Outdoor Recreation NZ has formally split with the anti-gay and religious conservative political party United Future, calling it a "divorce on religious grounds". "We have had a very warm and constructive personal working relationship with United Future Leader Peter Dunne, but have had some difficulty with the evangelism from the Future side," said acting ORNZ chairman Phil Hoare in a press release. "They have at times derailed our commitment to work for the mutual benefit of ORNZ and United members interests." It's the third significant defection in the last year from a party that has repeatedly scoffed at notions that they and their policies are motivated by their religious beliefs. Former United Future MP Marc Alexander, who lost his seat at the last election and resigned from the party, told the Sunday Star-Times the party was "obsessed with homosexuality". Former Wellington mayor Mark Blumsky lasted as United Future party president for only six months, telling Public Address that some party members were "very fanatical in how they see religion and politics tied up." Dunne has dismissed the Outdoor Recreation comments about the party's religious overtones in a press release as "misplaced and inaccurate. United Future has no religious affiliations nor evangelistic agenda to push." United Future, formed by a merger with Dunne's United Party and the Christian party Future New Zealand (formerly known as the Christian Democrats) in 2000, spearheaded opposition to the Civil Union Act in 2004 with a series of taxpayer-funded ads that visually ridiculed same-sex marriage and called for a halt to this type of "silliness". Last year, United Future MP Gordon Copeland attempted to pass a private members bill banning same-sex marriage and allowing discrimination in favour of heterosexual married couples. "Marriage is the only sexual activity which is sanctioned by God, which has God's seal of approval," he told GayNZ.com at the time.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 29th March 2006 - 12:00pm