Graham Capill, one of New Zealand's loudest anti-gay morals campaigners of the last decade has today pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting an eight-year-old child – three or four times between 2001 and 2002, fondling her whilst she was in bed in her pyjamas. The former Christian Heritage Party leader has always held a high profile as a religious politician throughout his career, but despite this never held elected office, although he came close in 1996 after allying with the Christian Democrats to form the Christian Coalition. They fell short of the 5% threshold on election night and failed to win any seats. Capill stepped down as leader of the party in 2003, moving on to a role with the Christchurch police in their communications centre. Last year, he was elevated to the role of police prosecutor, marking the dawn of a new crusade to bring criminals to justice. Despite his outspoken views, he said at the time there was no scope for personal feelings or bias to get in the way of doing his job. However, during his time as CHP leader there was no mistaking his personal feelings on homosexuality and moral values in general. If anyone needs any reminding of the breathtaking hypocrisy involved with the shocking revelation of Capill's conviction, what follows is a brief sampling of "The Words Of Graham" going back to 1998, and to use a phrase that has become somewhat popular recently – there's more to come... APRIL 9, 1998 – WARPED LESBIANS When writer Paula Boock's teenage lesbian love story Dare, Truth or Promise won the New Zealand Post Children's Book of the Year award, Capill was unimpressed. He said the award was "a sad reflection on the warped moral values that children are now confronted with." MAY 21, 1999 – HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA FOR KIDS When Cashmere High School in Christchurch set up a student support group for gay and lesbian students, Capill was once again "sad". He called the group a sad commentary on the state of young people in schools - saying they have a "sexual agenda" forced on them through sexuality education which encourages them to experiment with "this sort of thing". JANUARY 10, 2000 – MORALLY SICK LESBIANS A study released by Child Youth and Family trainer Helen Alice concluded lesbians were able to care for children as well as heterosexuals, and that lesbians should be encouraged to become foster parents. Capill went for a hat-trick and again was "sad". This time, he described Alice's study as a "sad contradiction in terms". "Same-sex 'couples' are already breaching the bounds of what is morally acceptable by choosing such lifestyles," he said. "Adults consenting to such relationships is one thing; to raise children in such an environment is irresponsible and morally sick." NOVEMBER 26, 2000 – JUST SAY "NO" TO IVF INCEST Capill was most concerned about IVF donors generation-swapping to make babies, and didn't think that infertile couples should be permitted to use sperm or eggs from their parents to replace their own. Intergeneral donation should be made illegal, he said: "Why do we have in the Crimes Act certain protections against these sorts of relationships? Surely part of it is moral reasons, part of it is genetic reasons. How is IVF any different, except there is no sexual enjoyment issue. There is an inconsistency in the law. I don't think there has been enough control of IVF for a long time." JULY 21, 2000 – GAY MARRIAGE TODAY, PAEDOPHILIA TOMORROW When the government first mooted changes to relationship laws to give same-sex and defacto couples legal status, Capill made a submission to the select committee on behalf of the Christian Heritage Party, favouring the "slippery slope" argument: "...in giving rights to homosexual couples but not to other types of sexual relationship is, on its own ground, discrimination. If giving special protection to marriage is discrimination, then why doesn't this legislation recognise paedophilia? Is that not also discriminatory? So the issue is not one of discrimination...It is our submission that no government should consider giving 'rights' to fornicators, adulterers and homosexuals." JULY 21, 2000 – BEWARE OF UNDERAGE GOLD-DIGGERS And later, in the same submission, Capill expresses concern about de-facto couples being recognised legally: "It is submitted that most flatmates might fall into a substantial number of these categories. At the very least there will be an opportunity for greedy, jilted, people to go to court. I would put it to you that we may well see an opportunistic 15 year old, having a relationship with a middle-aged person who is well heeled, simply to make a claim against his 'relationship property'. I think that is entirely possible, but completely wrong." JULY 12, 2001 – STOP SWEARING AND TIDY YOUR ACT UP Displaying catholic tastes in moralising, Capill waded into the debate on youngsters swearing and blaspheming back in 2001, with this light-hearted and eerily ironic quip: "One thing that does offend me is the amount of blasphemy that is used these days by adults and children. People who have no concern about religious things use 'Jesus' all the time as a swear word. Why do that?" "Children should be taught that the use of certain words can give offence and to be considerate — and adults should clean their mouths out. Many times children don't know the meanings of the words...They just think it's a cool thing to do because they've heard adults doing it. At the end of the day, I think adults need to tidy up their act a lot more." APRIL 9, 2002 – PREVENT CHILD SEX ABUSE "EVIL" In Christchurch, the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective became involved in a pilot programme to seek out young prostitutes (aged between 16 and 18) and give them guidance, and refer any younger girls found to the police. Capill had no time for such pragmatism: "The Christian Heritage Party believes there is a conflict of interest between the objectives of the legislation to stop sexual abuse of those under 18 years and the message that those engaged in the industry are able to give." He said the heart of the matter was "the breakdown of the traditional family unit and values that are consistent with good family life." The focus when dealing with "this evil" should be on preventing child sex abuse in the first place, he added. JUNE 20, 2002 – DEFINING ABUSE, PART 1: SHUT UP, GOVERNOR-GENERAL Defining the parameters of abuse became something of a hobby for Capill in 2002, rubbishing calls from the Governor General for smacking to be banned: "The Governor-General is sadly mistaken if she thinks that discipline is the same as abuse. It is such politically correct nonsense that has lead to confusion on the issue... The CHP is convinced that it is the break down of the family that has led to the appalling cases of abuse in recent years. Children are passed from pillar to post, like chattels on the back of a removal truck...Interfering with the difficult task of parenting is not the answer. The government should be looking at assisting parents instead of undermining good parents." JUNE 20, 2002 – DEFINING ABUSE, PART 2: SHUT UP, CHILDREN'S COMMISSIONER ...and also then-Commissioner for Children, Roger McClay: "Mr McClay should come clean with his real agenda which is NZ's obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, instead of misleading the public into seeing this as an issue of child abuse. Mr McClay should be focusing on the real issue - the breakdown of family life." GayNZ.com - 1st April 2005