Tammy Bruce An agenda by gay men to infect the mainstream population with AIDS and get access to kids by lowering the sexual age of consent formed just part of a speech from imported American lesbian activist Tammy Bruce at a public meeting in Christchurch last week. Speaking to around 120 attendees at the Christchurch Town Hall at a gathering organised by Maxim Institute volunteers, Bruce outlined her left-wing conspiracy theory – "if you are a victim and can't join normal society, make society look like you." Her examples included the increase in AIDS among gay men, and their desire to spread it to "normal society". She also discussed decreases in the sexual age of consent, because she says many gay men have first sexual experience as a child at the hands of another male. However, as a lesbian, she could be both loving and a good parent. She slammed the "narcissistic" gay community, who she says feels everything is about them, "therefore when you are against gay marriage, as it is 'about them', you are a homophobe; they can't consider that it might be about you protecting your marriage." Bruce also told her largely Christian audience that the left wish to eliminate the church in order to make themselves God. She described New Zealanders as a subtle people who avoid confrontation, in a small country with little media, thus making us "easy to control". GayNZ.com requested an interview with Bruce during her time in New Zealand to clarify her thoughts on gay/lesbian politics, but messages left on her phone were not returned. An aide informed us that our contact details had been passed onto her. Bruce's visit was sponsored in part by businessman John Sax, who orchestrated a letter to MPs last year – signed by Auckland mayor Dick Hubbard, author Alan Duff and others – which claimed gay parents were more likely to abuse and murder their children. Duff recorded a video message in support of Bruce that was played at the start of the Christchurch meeting, and a larger gathering in Hamilton that reportedly attracted 1000 people. The extreme nature of Bruce's Christchurch comments stand in stark contrast to Bruce's brief appearances in the mainstream media, which apart from acknowledging Bruce's lesbianism, almost completely avoided the topic of homosexuality. Tauranga-based evangelist and Herald columnist Sandra Paterson, who last week praised the arrival of Bruce and described her as a "lesbian version of John Tamihere", this week voiced her displeasure at the treatment of Bruce by journalists, particularly Close Up reporter Ian Sinclair, whom she claimed smirked during his interview with Bruce: "...viewers are quite capable of making up their own minds about what someone is saying," she wrote. "They do not need cues from a journalist." Back at the Christchurch gathering, Joanne Reeder (whom Paterson omitted to inform her Herald readers was a former ACT party candidate in favour of describing her as "concerned grandmother") told the crowd that "the new thought police" in the media had sought to damage Tammy's trip down under by misrepresenting her. Bruce herself told the Williams Up Front programme on Sky News that her limited media appearances were part of a left-wing conspiracy to silence her. Chris Banks - 13th July 2005