There were few surprises at tonight's Rainbow Wellington pre-election Candidates' Forum, with most political party representatives either stressing their parties' proven commitment to glbt issues or expressing personal views in lieu of party policies, and with the Greens, Progressive and Labour most clearly articulating their glbt-friendliness. The candidates were specifically asked to address core glbt issues such as the currently controversial gay blood donor policy and same-sex adoption. National's Stephen Franks received the most luke-warm response of the evening when he tried to explain away his anti-Civil Unions legislation vote as solely an objection to automatic property rights based on length of relationships, and for not distancing himself from party leader Bill English's statement last year that a National-led government would seek to roll back the hard-won CU legislation. National was also criticised for a lack of commitment to human rights principles generally and was at one point accused of paying "voter-friendly" lip service to such issues. Franks admitted that National has yet to publicly release any policy on areas of specific relevance to glbt people's lives. Progressive list MP David Somerset stressed his party's commitment to ongoing human rights advances which would benefit gays and lesbians, as did Labour's Grant Robertson. "Labour has a strong commitment to social justice and dignity for all people," Robertson said, "and we have a solid record of supporting gay and lesbian-friendly policies including our current work towards removing the gay panic defense." Act's Mike Collins clarified that his party's MPs were all free to vote on specific legislation as their personal values dictated, but said he finds the current effective ban on gay men donating blood "reprehensible." He stated his support for adoption by same-sex couples to be legalised. Greens candidate and ex-AIDS Foundation boss Kevin Hague reiterated his party's core principles of equal justice, opportunities and dignity for all New Zealanders and said that Green MPs would continue to vote positively on glbt issues "as a matter of principle." No-shows this evening included the Maori party which apologised for its absence, United Future which said it did not have an MP available and did not field any other representative despite being invited to, and New Zealand First which apparently did not even respond to its invitation. One of GayNZ.com's seasoned political observers at the Forum felt that if medals for articulating glbt-voter friendliness were to be awarded to parties based on this evening's event, the Greens would have won gold, the Progressives silver and Labour bronze. Wry laughter was occasionally reserved for some of the candidates who were new to the political process and could not disguise a degree of political naivety. Forty people, including the candidates, attended the lively and generally positive dinner and debate function at Parliament House, a number considerably down on past years. The event was attended almost exclusively by men. The evening was officially hosted by Labour's Marian Hobbs and was facilitated by Brian Brooks, the former dean of law at Victoria University who was, in the 1970s, vice president of the Homosexual Law Reform Society.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 21st August 2008 - 11:35pm