12:30PM: The National Party's Family Affairs spokesperson Judith Collins says she has no comment to make on a series of anti-gay slurs she lobbed at Labour MP Darren Hughes last month in Parliament, and hung up on GayNZ.com when questioned further about the context of her remarks. During an open debate in Parliament on 15 February, Collins responded to an interruption in her speech by saying: "It was very good for Mr Hughes to come down here mincing along, carrying Helen Clark's handbag. He has gone all bright pink now. Poor Mr Hughes. He should just come out and be straight. He needs to learn a bit from his colleague on the bench Mr Tim Barnett, who has always been very straight about himself. I think poor Mr Hughes should just come forth and be honest." Hughes told Express newspaper that he was unfazed by the comments, and chose not to respond. "These right-wing parties want to instil a fear of homosexuals, but this is the 21st century, and I don't want to be involved in that," he said. Collins' comments came in the middle of a heated Parliamentary debate over a speech made by Prime Minister Helen Clark. Minutes earlier, National MP Tony Ryall had been attacked by Labour MPs Phil Goff and Trevor Mallard over the content of his speech on Labour's election campaign over-spending, with remarks of "he cannot lie straight in bed" and "he is not straight" respectively. "That member is as self-righteous as any member in this House, about everything from sex offending to you name it," added Goff. "We know a few things about the self-righteous. We remember the saga of Graham Capill, the most self-righteous of all the leaders of political parties, and how hypocritical his self-righteousness was." When contacted by GayNZ.com to clarify the context of her comments, Collins was short and to the point. "I don't think I will comment. If Mr Hughes wants to make a fool of himself by talking about it, let him," she said. "I don't comment on things said in the house unless I have to." When asked if she thought it was appropriate to use sexuality as a weapon for attacking people, Collins responded again that she would not make any comment and terminated the call.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 16th March 2006 - 12:00pm