A man who pretended to vomit when talking about gays at an election rally last year has been elected the new president of the ACT Party. Hamiltonian Garry Mallett caused a stir during last year's general election campaign when he spoke at a public meeting in his Hamilton East electorate and pretended to vomit when talking about gays. "If guys want to get together with other guys..." he said, before making a vomiting motion to the crowd. He also said he didn't “morally support the act of sodomy”. Mallett later acknowledged to the Waikato Times that his language was a bit "earthy", and added that gay people should not be discriminated against by law, however: "That's not to say society shouldn't take a moral stance against it." ACT leader Rodney Hide stood by Mallett at the time saying, "ACT wants a civil and tolerant society and Garry told me that's what he was expressing." Mallett also expressed sentiments at the meeting that offended some Maori in the audience. He said: "All we want is for you to get off your bum and work." Perhaps ironically, ACT has been making significant overtures toward the Maori Party in the last week, with Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia the surprise guest at the ACT Party Conference in Wellington last weekend.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 29th March 2006 - 12:00pm