6.30PM: Three more openly gay or lesbian New Zealanders have been acknowledged by the Queen in the New Years Honours list, with two becoming Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit and one a Companion of the Queen's Service Order. Mahinarangi Tocker Jazz musician and composer Mahinarangi Tocker, who combines her sexuality and the Maori and Jewish influences of her forbears into complex lyrical expressions has been made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to music. Tocker is currently working in the Mental Health profession in Auckland. Stephen Stehlin Likewise, television producer Stephen Stehlin, also of Auckland, becomes a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Pacific Island television broadcasting and the arts. Stehlin, of Samoan descent, has long been a behind the scenes stalwart of the Tagata Pasifika programme and initiatives in polynesian and ethnic broadcasting in New Zealand. Pare Keiha Auckland academic Associate Professor Pare Areta Keiha has been made a Companion of the Queen's Service Order, for services to business, education and Maori. Keiha, a lecturer in Maori and business subjects at Auckland University of Technology, with a string of degrees to his credit, was one of a group of trustees who fronted up to lead the Hero Project out of its first financial collapse in 2000. Tocker, Stehlin and Keiha join Dr Marilyn Waring on the Honours list, Waring was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.