's bill was giving gay rights opponents a second bite of the cherry. “I wouldn't quite put it like that, but I can understand that being a viewpoint, but we think he's touched a nerve.” GayNZ.com asked Brown how many more times the GLBT community would have to put up with the issue being debated and defeated before it would finally be let go. "I don't know I can answer that in any terms except to say that NZ First is not the author of this bill. I don't think there was any intention of a NZ First MP promoting the bill, so you might well conclude that NZ First has understood that the Civil Union Bill has passed, and I know of no plans to reactivate the debate from inside NZ First." Brown says there was some criticism of how the Civil Union Bill was handled. "I would say that the public felt that civil unions were imposed upon them. There has been quite some criticism that it's not the right of MPs to impose morality-type legislation without the public having a fair say. From our point of view, the majority of us wanted it to be a referendum." He conceded it was possible that the select committee process could simply be flooded, as it was last year, with fundamentalist submissions. "It's probably those guys that are behind Baldock producing the bill," he said. Only two of NZ First's thirteen MPs, Ron Mark and Brian Donnelly, supported the Civil Union Bill through all its stages in Parliament last year.