Radio Live talkback hosts and former MPs Willie Jackson and John Tamihere have announced they will stand in the upcoming mayoral elections, but former Rainbow Labour MP Georgina Beyer says she's pulled out of the Carterton mayoral race. The radio hosts will stand in two separate greater Auckland electorates - Tamihere in Waitakere, and Jackson in Manukau. "It's no publicity stunt," Jackson told the NZ Herald. "This is a serious challenge by two people who are committed to representing people." Concerns over comments by Tamihere and phone-in callers to their talkback show have seen the 'Willie and JT' radio programme feature in GayNZ.com's news headlines regularly in the past year. Tamihere has on various occasions accused gay couples of getting preferential treatment from adoption services, expressed concern over children witnessing two men kissing, and even made links between gays and peadophiles. The on-going anti-gay commentary led the NZ AIDS Foundation to make a formal compliant to the Broadcasting Standards Authority in March. Meanwhile, transgender icon Georgina Beyer is out of the mayoral race in the town she governed for five years before entering Parliament. She told the NZ Herald it was time to move on from politics: "I think it's time to let go and stand aside." Ref: NZ Herald, GayNZ.com (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 23rd August 2007 - 5:42pm