Labour's newest gay MP Charles Chauvel has threatened legal action against anyone making further allegations against him of excessive publicly-funded travel. The Society for the Promotion of Community Standards (SPCS), a conservative pressure group has accused him of overspending on travel while on the board of the Lotteries Commission. It has also accused Chauvel of attempting to “crush free speech” by asking the High Court to ban anti-gay rights videos, and claims Chauvel is part of the “Labour Party's ‘hidden agenda' to boost the number of high profile gay lobbyists.” On the overspending accusation, Chauvel has defended his tenure as Deputy Chair, saying the Lotteries Commission “was in the crap” when he took on his role, with “no new games for years”, the IT systems were “redundant” and the amount of money raised to “support the arts, sport and culture was falling further and further every year” due to the incompetence of the prior National-led government. The SPCS says Chauvel “overspent” on taxpayer-funded overseas travel, invoicing the Commission $80,000 for a three-year period. Chauvel defends the travel bill, saying it was essential to learn how overseas lotteries were operated, leading to the successful adoption of new strategies, which saw profits up by $68 million dollars upon his departure from the board. Travel was expensive at the time “because the New Zealand dollar was worth US40 cents for much of that time.” “All travel was audited, within guidelines and approved,” says Chauvel, and “the next time someone suggests that there is something wrong with this picture I hope they are rich because I think I'm going to sue their ass.” The SPCS has also accused Chauvel of “attempting to crush free speech” by successfully winning a High Court case that sought to ban the distribution of two Living Word videos critical of gays. In response Chauvel says he “is a strong supporter of free speech but in a free and democratic society there have to be limits… I've never believed that we should allow fundie, extremist church groups to show hate-filled videos and literature to impressionable young kids.” Chauvel says he took on the case “free of charge” after youths “defiled” the home of a Kapiti Coast gay man, the day after the video was shown to local 15-year olds. This was “no coincidence” and “I worried that if the video was shown more widely, especially to young people who were sorting out their own ideas on sexuality, more damage would be done.” The Court of Appeal overturned the ruling “so hate speech against LGBT people in New Zealand is still perfectly legal.” “The fundies are enraged because we dared to challenge them, and because we got a small grant of legal aid (for the Court of Appeal case) to help us do it. Their constant, gnawing fear is that, having lost in the courts, we may yet turn to Parliament to fix the law in this area.” The SPCS says Chauvel is part of “the gay and feminist cabal” within Parliament that promotes “same-sex marriage, gay adoption, anti-discrimination laws to protect transsexuals and hate-speech laws to crush all criticisms of promiscuous homosexual lifestyles.” Chauvel has responded saying that “with a number of important exceptions, most of the laws needed to ensure formal legal equality between LGBT New Zealanders and others have been passed.” He notes the achievement of Homosexual Law Reform 20 years ago, and the amendments to the Human Rights Act in 1993, led by “socially liberal-minded people in the National Party.” Issues remain, admits Chauvel, particularly to “ensure schools are safe for LGBT kids and teachers” and making sure “HIV is kept under control.” “There is nothing ‘hidden' about that ‘agenda'. It is what any government committed to justice for all Kiwis would do, and I am on board with it.” Chauvel comments that the SPCS “are two people who share a shed in Johnsonville with the Exclusive Brethren. They spend all their time ringing up talkback radio and sending out press releases. They are bitter and twisted because we have turned New Zealand into a tolerant, modern, secular society.” Chauvel, a Labour list MP replaces retiring MP Jim Sutton in Parliament in early August. Ref: GayNZ.com (d)