History Notes

Māori society traditionally embraced a broad spectrum of sexual identities. Sexuality was openly discussed and depicted in various forms, including in carvings, waiata, and karakia. Possibly the most well known story of same-sex love is that of Tūtānekai and Tiki. MP Te Ururoa Flavell retold the story in Parliament during the marriage equality debate in 2013. He told the House, "Before Tūtānekai married Hinemoa, he had a close male companion, Tiki. In a manuscript by Te Rangikāheke, Tūtānekai says to his father: 'Ka aroha atu a Tūtānekai ki a Tiki, ka mea atu ki a Whakaue: Ka mate ahau i te aroha ki toku hoa, ki a Tiki.' Translated: 'Tūtānekai loved Tiki and said to Whakaue: I am stricken with love for my friend, for Tiki.' Later, Tūtānekai refers to Tiki as 'tāku hoa takatāpui'. So, from the wisdom of Ngāti Rangiwewehi, a new word was coined: 'takatāpui', defined in the Dictionary of the Maori Language compiled by the missionary Herbert William Williams in 1844 as 'an intimate companion of the same sex'. 'Takatāpui' is now used universally to describe people who might otherwise describe themselves as gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, or intersexual."

Feminist and businesswoman Mary Taylor was born in Yorkshire, England. In her twenties she emigrated to New Zealand. Her life-long friend and possibly lover, Charlotte Bronte, wrote of Taylor's departure "To me it is something as if a great planet fell out of the sky." According to author Beryl Hughes, Taylor was more uncompromising than most feminists of her time with an "emphasis on the value of work for women and on the right of women to lead their own lives." Taylor spent most of her 14 years in New Zealand living and conducting business in Wellington. Remarkably during her time here, Taylor experienced three major earthquakes: the magnitude 6 Wellington earthquake in 1846, the Marlborough 7.4 earthquake in 1848 and the Wairarapa 8.2 earthquake in 1855.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi was first signed on this day. With it came New Zealand’s adoption of English law, including the Offences Against the Person Act, which made sodomy punishable by death. Then in 1893 any sexual activity between males in this country became illegal. Penalties included imprisonment, hard labour and flogging. The criminalisation of same-sex love was in stark contrast to earlier times when, according to academic Elizabeth Kerekere, Māori society "accepted diverse sexuality and gender in this country before colonisation." Speaking to the New Zealand Herald, she said "Colonisation changed everything - our expression of sexuality, women having control of their own body, female leadership. We lost all of that, having fluidity, being polyamorous... our sexuality was stolen."

Mary Taylor arrived in New Zealand from England. Taylor was a life-long friend and some say lover of famous English writer Charlotte Bronte. Taylor and Bronte met at school. Bronte later wrote that Taylor had "more energy and power in her nature than any ten men." Taylor was a staunch believer that women should be allowed to work for money in order to guarantee their independence.

Photographer Robert Gant was born in the United Kingdom. At the age of 21 he immigrated to New Zealand. Gant had a notable career as a female impersonator, taking the stage name Cecil Riverton. In 1881 the Evening Post declared Cecil as achieving "a pronounced success in the part of Little Buttercup" in a production of HMS Pinafore. Nowadays Gant is probably more known for his homoerotic photography, produced in Wairarapa and Wellington from the late eighteen hundreds. His visual interests included young men, sailors, shoes, theatrical scenes and execution scenarios (beheadings) - which were popular at the time.

Photographer Henry Winkelmann was born in the United Kingdom, and at the age of eighteen immigrated to New Zealand. He began his photographic career in 1892, focussing on maritime scenes. In 1997 Auckland Museum controversially refused to give permission for one of his images to be on the cover of Best Mates, an anthology of gay writing edited by Peter Wells and Rex Pilgrim. The image depicted Winkelmann in what was described as "a full passionate lingering kiss" with Charles Horton. Wells called it an act censorship and the cover image was published regardless.

Artist and teacher Dorothy Richmond was born in Auckland. During her career, Richmond focused on botanical studies, still life and landscapes. Art historian Janet Paul described her work as having a "unique poetic quality" Richmond never married but had close relationships with several women, including fellow painter Frances Hodgkins. The pair met while in Europe in 1901. They travelled, worked, and at various times, lived together. Hodgkins wrote to a friend that Richmond was "the dearest woman, with the most beautiful face and expression I think I have ever seen." In 1903 the couple returned to New Zealand and for a time they ran a studio together in a building owned by Alexander Turnbull.

Reverend Henry Turton of Nelson stood trial at the Supreme Court on a charge of sodomy. One of Turton's servants, Isaac Nash, told the court how he had been summoned to Turton's bedroom to bring alcohol. According to Nash, Turton asked him to get into bed and then raped him. Nash told the court that he had later been intimidated by Turton, "[he] told me he had lots of money, and would see it out." Turton had been arrested earlier in May trying to flee to Australia. The judge's summing up was reported by the Wellington Independent newspaper "If the jury believed any tittle of the evidence they would, in all probability, regard [Nash] as an accomplice... It was always unsafe to place confidence in the unsubstantiated evidence of an accomplice." The jury, without even retiring, returned a not guilty verdict.

Explorer and writer Samuel Butler wrote of his blossoming relationship with Charles Paine Pauli whom he met in Christchurch. Butler recounted that a barman in California had labelled Pauli as "the handsomest man God ever sent into San Francisco." After an encounter at the Carlton Hotel, Butler wrote that he "was suddenly aware that I had become intimate with a personality quite different to that of anyone whom I had ever known." Butler would go on to financially support Pauli for the next three decades. Author Roger Robinson described Pauli as a "parasitic lawyer" while writer Hugh Young was more charitable. He noted that the relationship seemed to have been like that of Oscar Wilde and Bosie, a "handsome younger man with an older devotee: minimum sex and maximum support."

Hon. John Richardson introduced the Offences Against the Person Bill in Parliament. Under the heading of Unnatural Offences, a person convicted of the "abominable crime of buggery" (e.g. sodomy) could be imprisoned for life. This related to the act being committed with a person or an animal. Attempted buggery, or any "indecent assault" on a male could see a person imprisoned with hard labour.

"Harry" Holland was born in Australia. A printer by trade, Holland went on to lead the New Zealand Labour Party from 1919-1933. After his death, artist Richard Gross was commissioned to sculpt a public monument that would commemorate Holland's work for humanity. Gross created a striking nude male figure, which has been described in a variety of ways - from representing "emancipated youth looking upwards to higher things" to "an extremely buff, naked dude gazing out over his beloved Wellington." A local rainbow walking tour in the 1990s described the work as the capital's most homoerotic piece of outdoor art.

Alexander Turnbull was born in Wellington. Turnbull was an avid collector - amassing over 55,000 books, manuscripts, photographs, paintings and sketches during his life. In 1915 Turnbull House (just opposite the Beehive) was built as his residence and as a place to store his impressive collection. In 1918 Turnbull died following complications from sinus surgery. He never married and bequeathed his collection to the nation, cared for now by the Alexander Turnbull Library.

Painter Frances Hodgkins was born in Dunedin. At the time, Dunedin was the most populous city in New Zealand and was home to a vibrant artistic community. Hodgkins first exhibited there in 1890, and five-years later won the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts prize for painting from life. Around the same time, she qualified as a teacher and began taking private art classes. In 1901 she left New Zealand for Europe, where she met fellow expatriate artist Dorothy Richmond. Richmond had written to Hodgkins, "I'm looking forward to meeting you with real joy. I think companionship doubles the pleasure and halves the sorrows of life." Later, Hodgkins wrote from Europe to her sister, "When I am particularly down, Miss Richmond comes and tucks me up. She goes to England today. It is very sad saying goodbye to a face like hers, even for a short time. I wish you could see her at night with a black dress with a crimson fichu. I have insisted on her wearing it every night." The pair would return to New Zealand for a short time, and establish a studio together in Wellington.

Emma Ada Scott was born in Tasmania, Australia. By 1914, she had moved to New Zealand and was living with her “dear friend” Alice Mills in Wellington. They moved to a house on the Terrace in 1928 where they lived for the rest of their lives. Scott and Mills are highlighted in Dr Alison Laurie’s thesis Lady-Husbands and Kamp Ladies: Pre-1970 Lesbian Life in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Apart from electoral rolls, a will, and a shared grave, not much publicly exists to document their relationship. But as Laurie notes, "Silences should not be mistaken for absences, or heterosexuality assumed for all pre-1970 New Zealand women." Laurie talks more broadly about how the public record can give us glimpses into early lesbian couples and how, "many of these women led secretive, often double lives, and of necessity deceived others through silence and omission, actual denial, or sham heterosexual marriages and engagements." Laurie continues, "The lies, secrecy and silence of self-censorship has often meant the deliberate destruction of written records such as letters or diaries, by women themselves, or later by family members and friends." Scott died on the 2 July 1938 and Mills died in 1943. They’re interred together in Karori Cemetery.

Poet Ursula Bethell was born in England. Her parents had earlier lived in New Zealand and within a few years the family returned and eventually settled in Rangiora, Canterbury. From her teenage years, Bethell regularly travelled and lived in Europe and the United Kingdom. It was in London that Bethell met her long-time companion Effie Pollen. The pair would later move back to New Zealand and live together in Canterbury where Bethell would write much of her poetry. In 2016, a newspaper article described their relationship as "deeply loving but platonic." In contrast, academic and poet Janet Charman wrote almost twenty years earlier "It was because of the misogyny and homophobia of her era that Bethell had reason to fear invasion of her privacy. It would have been catastrophic to have a lesbian attachment anywhere publicly admitted."

One of the earliest missionaries in New Zealand, William Yate, died. Born in Shropshire in 1802 he arrived in the Bay of Islands in 1828. Scholars think he had sexual relationships with as many as one hundred young Māori men. In sworn affidavits provided to the Church Missionary Society, four rangatahi talked of mutual masturbation and oral sex with Yate. Under British law, homosexual activity attracted severe penalties. But as historian Judith Binney noted "because there was no evidence of sodomy, no legal charges could be brought against him." Speaking in a radio interview in 2004, academic Ngahuia Te Awekotuku said that the case showed how Māori society, pre-colonisation, was sex-positive and "sexual expression and spontaneity was enjoyed." Quoting from a Society document, Te Awekotuku said the youths "were unaware of any sinfulness in the practices and Yate had not initiated or corrupted them and that they showed no shame."

Australian-born Amy Bock received her first of many convictions in New Zealand. An early newspaper report described Bock as having a "perfect mania for what she called 'shopping' which consisted of ordering goods she did not require and could not pay for." Bock's crimes and personality have long held a fascination for many. Academic Jenny Coleman wrote in 2010 "Amy herself pleaded an inherited mental instability; the authorities at the time agreed she was a habitual criminal. Mad, bad, or lesbian? Or was she simply unconventional in her gender and sexuality?" Writer Johanna Mary noted Bock "played with people's expectations and then confounded them... Although most reports of Amy Bock are written by men, we can guess that for many women of the era, the power and freedom Bock had gained by male disguise had great appeal."

Writer Katherine Mansfield was born in Wellington. Mansfield had well documented relationships with both men and women - one being Edith Kathleen Bendall. For a time, Mansfield wrote letters nightly in violet ink to Bendall inviting her to stay alone with her at the family bach in Days Bay. She wrote in her personal journal "Last night I spent in her arms - and tonight I hate her - which being interpreted, means that I adore her; that I cannot lie in my bed and not feel the magic of her body." On Mansfield's birthday in 1922, and only a few months before her death from tuberculosis, she famously wrote "Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth."

The Electoral Act 1893 was passed giving all women in New Zealand the right to vote. The world-leading legislation came after years of suffrage campaigning from activists such as Kate Sheppard who had led multiple petitions calling for change. The important date is often marked with celebrations, commemorations and protests. In 1971 activist Ngahuia Te Awekotuku and others from the women’s liberation movement staged a mock funeral procession in Albert Park, Auckland. The Suffrage Day of Mourning event highlighted the lack of progress for women since the 1893 Act. The now defunct Auckland Star newspaper trivialised the protest, labelling participants as "attractive young things from women’s lib."

The laws around homosexual activity became more explicit with the Crimes Against Morality provisions in the newly enacted Criminal Code Act. Any sexual activity between males was outlawed. Even if the act was consensual, it was still classified as indecent assault. Penalties included life imprisonment, flogging, whipping and hard labour. Flogging involved getting struck with a cat o' nine tails which was made up of multiple pieces of chord. It was designed to lacerate the skin and cause intense pain.

Poet Walter D'Arcy Cresswell was born in Christchurch. After serving in WW1 he returned to New Zealand, turning to poetry as a vocation. Nowadays he is probably better known for his entrapment of the Mayor of Whanganui Charles Mackay. On 10 May 1920 Cresswell was introduced to the mayor. Five days later Mackay shot him in the chest. It would later be revealed that Cresswell (who had homosexual relationships himself) had plotted to lead the mayor on "to make sure of his dirty intentions." He then threatened to expose the mayor's homosexuality if he didn't resign. The incident resulted in Mackay being sentenced to fifteen years hard labour for attempted murder. He was released after six years on the condition that he immediately leave the country.

Social reformer and activist Rewi Alley was born in Canterbury. Much of his life was spent in China, living there from 1927 until his death in December 1987. Academic Roderic Alley believes Alley's most significant legacy to China was "his faith in the co-operative capacities of the ordinary Chinese." Rewi Alley's views weren't always appreciated back in this country, with Alley saying "successive New Zealand governments have tried hard to discredit me as if I was some sort of communist threat to them or a traitor. Well I am a communist, but I am not a traitor." In 1985 Alley received a much warmer reception from Prime Minister David Lange, who during a ceremony honouring him said, "New Zealand has had many great sons, but you, Sir, are our greatest son."

Painter Frances Hodgkins left New Zealand for Europe. There she met another New Zealand expatriate - artist Dorothy Richmond. Hodgkins described her as "the dearest woman with the most beautiful face and expression. [Her] letters are poems. She is the dearest piece of perfection I have ever met, and unlike most perfection, not in the least tiring to live up to." The pair returned to New Zealand in 1903 and established a studio on Lambton Quay.

Writer Norris Frank Davey was born in Hamilton. He later changed his name to Frank Sargeson - in part to conceal a 1929 indecent assault conviction. Although he was able to conceal the conviction from many, biographer Michael King thought the event scarred Sargeson for life. Reflecting on the writer's legacy, King said his major achievement as an author was to "introduce the rhythms and idiom of everyday New Zealand speech to literature." Sargeson died on 1 March 1982.

Playwright and medical practitioner Merton Hodge was born on this day in Taruheru, Poverty Bay. Hodge studied at King's College in Auckland and then Otago Medical School. He moved to England in 1931 where he gained international success with his play The Wind and the Rain. An Australian newspaper wrote, "By day he works as an anaesthetist in a big hospital at Hyde Park Corner: at night he has been writing plays which are the success of the season." The Wind and the Rain ran for three years (1,001 performances) in London's West End, played for 6-months on Broadway in New York and was translated into nine languages. Hodge mingled in bohemian and theatrical circles while in the UK - partying with Ivor Novello, Tallulah Bankhead and Noel Coward. He also spent a lot of time with Geoffrey Wardwell, another actor, who researchers think was probably his lover. In 1952 Hodge returned to New Zealand, married and settled in Dunedin. Sadly, he took his own life 6-years later in 1958.

Senior public servant and diplomat Alister McIntosh was born in Picton. In 1925 McIntosh entered the public service and went on to serve New Zealand in various roles for the next five decades. He founded this country's diplomatic service and headed the Prime Minister's Department for more than twenty-years. According to author Ian McGibbon "McIntosh never sought a high public profile... His sensitivity to others' problems and needs, his lack of bigotry and self-righteousness and his non-judgemental approach were endearing qualities." McIntosh lived in an era when careers (and lives) could be destroyed by an accusation of homosexuality. In 2003, historian Michael King suggested that McIntosh may have missed out on becoming Commonwealth Secretary-General because of his sexuality (British security officials warned that his homosexuality made him susceptible to blackmail and therefore a security risk).

The Crimes Act 1908 was enacted. The legislation consolidated various laws, including one from 1893, which outlawed any form of sexual contact between males. Even if the sexual activity was consensual between adults, the State saw it as indecent assault. Punishments were severe and included whipping, flogging and life imprisonment with hard-labour. In 2018, another law was passed by Parliament to redress what was now seen as an injustice. Men, or their relatives, could apply to have their convictions for homosexual activity wiped. There would be no financial compensation or personal apology. But in 2017, the House of Representatives did "apologise to those homosexual New Zealanders who were convicted for consensual adult activity, and recognise the tremendous hurt and suffering those men and their families have gone through, and the continued effects the convictions have had on them."

Newspapers around the country revelled in reporting on, and shaming, Denis Quill. The twenty-one-year-old made headlines when he appeared at the Magistrate’s Court in Wellington on a charge of "masquerading in the dress of a woman." Under the headline "Dangerous Masquerader" the Grey River Argus newspaper in Greymouth recounted how Quill had been apprehended while walking in Wellington at night in female clothing. The New Zealand Truth reported that Quill was attempting to "deceive the boys and himself that he was a frisky Flossie." A group of young men went in search of the "bogey man" and he was finally wrestled to the ground before being given a "pretty hot time." Quill later told the judge that he had bought the clothing cheap and "out of sheer devilment." The judge agreed that there was no "felonious intent" but warned Quill that he could have been given a prison sentence of six months with hard labour.

Anges Ottaway applied to get her marriage to Percival Redwood annulled. Redwood, a.k.a Amy Bock, had moved to New Zealand from Australia in the mid-1880s. Described by author Fiona Farrell as "New Zealand's most celebrated and energetic confidence trickster", Bock amassed a string of convictions over the next four decades. The most prominent was a "heartless trick" which took place in 1909. While holidaying in South Otago, Bock posing as wealthy farmer Percival Redwood, met Agnes Ottaway. Within a few weeks the couple were engaged and an elaborate wedding followed. However four days later Bock was arrested and charged with forgery and two counts of false pretences. The widely reported scandal saw Bock jailed and inspired the production of commercial postcards featuring Bock and the wedding cake.

Artist and drama producer Rodney Kennedy was born in Dunedin. In 1926 he enrolled as a student at the Dunedin School of Art, and in 1932 he met artist Toss Woollaston. They became "lovers" or "lifelong friend[s]" or "close friend[s]" depending on the information source. After Woollaston moved to Nelson, Kennedy visited and spent his summers picking fruit and painting. Woollaston painted both his soon-to-be wife and Kennedy together in a 1936 portrait entitled Figures from Life. During World War II Kennedy refused military service and was imprisoned.

Dancer Freda Stark was born in Kaeo, Northland. From an early age she learnt dance - beginning with high kicks, tumbles and the hula. By the time of WW2 she was performing exotic dance for the US troops based in Auckland. She earned the title "Fever of the Fleet" and was famed for dancing at the Civic Theatre in just a G-string and feather headdress - her body glistening under a coating of gold paint. In the early 1930s she began a relationship with fellow dancer Thelma Trott. This was cut short in 1935 when Trott was murdered by her husband Eric Mareo. 2019 marks the 20th anniversary of Stark's death on 19 March 1999. She's buried at the foot of Trott's grave with the loving words "Waiting till we meet again - Freda."

Artist Toss Woollaston was born in Stratford. He would become one of New Zealand's most widely known contemporary painters. In 1980 Woollaston published Sage Tea, a lyrical account of his early life. Writer Hugh Young says that he was notably honest about his sexuality "He saw himself as 'a sexually fluid being' who had been more homosexual than heterosexual in his youth." In the book, Woollaston described in vivid detail an anal sex "daisy chain" involving six youths. But he was also cautious. Reflecting on a friend's relationship he wrote "In those days homosexuality wasn't mentioned, and I am sure there was none in a physical sense between these two men. Brought up as we were on the story of David and Jonathan, whose love 'exceeded the love of women', the relationship between them was perfectly natural and even admirable."

Mountaineer Freda Du Faur became the first woman to ascended Aoraki Mt Cook. Born in Sydney, Du Faur taught herself rock-climbing and spent her summer holidays in New Zealand. In December 1910 she reached Cook's summit "feeling very little, very lonely, and much inclined to cry." Du Faur's partner was Muriel Cadogan who taught at the Institute of Physical Education. Du Faur named peaks in the Southern Alps for both Cadogan and herself. Writer Julie McCrossin suggests that this was perhaps a way of "declaring their bond when more conventional options were unavailable."

Artist Leo Bensemann was born in Takaka, Golden Bay. At the age of nineteen he moved to Christchurch with his schoolfriend and lover Lawrence Baigent. Bensemann became a member of The Group - a collection of influential artists including Colin McCahon, Rita Angus and Toss Woollaston. Bensemann married in 1943 and had four children. It was only in the early 2000s, after both Baigent and Bensemman had died, that their homosexual relationship became widely known when Baigent's partner outed them on National Radio. Writer Peter Simpson recalls "it caused a great kerfuffle among [Bensemann's] family because the notion that their father or husband was gay had never occurred to them, ever." The fallout from the broadcast saw Baigent's dairies, which are rumoured to be "full and frank", embargoed for thirty years.

English poet Rupert Brooke arrived in Auckland aboard the ship RMS Niagara. He was only in New Zealand for a couple of weeks before departing for Tahiti. Surviving letters from the time point to Brooke struggling with his bisexuality. Writer Patrick Kelleher noted Brooke "operated in social circles that were gay or straight - but he knew nobody else who inhabited an in-between space as he did. His struggle was exacerbated by living in a society in which harsh, puritanical views around sexuality were common." Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War Brooke enlisted. He died in April 1915 aboard a French hospital ship in the Mediterranean. Lines from Brooke's poem The Dead are inscribed on Wellington Cenotaph "These laid the world away; poured out the red sweet wine of youth."

English poet Rupert Brooke departed by boat from Wellington on his way to Tahiti. Fellow poet W. B. Yeats once described him as "the handsomest young man in England." Brooke would die just a year later during WW1. The shipping route from New Zealand to Tahiti also brought the famous writer Somerset Maugham and his secretary and companion Gerald Haxton briefly to New Zealand in January 1917. At the time Maugham was also in a relationship with Syrie Wellcome whom he later married. Years later he told his nephew "I tried to persuade myself that I was three-quarters normal and that only a quarter of me was queer - whereas really it was the other way around."

In Auckland, Leslie Lander pleaded guilty to committing an unnatural act (buggery) and was sentenced to life imprisonment, plus 10 years imprisonment for indecent assault. The 24-year-old had earlier been the key witness in the indecency trial of Edward McGurk, who was sentenced to 7 years hard labour. The NZ Truth newspaper questioned why Lander had not been charged, as this "dainty-looking chappie" was the willing victim of McGurk's offending. The police subsequently arrested him. At Lander's trial, McGurk freely gave evidence against him. Justice Chapman observed that Lander was, as the Press Association reported, "utterly unfit to associate with human beings as a free creature." He was imprisoned in New Plymouth Prison where he died 9 years later.

Artist Theo Schoon was born in Java, Indonesia, and moved to New Zealand in 1939. Schoon was a notable figure in New Zealand art in the mid 20th century. He refused to separate art and craft and created in a range of media. He was interested in the integration of Maori and European art to produce a local modernism.

Composer Douglas Lilburn was born in Whanganui. Described as "the elder statesman of New Zealand music", Lilburn championed the composition and performance of New Zealand music. In 1966 he founded the Electronic Music Studio at Victoria University of Wellington, and in the 1980s helped establish the Archive of New Zealand Music at the Alexander Turnbull Library. Today, the Lilburn Trust continues to support a wide range of projects related to New Zealand music.

Bea Arthur, founder of the Armstrong and Arthur Charitable Trust for Lesbians, was born. The Trust was named to recognise and remember Arthur and Bette Armstrong's 57-year relationship. In an interview with Alison Laurie, Arthur said that right from when the pair met in 1943 they slept in the same bed - but at that time, they didn't label their relationship as lesbian "It didn't have a name [...] we didn't seem to feel the need to be called anything, we just were."

Activist Jack Goodwin was born in Auckland. Goodwin was a senior member of the Dorian Society, New Zealand's earliest known homosexual organisation, and later a key member of the New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Society. The Dorian Society was established in Wellington in 1962. It was primarily set up as a social group, although it quickly formed a legal subcommittee to investigate the possibility of homosexual law reform. In 1967, soon after the Dorian Society began, the New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Society was formed with the narrow aim to repeal laws that criminalised homosexual activity. But within a couple of years, a new wave of activists propelled by Gay Liberation began calling for much broader change: full equality and the dismantlement of the patriarchy. At the 1974 Gay Liberation conference in Wellington, Goodwin, as a spokesperson for the more conservative Law Reform Society, told the gathering, "I'm as fed up as you are with society... but short of revolution we're doing all we can to change it.” According to the student magazine Salient, some in the crowd murmured, "Let's have a revolution, then." To which Goodwin replied, "Well if you want a revolution there may not be much hope for gays. Look at Cuba." Sadly, Goodwin died in 1983, and so never witnessed the passing of homosexual law reform in 1986.

Dr Hjelmar von Dannevill was imprisoned for suspicious activity on Matiu Somes Island in Wellington habour. Dannevill had arrived in New Zealand in 1911 with little documentation. With the onset of World War I, Dannevill came to the attention of the authorities. The Solicitor-General of New Zealand reported that "there is grave ground for suspicion that this person is a mischievous and dangerous imposter... There is much reason to suspect that she may be a man masquerading as a woman." Dannevill was subjected to a physical examination that revealed that this was not the case. However she was kept on the island for over seven weeks before suffering a severe nervous breakdown.

Bruce Mason, one of New Zealand's most significant playwrights, was born. Mason wrote over thirty plays, with The Pohutukawa Tree and End of the Golden Weather being two of his most well-known. Although Mason married in 1945, it wasn't until a book by John Smythe in 2015, that Mason's homosexuality became widely known. Smythe reflected on this more private side, "we can only wonder what else he might have written in a parallel universe or a more accepting era." Reviewer Dean Parker noted that Mason and his wife had an open relationship, "he was happily married with three children, but seemed to have had many male lovers." These are documented in surviving letters. One of his "pick-ups" in Christchurch later vindictively wrote to Mason's wife, "Do you know that your husband is an old lecherous pansy, well known all over NZ for it? The whole of Christchurch is laughing about you."

One of New Zealand's most famous writers, Katherine Mansfield, died in France from tuberculosis. After her death, husband John Middleton Murry edited and published a journal of her writings - intentionally omitting material dealing with Mansfield's sexuality. This included information relating to Edith Kathleen Bendall and Maata Mahupuku - both of whom had relationships with Mansfield while she was in New Zealand. At the time Mansfield wrote in her journal "I want Maata - I want her as I have had her." Later she would begin work on Maata, a semi-autobiographical novel. She wrote "There was not very much light in the room and Maata's skin flamed like yellow roses. The scent of her, like musk and spice, was on the air."

The NZ Truth newspaper published a story about the growth of degeneracy and sex crime. Under the headline "Sterilisation Proposed" the newspaper reported the increase of sex crimes from 1919 to 1922. Included in the figures was an increase in convictions for indecent assaults on a male (from 14 to 43). This involved, but was not necessarily limited to, consensual sexual activity between consenting male adults. The newspaper article noted "recent utterances from the Supreme Court bench have called attention to the desirability of some more or less drastic method, such as sterilisation, and the time may not be far distant when such a course will be justified."

Poet Ursula Bethell set up home with Effie Pollen in Christchurch. Much of Bethell's poetry described their home, garden and life together. Bethell called Pollen her "little raven" and mourned deeply when Effie died suddenly in 1934. Pollen was memorialised in a set of six poems, written each year by Bethell on the anniversary of her death.

New Zealand Truth reported on "The Dazzling Dandies" - a prisoners' extravaganza at New Plymouth Prison. Since 1917, the prison had been used for the segregation of sexual offenders - including what was termed homosexualists. At the time, men could be imprisoned for up to ten-years for consensual "indecent assault on a male", and life imprisonment for sodomy. In a report from that same year, Mr Hawkins, Inspector of Prisons said "The worst pervert of all is the one who flagrantly offers himself for the purposes of sodomy. Strange as it may seem, there are quite a number of such degenerates in our prisons today; middle-aged and elderly men being the chief offenders of this class. In my opinion segregation for life is the only course [as] no cure is possible in such cases."

The New Zealand Truth newspaper reported that nearly 20 per cent of New Zealand's prison population consisted of sexual offenders. The paper said that the convictions probably only represented a small proportion of the offences that were actually taking place. It singled out "homosexualists" in high society and in the ranks of Bohemia "where it is claimed a great deal of deliberate perversion is practiced under the cloak of art." The report said "lengthy terms of hard labour and even severe floggings have failed to curb the sexual license of the unfortunate pervert." It went on to talk about eugenics and suggested various remedies - from segregation for life to surgical operation.

A report titled Mental Defectives and Sexual Offenders was tabled in Parliament. According to Mr Hawkins, Inspector of Prisons, the "worst pervert of all", ahead of those who abuse women or children, "is the one who flagrantly offers himself for the purposes of sodomy." The committee considered castration, segregation and indefinite prison terms. They concluded, "New Zealand is a young country already exhibiting some of the weaknesses of much older nations...We ought to make every effort to keep the stock sturdy and strong, as well as racially pure... Surely our aim should be to prevent, as far as possible, the multiplication of [weaklings]."

New Zealander Peter Stratford married Elizabeth Rowland in Missouri, USA. In 1929 the couple would make international news headlines when Stratford's death bed confession to a doctor was reported as "I am not a man. I am a woman." Stratford emigrated from Oamaru to the United States in 1905 and worked as a journalist and literary agent. It was only a few months before Stratford's death that he confided to his wife. Rowland would later tell media "I left her when I learned the truth." The news coverage was ruthless and cruel towards Stratford, while Rowland was portrayed as a victim (but not always). Newspapers reported Stratford’s life as a "nonentity", highlighting his burial in a pauper's grave with no mourners in attendance at the funeral.

The Evening Post newspaper printed a number of stories about "masqueraders." One article reported that an unnamed person had been “going about as a girl” with the voice and appearance "typical of a Maori female." A second article reported that 18-year-old George Grace was charged in Napier with "being disguised." Grace had attended a local girl's college. At the sentencing, the Magistrate said "I will teach you to leave girls' clothing and girls' colleges alone in the future." Grace was sentenced to 3-months imprisonment. Newspapers from the early part of last century are peppered with reports of masquerading. It wasn't until 1966 when Carmen Rupe successfully challenged a similar charge and Justice McCarthy found that he was "quite unable to find anything in our law which says that it is unlawful for a male to attire himself in female clothing."

Morals campaigner Patricia Bartlett was born in Napier. In 1950 she entered the convent of the Sisters of Mercy in Wellington. She left in 1969, with author Barbara Brookes noting that other Sisters "were shocked at her interest in pornography and disapproved of her passion to stem the moral decline of society." Bartlett's campaigning was not limited to pornography. She fought against abortion, sex education in schools and homosexual law reform. In 1970 she founded the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards. At its peak, it had over 22,000 members. In 1993 the Evening Post photographed Bartlett and Internal Affairs Minister Graeme Lee uncomfortably surveying banned pornographic videos. The image shows Lee looking at a video case for Every Inch a Lady while Bartlett inspects All Anal Cumshot Revue.

Charles Mackay was shot dead by police in Berlin, Germany. It ended a remarkable decade in the life of Mackay. In May 1920, while still Mayor of Whanganui, Mackay was arrested for attempting to kill poet Walter D'Arcy Cresswell. Cresswell had tried to use Mackay's homosexuality to blackmail him out of public office. Mackay pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was imprisoned for fifteen years with hard labour. Mackay was reportedly released in 1926 on the condition that he would leave New Zealand immediately. He went to England and then to Berlin where he worked as a journalist. In May 1929, while covering a riot between communists and police, Mackay was shot and killed by the authorities.

The Evening Post reported on a talk given by Dr Jessie Scott entitled The Adolescent Girl. Presenting to the Christchurch branch of the Parents' National Education Union, Dr Scott talked about how girls between the ages of 11 and 16 could experience a "homosexual stage" where they showed great affection for members of their own sex - often for women much older than themselves. This developmental stage was then closely followed by the heterosexual stage. Dr Scott warned that if these developmental stages were delayed it could cause abnormality, ill-health, weakness or instability of character in adult life.

Artist Leonard Hollobon was arrested in Wellington and charged with indecently assaulting a male - Norris Davey (later to take the name Frank Sargeson). Davey applied for name suppression but this was refused. He then testified against Hollobon who received 5 years imprisonment. Davey received a suspended sentence, with the judge noting his offending was an isolated incident. In April 2018 Parliament unanimously passed a law that would allow this type of historic homosexual conviction to be expunged.

Dr Hjelmar von Dannevill died in San Francisco, USA. During the First World War, von Dannevill had been imprisoned on Matiu Somes Island in Wellington harbour on suspicion that she was an enemy alien. An official report noted that "there is much reason to suspect that she may be a man masquerading as a woman." After six week's imprisonment on the island, von Dannevill had a severe nervous breakdown and was taken ashore. After the war she left New Zealand with her companion Mary Bond and her children. They eventually settled in San Francisco where von Dannevill worked as a physician. At the time of her death, a newspaper reported "After her arrest in 1925 [in San Francisco] for masquerading as a man she was given a permit to wear masculine clothing."

Members of the nationalist German Student Union ransacked the library of Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Research in Berlin. The library contained thousands of books, documents and images on sexuality and gender. The contents were publicly burnt a few days later during nationwide Nazi book burning events. Exactly 52 years later, on 6 May 1985, members of New Zealand's rainbow communities gathered together on the steps of the National War Memorial Carillon to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust. They stood under a large cloth pink triangle - a symbol that homosexuals had to wear in the concentration camps. During the Nazi era, hundreds-of-thousands of rainbow community members (not just homosexuals) were persecuted, imprisoned and murdered.

Newspapers around the country reported on the case of Rosie Laihae who was charged with obtaining credit by falsely representing themselves as a woman. Earlier in the year Laihae had been shopping at a drapery shop in Pukekohe where she purchased on credit an evening dress, scents and face powder. Laihae's lawyer, Mr Foster, told the court that Laihae had considerable income and had the fullest intention of paying for the goods, so the charge of obtaining credit by fraud could not stand. Mr Foster said that "all of [Laihae's] mannerisms are now feminine." Foster said that Laihae came from a good family in the Hawke’s Bay. She was brought up as a girl and encouraged to dress in female clothing. When she was nine, she joined a circus and trained as an acrobat and trapeze artist. Laihae’s current employer, farm owner Thomas Bell, also gave evidence. He told the court that Laihae was an excellent worker on his farm, and would continue to employ her. He also guaranteed payment of the account. The two Justices of the Peace agreed that Laihae had the resource to pay the debt, and the case was dismissed.

Eric Mareo was found guilty of murdering his wife Thelma Trott in Auckland. The couple are described on the NZ Drug Foundation's website as "two artists living a flamboyant lifestyle in Auckland's Mt Eden." According to the site, they were both addicted to Veronal - the first commercially available barbiturate. The pair regularly visited the Dixieland cabaret, described by NZ Truth as "an orgy of jazz and fizz." A couple of years before Trott's death, she met fellow dancer Freda Stark and they began a relationship. This was discovered by Mareo who, on 15 April 1935, murdered Trott with an overdose of Veronal. During his trial, Mareo testified that "his wife’s desires were met by association with women." He said that he had caught his wife in bed with Stark a number of times. Mareo was ultimately found guilty of murder and sentenced to death - later commuted to life imprisonment.

Photographer Robert Gant died. Born in England Gant moved to New Zealand at the age of 21, living in Wairarapa and Wellington. Gant's visual interests include young men, sailors, shoes, theatrical scenes and execution scenarios (beheadings) – which were popular at the time. He had a long-term relationship with Charlie Haigh and lived with him for over 20-years in Seatoun, Wellington. Gant's photographs and life have been documented in Chris Brickell's 2012 book Manly Affections.

Prolific author William Taylor was born on this day in Lower Hutt. He left school at the age of sixteen, and after working in a bank for some time trained as a teacher. Taylor’s first novel for young adults was published in 1981. Five years later he retired from teaching and took up writing full time. One of Taylor's most celebrated novels, The Blue Lawn, was written just after the passing of the Homosexual Law Reform Act in 1986 but wasn't published for another eight years. The book tells the story of David, a promising young rugby player who develops an attraction to Theo, a new student at school. Writing for GayNZ.com, Chris Banks noted that the novel was originally rejected by Penguin Books as "it was 'not a work of good taste' and would harm his career." It wasn't until 1994 that the book was published by Harper Collins. The next year it won the Senior Fiction Award at the AIM Children's Book Awards. Taylor subsequently wrote a number of other gay-themed books. In his autobiography, Taylor described his own sexual identity as "somewhere between heterosexual and homosexual."

Author and activist Pat Rosier was born in Wairarapa. In the mid-1980s Rosier discovered Simone de Beauvoir and the new wave of the feminist movement. She co-founded the journal of the Women's Studies Association, and became the editor of Broadsheet, a nationally distributed feminist magazine. Broadsheet was published by a collective from 1972 to 1997 and played a significant part in documenting and contributing to women’s activism in New Zealand. Rosier also wrote ten books. After her death in 2014, her partner Prue Hyman wrote "Her becoming a novelist after many years writing non-fiction and poetry was essentially a 'show, not tell' way of describing the complexity and yet simplicity of living life as a lesbian as just one facet of one’s total life."

Timaru businessman William Preen pleaded guilty after being arrested while wearing women's clothing. The court heard that Preen had been thinking about it for some time and had recently purchased clothing in Christchurch. Preen's lawyer told the court "his act was foolish in the extreme, and, while it is difficult to understand, it was probably the result of a craving to see what it was like to go about like a female." Newspapers from the early part of last century are sprinkled with stories of similar prosecutions, often using words like "masquerade". Things changed for the better in January 1966, when Carmen Rupe bravely stood up to this type of persecution. Through her court case, it was established that there was nothing in New Zealand law that prevented anyone from dressing in male or female clothing.

US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited New Zealand with her aide Norah Walton during World War II to inspect US troops and study the contribution New Zealand women were making to the war effort. Roosevelt had well documented relationships with both men and women - particularly with journalist Lorena Hickok. Starting in the early 1930s and continuing for over three decades, the pair would write to each other - sometimes twice daily. At least 3,000 letters survive which document their relationship. In one, Hickok tells Roosevelt, "I want to put my arms around you and kiss you at the corner of your mouth." In another, "I can't kiss you, so I kiss your 'picture' good night and good morning!" One of Roosevelt's most famous public statements was "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

Human rights campaigner Sister Paula Brettkelly was born in the United Kingdom. As a child she emigrated with her family to New Zealand, entering the Sisters of St Joseph in 1961. In the mid-1980s Brettkelly read about the emergence of HIV/AIDS and began volunteering with the New Zealand AIDS Foundation. The Sisters of St Joseph website highlighted that this, along with other human rights advocacy, became her love and passion for the next twenty years "fighting discrimination and stigma faced by those with HIV and AIDS, standing alongside them as they lived - and as they died." On becoming a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2007 she told a group of young people "respect yourselves and look after your mates. Insist on fair play for everyone."

Writer Witi Ihimaera was born in Waituhi, near Gisborne. In 1972 his first short-story collection was published, followed a year later by Tangi - the first novel in English by a Maori author. A number of Ihimaera's best-known novels have been adapted for film including The Whale Rider and Nights in the Gardens of Spain. He's also received numerous literary awards including the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement. In 2009, when receiving the Te Tohu Tiketike a Te Waka Toi arts award, Ihimaera said "this award is for all those ancestors who have made us all the people we are. It is also for the generations to come, to show them that even when you aren’t looking, destiny has a job for you to do." In 2016, Ihimaera spoke at the first Samesame But Different LGBTIQA+ writers and readers festival in Auckland. He described his writing practice to host Paul Diamond, "First of all I write the text. But then I also think about the context of the text. I think about the subtext of the text. I think about the intertext. And I also think about the urtext, which is the original text. So for Nights in the Gardens of Spain, the original text, or the urtext, is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.” Reflecting on what motivates him to write, Ihimaera said, "All of my life I’ve been motivated by race politics. And so, to me being gay was actually similar to that. Because when I was attempting to find for myself representations that would work for me, I couldn't find those. When it came to New Zealand, I felt gay men and women have the same issues as Maori. We still need space. We still are looking for sovereignty. We are still attempting to create for ourselves a future in which we will be acknowledged."

Author and media personality David Hartnell was born in Auckland. In the 1960s he moved to Sydney, becoming Australia's first male in-store makeup artist. He then moved to the United States where he interviewed the celebrities he met. Hartnell began writing a weekly Hollywood gossip column, using the now famous catchphrases "I'm not one to gossip but..." and "...my lips are sealed." He also presented television and radio shows in New Zealand. In a 2011 interview with the Sunday Star Times he remarked "I've always thought, when the red [broadcast] light is on, you perform. When it's off, why waste your time?" Reflecting on his career Hartnell said "When I started gossip 40-odd years ago, they said, 'Oh, you'll never last.' And here I am. I don't know where the people are who rubbished me."

Cafe owner Chrissy Witoko was born in Hastings. In 1984 she opened the Evergreen Coffee Lounge in central Wellington. Witoko's priority was to ensure a friendly social environment in a time when there was a still open discrimination towards rainbow communities. The coffee lounge quickly became a home-away-from-home for many, and from 1988 was the location of the Gay and Lesbian Community Centre. Lining the interior walls of the establishment were large photographic collages of community members from the 1960s to the early 2000s. They can now be seen online in high-resolution courtesy of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Composer Jack Body was born in Te Aroha, Waikato. His love of music was evident from an early age, developing into a life-long career in composition, teaching and music promotion. He was heavily influenced by non-Western cultures as well as by individuals who challenged societal norms - particularly political activist and teacher Rewi Alley who lived and taught in China from the late 1920s, and entrepreneur and activist Carmen Rupe. In 2013 Songs and Dances of Desire, which celebrated Carmen's life, premiered at the Auckland Festival. Interviewed at the time, Body reflected on how fearless and inspirational Carmen was "The lesson we learn from her, [is] that we have one life, and the worst thing we can do is to have fears and anxieties. We have to embrace life and be who we are."

Two women appeared in court charged with offences under the Marriage Act. The two had lived together as husband and wife for over a decade. The magistrate ordered that they submit to psychiatric treatment, saying "you will need it." He also ordered that they should remain apart to give them every chance to return to "normality". The couple's relationship is explored in Julie Glamuzina's book Perfectly Natural: The audacious story of Iris Florence Peter Williams. Almost seventy years later, in November 2013, New Zealand's first ever gay wedding expo took place in Auckland.

Miles Radcliffe's body was found in a chocolate/ice cream factory in central Wellington. Radcliffe was the factory's manager and a "known homosexual." He had a reputation for hosting parties for very appreciative service-people during the Second World War. Radcliffe's body was found in a doorway in the factory. He had been strangled and beaten to death the night before. Staff told police that he was a homosexual and would, according to the caretaker, take men back to his office in the evenings where he had a couch. Radcliffe had not been robbed but a pathologist determined that he was sexually aroused at the time of his death. No one was ever charged with his death but evidence pointed to the killer(s) possibly being crew on a ship which was in port at the time.

Trail-blazer Dana de Milo was born in Auckland. Soon after running away from home at the age of thirteen, de Milo had a chance meeting with Carmen Rupe in a local coffee lounge. She recalled in a 2016 interview that "[Carmen] was the person I wanted to be." De Milo went on to describe how transgender people in the 1960s and 1970s were "the face of gayness - because gay men could run and hide... behind their male clothes. We were the ones who got picked on." Shortly after de Milo's death in 2018, MP Jan Logie paid tribute to her in Parliament: "She was one of our torch holders who created space for so many of us to walk into... My ability to stand here open and proud of my lesbian identity comes from the bravery and political advocacy of my elders, like Dana."

Internationally acclaimed author Keri Hulme was on born on this day in Christchurch. As a teenager, Hulme began writing short stories and poetry - some of which were published in her high school's magazine. In the 1970s, she received a number of literary grants and was awarded the Robert Burns Fellowship in 1977. During this period, Hulme continued working on The Bone People - the book that would skyrocket her to international fame in the mid 1980s. Over a period of twelve years, Hulme had submitted the work to a number of publishers who had wanted to make significant changes. The Bone People was ultimately picked up by the Spiral Collective - a feminist literary and arts collective founded in Christchurch. The book was an immediate success, with its first edition selling out in weeks. It went on to win the 1984 New Zealand Book Award for Fiction and the Booker Prize in 1985. Not only did Hulme become the first New Zealander to win the Booker Prize, she was also the first writer to win the Booker for their debut novel.

Activist Porleen Simmonds was born in Wairarapa. In the 1970s, she co-founded numerous community groups including Sisters for Homophile Equality (SHE), the Amazons softball team, the lesbian-feminist magazine Circle, and Club 41 - Wellington's first lesbian club. In 1981, Pleasance Hansen approached Simmonds to help establish The Woman's Place feminist bookshop. The shop was located at the top of Cuba Street in Wellington, and had two large purple flagpoles placed on the street front. In an interview with Broadsheet magazine in 1983, Simmonds said, "It feels very political running a feminist bookshop with such an obvious out-front feminist and lesbian-feminist space." Hansen added, "So many books and material on women in such a small space makes it feel very concentrated and very powerful." Over time, other lesbian businesses and groups were established in the same area. Hansen later recalled, "We had a whole section of Cuba Street that was completely lesbian defined." Simmonds would go on to become a founding member of LILAC - the Lesbian Information, Library and Archives Centre.

Journalist and author Tom McLean was born in Greenock, Scotland. He worked for a number of Scottish newspapers before moving to New Zealand in 1973. In the mid-1980s, after a year of general unwellness he took an HIV test that returned a positive result. A year later he was diagnosed with AIDS. Without medication, McLean was told that he might only have a year to live. With the newly available (but toxic) AZT drug, it may give him up to two years. He began writing If I Should Die, the first book to give a personal account of living with AIDS in New Zealand. McLean told media that in his remaining time he would continue fighting against the ignorance and prejudice that surrounded AIDS: "In this country, it is still entirely legal to sack someone with the virus, to throw them out of their flats, to refuse them service in shops." It wouldn't be until the Human Rights Act 1993 that discrimination on the grounds of having organisms capable of causing illness in the body was outlawed.

Maata Mahupuku died. As a teenager Mahupuku had a relationship with writer Katherine Mansfield. They both attended Miss Swainson's Fitzherbert Terrace School in Wellington. After which, Mahupuku left for Paris where she learnt to speak fluent French and developed her talent for singing. Mansfield's friend Ida Baker described Mahupuku as "petite, with a pale touch of gold in her skin and sparks flashing from her eyes." Later Mansfield wrote in her journal "I want Maata - I want her as I have had her - terribly. This is unclean I know but true." After Mansfield’s death in 1923 it emerged that she had begun a novel entitled Maata. Mahupuku went on to marry several times and have a number of children.

Chris Carter, New Zealand's first openly gay male Member of Parliament, was born in Auckland. He first stood for the Labour Party in 1987, but it wasn't until 1993 that he became an MP. In his maiden speech Carter said "I stand here tonight as the first sitting Member of this House to publicly acknowledge that my personal sexuality is different from the majority of New Zealanders. I believe my sexuality has played a very positive role in my life." He went on to say "My own situation rapidly led me to a real empathy for those in society who, because of their race, their sex, or their economic circumstances are judged less than equal." In 1997 the Waipareira Rainbow branch was established in Carter's electorate - marking the birth of Rainbow Labour (celebrating its 25th anniversary this year). And in 2007 Carter became the first Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister to have a civil union. He said at the time "It will be a special moment for [Peter and I], and a chance for our family and friends to give public witness to our 33-year relationship."

Academic, feminist, activist and politician Marilyn Waring was born. Waring made headlines in August 1976 when, as a current Member of Parliament, she was outed by the tabloid New Zealand Truth newspaper. In 1984 Waring threatened to vote for the opposition-sponsored nuclear-free New Zealand legislation, leading Prime Minister Robert Muldoon to call a snap election (which the National Party lost). After leaving parliament, Waring went on to a distinguished academic career and in 2012 was included on the Wired Magazine Smart List of "50 people who will change the world."

Activist and counsellor Mani Bruce Mitchell was born in Mount Eden, Auckland. Identified (inaccurately) as hermaphrodite at birth, Mitchell was subjected to non-consensual normalizing genital surgeries as a child, and sexual abuse - which carried through into adulthood. Mitchell has spent the last three decades transforming this narrative of trauma into their activism and work in the mental health field. In 1996 Mitchell became the first person in New Zealand to come-out publicly as Intersex, and in 1997 founded the Intersex Society of New Zealand. In 2016 they were a finalist in the New Zealander of the Year awards and were integral in bringing the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association world conference to New Zealand in 2019.

Dr Charles Farthing was born in Christchurch. He studied medicine at the University of Otago before moving overseas. Farthing was at the forefront of care for people with HIV/AIDS - helping establish one of the United Kingdom's first AIDS wards in the mid 1980s, before becoming the Director of the AIDS treatment programme at Bellevue Hospital in New York. In 1997, frustrated at the slow progress of developing a vaccine, he volunteered to become a human guinea pig. On the news of his death in April 2014, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Michael Weinstein, told media "the fact that he was willing to take a chance with his own life - when we were still in the era of certain death - showed his commitment, his courage, his willingness to do anything for a breakthrough."

Jonathan Dennis, founding director of the New Zealand Film Archive, was born on this day in Taumarunui. His early years were spent in the Aoraki/Mount Cook region before he was sent to boarding school in Christchurch. Dennis remembers the experience as "a nightmarish time [of] bullying and beating and madness." His escape was film: "that was the place of my fantasies, my imagination, my dreams - seemed to be going at 24 frames a second and BIG." In the late 1970s Dennis and a small group of passionate cinephiles advocated for an archive to be established to preserve New Zealand’s rich film heritage. In 1981 he became the Archive's first director. Biographer Emma-Jean Kelly wrote that under Dennis' leadership the Archive "incorporated indigenous rights into its infrastructure and acknowledged the rights of the materials themselves as nga taonga, as living entities with relationships to people."

HIV/AIDS educator and activist Tom O'Donoghue was born in Paihia. He worked as a freezing works laboratory technician before moving into health care. In 1988, O'Donoghue tested positive for HIV. Combining his health work background and his personal experience, O'Donoghue began engaging with a wide range of groups about HIV/AIDS. At a Beacons of Hope AIDS memorial in the early 1990s, he told those gathered, "Let us be the best educators in the field of HIV/AIDS because only we can personalise this virus." O'Donoghue was a founding member of the National People Living With AIDS Union and a trustee of the New Zealand AIDS Foundation. Trish McBride, who volunteered at the Foundation in the 1990s, remembers, "Tom lived and worked among some of the most stigmatised and marginalised people in our society. He fed them with love and hope and quenched their thirst with his compassion. He drew them into the community of care and mutual support he had been instrumental in forming."

Teenagers Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme were found guilty of murdering Parker's mother with a brick in Victoria Park, Christchurch. The trial highlighted the girls' fantasies and absorption with each other. Defence lawyers contended that the pair had a shared psychotic disorder (folie a deux), with one of the symptoms being homosexuality. However psychiatrist Kenneth Stallworthy told the court that even though they had "engaged in some form of physical homosexuality... homosexuality [was not] any indication of insanity." The pair were too young to be sentenced to death and so were jailed. After 5 years they were released and both relocated separately to the United Kingdom. Reflecting on the case, academic Alison Laurie noted that the attention given to lesbian relationships in the "very negative context of murder and of young girls out of control, [had] a big impact on how that generation of lesbians and their parents began to think about relationships between girls and women."

In the United Kingdom, a committee chaired by Lord Wolfenden began to consider homosexual offences and prostitution. At the time there were over 1,000 men in prison in England and Wales for homosexual activity. In September 1957 the committee’s report was published with a recommendation that "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence." However, it took another decade before homosexual acts were decriminalised - and then only in England and Wales with an age of consent of 21. New Zealand’s path to homosexual law reform was closely influenced by what had happened in the UK. In 1963 the Dorian Society established a legal subcommittee to provide advice and investigate reform, and in April 1967 around 150 people met to discuss the issue. This in-turn led to the establishment of the Wolfenden Association, later to be renamed the New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Society.

Activist and community icon Shelley Te Waiariki Howard was born in Hastings. For much of her life, Howard had tried to suppress her femininity. It wasn't until her late 50s that she publicly identified as transgender. In an interview with Jac Lynch she said, "We're all of us somewhere on a scale of non-binary gender. And somewhere along that way, we find our comfort place that allows us to express ourselves without compromising other things that might be important to us." Howard became a passionate advocate for rainbow communities, speaking in public forums and doing media interviews. In 2015, she undertook a series of solo activist events to highlight the difference between tolerance and acceptance. Howard courageously stood blindfolded in various parts of Wellington city with her arms outstretched. Beside her she had two signs. One summarised data from the Youth '12 survey, which showed that despite the many hardships faced by transgender youth, they were the most active in youth communities in helping and assisting others. The second sign read: "I am transgender, I honour you, will you honour me? Awhi mai, hug me." And many did.

Activist and politician Georgina Beyer was born in Wellington. Beyer's rich life has been the subject of books and films documenting her journey from, as she puts it, "cracking it as a prostitute" to becoming the world's first openly transgender Mayor and Member of Parliament. While in Parliament, Beyer fought for, among other things, prostitution law reform, civil unions and gender identity legislation. Author Andrew Reynolds recently described her as the "iconic Ghandi of the movement ... Being the first in the world is a remarkable achievement. Her courage, her tenacity, her authenticity, transforms hearts and minds."

Historian Gavin McLean was born in Oamaru. As a youngster McLean found sanctuary around the local harbour, fishing and contemplating the history of the waterfront. It developed into a life-long passion for maritime history. After graduating from Otago University he moved to Wellington in the 1980s and fought for homosexual law reform. He was deeply involved with the Wellington Gay Community Centre and Pink Triangle magazine. For many years McLean was also a key figure in the Professional Historians Association of New Zealand/Aotearoa, and held significant positions at Historic Places Trust and Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage. He would write or edit more than fifty publications before his death in 2019.

Former Labour politician Tim Barnett was born. Originally from the United Kingdom, Barnett moved to New Zealand in 1991. While in government, Barnett introduced the Prostitution Reform Bill, which became law in 2003 - making New Zealand the first country in the world to decriminalise sex work. He was also a champion for the Civil Union Bill, which became law in 2004.

Activist Neil Costelloe was born on the West Coast. In the 1980s Costelloe fearlessly campaigned for homosexual law reform - taking part in many protests and rallies. He used his graphic design skills to create protest posters and appeared on television talking about homophobic bashings which were on the increase. Costelloe also planned and took part in smaller (but still powerful) actions prior to homosexual activity becoming legal. Costelloe's sister, Jayne, recalls how she saw him standing on a main street in Wellington openly kissing his boyfriend, "They were very out and very proud." After law reform passed in 1986, Costelloe moved to the United Kingdom where he lived until his death in 1990 from AIDS-related complications.

Pioneering surgeon Harold Gillies died. Gillies is widely considered the father of modern plastic surgery. Born in Dunedin in 1882 Gillies left New Zealand to study medicine in England. During WW1 he developed techniques that used grafted flaps of skin and transplanted rib bones. After the war he focussed his attention on gender affirming surgery. In 1946, he carried out one of the world’s first gender reassignment surgeries. The procedures he developed became the standard for the next 40 years.

Darren Horn was born. Horn was one of the early organisers of the New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt. In 1992 he wrote "All the quilts speak of love, compassion and memories. Each is composed of recollection, sadness, acceptance and letting go. The quilts help us to learn and accept." In the early days of the global epidemic, Horn along with Peggy Dawson, provided light touch massage for people living with HIV and AIDS in Auckland. They created a quilt panel featuring large daisies, with each petal containing the name of someone they had worked with who had subsequently died. Poignantly, the last two petals were left blank and only completed after Horn's death in 1993. They commemorate his partner Stephen Maxted who died in May 1993, and Horn himself who died four months later.

The newly amended Crimes Act 1961 came into force, replacing the Crimes Act 1908. Penalties for male homosexual acts were reduced from whipping, flogging and life imprisonment with hard labour to prison terms of up to 7 years. Attorney-General Rex Mason had earlier proposed that homosexual acts be dealt with as indecent assaults (which would attract lesser penalties), but this was not adopted. Debate around homosexual law reform had been growing since the Wolfenden Report had been published in the United Kingdom five years earlier. In 1959, the Upper Hutt Leader newspaper ran a story saying "It would appear that New Zealand law is moving in the direction of the recommendations of the Wolfenden Committee." Readers were invited to attend an upcoming public debate with the topic "That homosexuality between consenting males should remain a crime."

A group of sixteen men met in Wellington to elect officers of a still unnamed group that would shortly become the Dorian Society - the oldest documented homosexual organisation in New Zealand. The Dorian was primarily (but not exclusively) a social group that allowed members to meet collectively in private and be themselves. This was a liberation, in a time when homosexual activity was an imprisonable offence and homosexuals could be legally discriminated against. Just over a week after that first meeting, the name was formalised and a draft constitution was written. Understandably there was no mention of homosexuality, but the aims were clear. Included in them: "To promote amongst its members an honest desire to serve the development of friendship, mutual respect, and tolerance in all its aspects" and to "provide entertainment for its members and activities of a cultural and social nature." The Dorian was a significant organisation and is still fondly remembered today. As Graham Wills, a former member, recently recalled "I met my second boyfriend at the Dorian. He was serving more than drinks."

Writer James Courage died in England. Born in Canterbury, New Zealand, he only made one trip back here in the mid 1930s. According to his niece Virginia Clegg, he came out to his mother and father during that visit, at which point "all hell broke loose and he never set foot in this country again." Author Christopher Burke credits Courage with writing New Zealand's first gay short story (Guest at the Wedding), and this country’s first gay novel (A Way of Love). The novel tells the story of a young man's relationship with an older man. It was banned in New Zealand in the early 1960s on the "grounds of indecency and because it lacked redeeming literary merit."

Charles Allan Aberhart was killed in Hagley Park. What happened to Aberhart in his lifetime, can be taken as a glaring example of the injustice sometimes found in our justice system. Aberhart was not only persecuted by this country’s laws, with a conviction in 1963 for consensual homosexual activity (a conviction that would ultimately be expunged in 2019), but he and his family were also denied justice after he was beaten to death in Christchurch’s Hagley Park a year later, by a group of teenage boys. The youths were caught shortly after the attack and charged with manslaughter. The all-male jury heard how the group had gone to the park specifically with the intention to “smack up some queers.” A detective noted that some of the group had done this type of thing before. The court heard how the teenagers had approached a number of men that evening, using the youngest in the group as bait. After luring Aberhart into conversation, the group viciously attacked him and left him to die. The youths didn’t deny assaulting him, but claimed he had propositioned them. The jury found all six not guilty. As Ian Breward wrote in the journal Landfall in 1965, "Homosexuals in New Zealand labour under a triple disadvantage. They are regarded with disgust, suffer severe legal penalties if convicted and, worst of all, are not even guaranteed the posthumous satisfaction of seeing their assailants brought to justice; that is, they are not considered equal with other citizens before the law." At the time there wasn't a lot of media coverage of the case or people standing up in defence of homosexuals. However some saw the judicial outcome as a gross injustice and it became one of the motivations for the establishment of the New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Society in 1967.

Norman "Old Sunshine" Gibson died in New Plymouth. In the 1990s Gibson's daughter, Miriam Saphira, wrote about her father and his relationship with Roy Ayling. Both were soldiers in the First World War, sharing a trench together during the Battle of the Somme in France. Ayling later remarked to the renowned artist Toss Woollaston that "he had seen the younger [Gibson] while at the war, poised for a dive when they were swimming, and loved his beautiful body." In September 1916 Gibson was shot in the neck and evacuated to a field hospital. Ayling was distraught, a feeling captured in his poem titled Old Sunshine. It reads in part "Now that we are far apart, / Longing makes the hot tears start, / Who can ease my aching heart? / Old Sunshine." The love poem stands out proudly in the 1917 wartime publication New Zealand at the Front, written and illustrated in France by members of the New Zealand Division.

Prolific Ngati Porou songwriter, composer and teacher Tuini Ngawai died. Ngawai wrote over 200 waiata. One of her most famous, Arohaina mai, became the unofficial hymn of the 28th Maori Battalion.

Carmen Rupe was arrested in Auckland for behaving in an offensive manner in a public place. The "offensive manner" was Rupe wearing female clothing in public. On the 24 January she appeared in court to challenge the charge. Justice McCarthy dismissed the case saying that he was "quite unable to find anything in our law which says that it is unlawful for a male to attire himself in female clothing." This was a watershed moment, as for many years people had been prosecuted for just that: back in 1925, Kenneth Dell faced a week of imprisonment for "behaving in a disorderly manner" in Queen Street. Dell, was hospitalised on the morning of his court appearance and was fined instead. And in 1929 George Grace, aged 18, was convicted and sentenced to 3-months imprisonment for "being disguised."

Doreen Davis was standing trial accused of murdering Raewyn Petley. Both had been serving with the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps, when Petley was found dead in her bed with a deep wound to her neck. Davis was in turn taken to Auckland Hospital after a drug overdose. Davis' defence lawyer argued that she had been "befriended by a woman outwardly kind and sympathetic but inwardly a hunting lesbian." Davis testified that Petley "...wanted me. She tried to kiss me and did. She... looked like a man, not a woman... I finally gave in." The defence contended Petley had cut her own throat. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty.

Around 150 people met in Wellington to endorse the formation of the Wolfenden Association and campaign for homosexual law reform. The group's name referenced Lord Wolfenden who, a decade earlier, had chaired a committee in the United Kingdom that recommended "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence." The Association soon changed its name to the New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Society. They published a pamphlet that claimed there were at least 40,000 homosexual men in New Zealand who need "understanding rather than persecution."

Possibly the first ever New Zealand television programme to examine homosexuality was broadcast as part of the Compass series. Television was still in its infancy in this country, having only begun in 1960, with Compass being the first locally produced current affairs show. In a recent interview, programme producer Ian Johnstone recalled the secrecy the crew had to adopt while filming the episode (as homosexual activity was still illegal until 1986). The production crew travelled in unmarked vehicles and only filmed at night. But Johnstone came away from the experience pleasantly surprised. Rather than participants who were "shamed" or seeking ways out, Johnstone found that the men had a "self-confidence within them... that strength came through and it was wonderful."

Detective Superintendent F.A. Gordon made national headlines after speaking at the Christchurch Lions Club. Responding to the possibility of homosexual law reform (which eventually happened in 1986), the detective asked those present, "Do we want our cities overrun with pimps, ponces, pansies, pussyfoots and perverts? A nation of queers? If homosexuality were allowed... the danger would be as disastrous as a hydrogen bomb." His words drew a number of swift and courageous responses in the Christchurch Press newspaper. One reader, identified only as "Graduate," wrote that the detective's "emotional outburst" not only displayed crass ignorance, but also brought into question the fairness of the police administration. Another reader highlighted how the present laws contributed to suicide, blackmail and violence. However, F.A. Gordon’s views didn't spoil his police career. He was made a Chief Superintendent and went on to oversee investigations into complaints against the police. He later said, "Ninety-nine per cent of these [complaints] are shown to be frivolous or malicious."

Rev. Godfrey Wilson delivered a sermon at St Peter's Anglican church highlighting the negative treatment of homosexuals in our society. It was, at that time, a radical call for acceptance and inclusion. The groundbreaking sermon was broadcast live on National Radio and is probably the first of its kind to be heard in New Zealand. In 2017, the service was repeated to mark the 50th anniversary. This time it was led by Rev. Annette Cater, who at the end, blessed the rainbow banners in the church - which included the one she made from materials used for creating clergy vestments.

The Otago Daily Times newspaper published a stinging editorial response to a magistrate who had recently overturned the convictions of two men for homosexual activity. The Christchurch magistrate had referred to new British legislation as an important factor in assessing the local case. At the time in New Zealand, homosexual activity between males was illegal, whereas the United Kingdom Parliament had just decriminalised sexual activity in private between consenting males over the age of 21. The editorial observed that the magistrate had "not only quoted British legislation, but also the climate of British opinion, expressing the view that a parallel climate has evolved in New Zealand... There are strong grounds for believing that many New Zealanders are beginning to look with alarm on the loosening public morals of 'swinging Britain'... Many 'informed and responsible' New Zealanders accept the historical tenet that immorality increases as greatness disintegrates."

Composer Gareth Farr was born in Wellington. While studying music in New York in the mid-1990s, Farr developed the drag persona Lilith LaCroix and the percussion extravaganza Drumdrag, which toured New Zealand extensively and had performances in Australia and Canada. In 1997 Lilith performed a drumming midnight mass at the Devotion dance party that was labelled stupendous. But according to Farr, his first "politically gay" composition was During These Days - a choral piece commissioned to mark the 30th anniversary of homosexual law reform in 2016. Farr told media at the time "I know how lucky I am that I have had this law all my adult life." In 2019 Farr wrote an orchestral fanfare that launched the Wellington International Pride Parade.

A petition calling for the decriminalisation of homosexual acts between consenting males aged 21 and over was presented in Parliament. The petition, organised by the New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Society, was signed by 75 courageous New Zealanders (keeping in mind law reform didn't occur for another 18 years). Member of Parliament John Rae said "one cannot but be impressed with the status of the people who were prepared to put their names on the petition. They start from the highest office in the Churches and go through the professional groups, the lawyers, professors, school masters, scientists, and others." MP Robert Talbot, an opponent, told the House "The petitioners have stated that homosexuals live in fear of being caught because of the present law... It is no doubt correct, but I believe this fear is necessary if this unnatural activity is to be controlled in our society." Interestingly, MP Martin Finlay noted "I think it is generally accepted, at least in medical and scientific circles if not publicly, that every one of us has some latent element of homosexuality in him, even those who are loudest and most vehement in their protestations of revulsion."

The Parliamentary Petitions Committee blocked a petition seeking the removal of criminal penalties for homosexual acts between consenting male adults. Prof J.H. Robb, President of the New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Society, told the committee that if Members of Parliament were a statistical representation of the community as a whole, it would be reasonable to assume that at least four members would be homosexual. This was reported in the Evening Post and drew a swift response from the Leader of the Opposition, Norman Kirk who described the headline as "despicable, objectionable, sensational and quite misleading". In November 1975, Robin Duff stood in the General Election as New Zealand's first openly gay candidate.

The Stonewall Riots began in New York City. Although the push for homosexual law reform had already begun years earlier in New Zealand, the Stonewall uprising still resonated here strongly. By the early 1970s numerous Gay Liberation groups had formed and Gay Pride weeks were being held here around Stonewall's anniversary. Pride activities weren't confined to large centres. On 24 June 1974 a television programme featured a gay man and his father in Coromandel preparing to bravely march solo in solidarity with other pride marches. By June 1981, Pride posters promoted a simple but powerful message: "After thousands of years in hiding, we are moving into the light. Our right to live, our right to love."

The New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Society held its annual conference in Wellington. The Society had grown out of a large public meeting in 1967. When invited to become the Society’s patron, former Governor-General Lord Cobham responded, "These people are mentally sick… The whole problem of legalising this offence seems to me to hinge upon the extent to which the disease is contagious." Cobham's negativity didn't deter the Society which went on to establish groups around the country. At its conference in September 1969, lawyer Nigel Taylor urged members to not accept anything less than equality in the law relating to consensual sexual activity. He went on to say, "The Society should concentrate on a wholesale attack - not only on the law relating to the morality of homosexuality, it should also join all others who wish people to be free in an area in which it is not the duty of the State to make any rules at all."

The New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Society held a national conference to discuss law reform. In attendance was the Bishop of Wellington, H.W Baines. He called for Christians to adopt an understanding attitude, to show homosexuals that they were not excluded from society. The Law Reform Society had been courageously lobbying for law change since its formation in early 1967. Treasurer of the Society, Barry Neels, told reporters in August that year, "The average New Zealander has been brain-washed into an intolerant state of disgust for his brother homosexual; he is not able to show compassion because even sympathisers and reformers come under suspicion… Unless legislation is changed, New Zealand will always have homosexual suicides, ostracism of often brilliant men and an increasing number of homosexual patients and prisoners in mental hospitals and gaols."

Auckland University student Ngahuia Te Awekotuku was refused entry into the United States because she was a known lesbian. Te Awekotuku had been awarded a student scholarship to study in the US but came up against the State's policy of actively prohibiting "sexual deviants" from entering the country. In a recent media interview Te Awekotuku recalled: "It was open-mic day in the university quad and I grabbed the microphone and yelled out what had happened. I said, 'Let's start a revolution!'" This call to action on 15 March became one of the catalysts for Gay Liberation in New Zealand. Within a few months Gay Liberation groups had been set up in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. As highlighted in the November 1972 edition of Gay Lib News, Gay Liberation was far more than just fighting for homosexual law reform - it was about sexual self-determination, "G.L.F. was formed to fight for liberation so that people are not only permitted to explore their sexual identities but are actually expected to."

The first Gay Liberation Front action - a Gay Day - is held in Auckland. Historian Will Hansen writes "Activists led by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku gathered under Albert Park's statue of Queen Victoria, chanting 'Will Victorian morality ever die?' while onlookers jeered." Protesting under the Queen was significant as it was through British colonisation and the adoption of the British legal system in 1840, that homophobic laws were subsequently enacted in New Zealand. While there had been earlier public meetings to advocate for homosexual law reform, the Gay Day event was one of the first occasions when rainbow activists took to the streets to demand liberation. The Gay Day was reported on the television news which prompted a nineteen-year-old Chris Carter to publicly come out. He would later go on to become New Zealand's first openly out gay male Member of Parliament in 1993. Carter reflected that the Gay Day "was the catalyst that got everything out into the open."

New Zealand's first Gay [Pride] Week took place in Auckland. The week began with a Guerrilla Theatre performance on University of Auckland’s campus. The term 'guerrilla theatre' was coined in the US in the mid-1960s to describe surprise performances highlighting social/political issues through the use of protest and carnivalesque techniques. Activist Ngahui Te Awekotuku wrote in the student magazine Craccum how the performance "met with grand success - despite a noisy quasi regal entourage descending upon a ritualistic karate demonstration in the quad." The week also saw Gay Liberation Front supporters protest with placards "I support G.L.F. – Ask me WHY." Te Awekotuku noted some of the responses: "How interesting - my hairdresser's one you know", "Oooh! Dirty pervert!" and "A good root will put you right, love!" There was also a Gay Liberation teach-in and "the greatest highlight - a very Gay dance and lush up." Te Awekotuku ended her review of the week with a challenge, "And now - what?"

New Zealand's first National Gay Liberation conference was held in Auckland. Activist anger had been growing over the previous decade: in 1967 there had been public meetings followed by a petition calling for homosexual law reform, in 1969 the Stonewall riots in New York City had resonated with many, and in March 1972, after being refused entry into the United States for "sexual deviance", activist Ngahuia Te Awekotuku passionately called for gay liberation. Groups quickly sprang up around the country. The Auckland Gay Liberation Front wrote in the student newspaper Craccum, "Liberation for gay people is defining for ourselves how and with whom we live, instead of measuring our relationships against heterosexual 'norms.' We must be free to live our own lives in our own way."

Gay Liberation (University of Auckland) released its manifesto to the public. It began, "For the first time in history, gays are organising to end their oppression. We are not going to be treated as sick, disturbed or perverted." It called for people to come out the closet and say “we are proud to be gay and we demand equality.” The manifesto continued, "We believe that all people should have the unhindered right to sexual self-determination i.e., to be either homosexual, heterosexual or bisexual according to their sexual preference." The group demanded the repeal of all anti-gay laws and a ban on all discrimination against gays, "We intend to stand firm as gays and demand our basic rights. Gay is angry. Gay is proud."

Editor and poet Charles Brasch died in Dunedin. In 1947 he founded and became editor of New Zealand's foremost literary journal Landfall. During his life he kept detailed personal diaries. In 2009 writer Margaret Scott was interviewed about transcribing the diaries, and her relationship with Brasch: "I was 19 when I met Charles... He hadn't a hope of being a happy man. He was just too sensitive... He turned out to be homosexual and he couldn't face that." She recounted in her 2001 memoir, "Charles and I slept together off and on for some years. He thought if he found the right woman then he could settle down and have a family." Seemingly conflicted for a lot of his life, he wrote just four years before his death, "Only men so draw me that I want to be part of them, to lose myself in them, to become them."

Media reported that members of the New Zealand Psychological Society objected to recent comments on homosexuality made by Father Felix Donnelly. Speaking at a Gay Liberation conference, Father Donnelly had said, "Homosexuality is an incontrovertible fact - like other facts, it cannot be changed. It must be accepted for what it is." Mr Parsonson and Mr Priest from the Psychological Society told media that there was much evidence to support the view that homosexual behaviour was learned and could be changed with treatment - such as aversion therapy. Donnelly responded by saying that aversion therapy has been forced on homosexuals in all manner of ways, "[It] perpetuates the model of homosexuality as a sickness." Overseas, the American Psychiatric Association changed its position on homosexuality in December 1973. Its membership voted to update the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, to say that homosexuality "by itself does not constitute a psychiatric disorder."

Rev. Wilfred Ford, President of the Homosexual Law Reform Society, and Professor Jim Robb met with Prime Minister Norman Kirk to advocate for homosexual law reform. The Society had formed six years earlier, and had unsuccessfully petitioned Parliament to change the law in 1968. During the meeting with Kirk, they presented a document which showed support for law reform from the Labour and National parties, the Society of Friends (Quakers) and the Presbyterian and Methodist churches. The document noted the objective of the Society which was to "promote reform of the law whereby homosexual acts between consenting adults in private shall not constitute a criminal offence." But importantly it also noted, "The Society does not seek moral approval of homosexual behaviour." In contrast, the new Gay Liberation movement, called for sweeping societal change. The movement wanted to change the law and society, as stated in New Zealand's first Gay Liberation manifesto (1972): "The long-term goal of the Auckland Gay Liberation Front, which inevitably brings us into fundamental conflict with the institutionalised sexism of this society, is to rid society of the gender-role system which is at the root of our oppression."

The Gay Liberator newsletter published a hard-hitting editorial by Ben van Prehn. The column reflected a growing frustration that, two years after the formation of the first Gay Liberation groups in New Zealand, it was increasingly difficult to get people involved. "You must realise it takes sacrifices trying to get the changes we want. You must accept and shoulder some of the responsibilities of being gay… All of you people reading this newsletter must realise there is a lot at stake - our whole gay future, and our younger brothers and sisters future is at stake… Stop thinking in terms of what is beneficial for you... If you are convinced you are quite liberated fair enough, but wouldn’t you think it is your responsibility, your duty, to help others liberate themselves?"

SHE Wellington held New Zealand's first national lesbian conference. SHE (Sisters for Homophile Equality) was established in Christchurch in 1973 with a manifesto that reflected both women's liberation and gay politics. Writing in Women Together: a History of Women's Organisations in New Zealand, activist Linda Evans said, "For some, informal meetings and relaxed socialising were sufficient; others felt 'a growing awareness of and anger at the constant prejudice we face'." Within two months, SHE had around 200 members in Christchurch and Wellington. As reported in the Dominion and Evening Post newspapers, the first national conference was attended by approximately 40 people who resolved that homosexual couples should be able to adopt children and that lesbian couples should be accorded the same legal status as de facto marriages in relation to social recognition, inheritance rights and tax benefits. Another outcome of the conference was the formation of a SHE group in Palmerston North.

Media reported that Labour Prime Minister Norman Kirk would oppose any legislation that treated homosexuality as a normal behaviour. His comments preceded the introduction, by National MP Venn Young, of legislation to decriminalise homosexual activity. This was the first major parliamentary attempt at homosexual law reform in New Zealand. Although it was voted down the next year (34 - 29 with 24 abstentions), the issues and activists weren't going away. Writing in Salient magazine in September 1976, activist Alan Seymour stated, "We will not just go away, back into our closets to lead an oppressed existence. We refuse to put up with the humiliation of the pallid tokens of liberal tolerance any longer. We demand acceptance, to be allowed to live our lives the way we choose, to be allowed to fulfil ourselves as human beings."

Soon-to-be politician Marilyn Waring signed up as a member of the Young Nationals. The action was in response to reading the front page of that morning's newspaper which reported Labour Prime Minister Norman Kirk as saying that he would oppose any legislation that treated homosexuality as a "normal behaviour." Kirk's comment followed the news that National Party MP Venn Young was planning to introduce a bill to decriminalise homosexuality activity. Young's bill was the first political attempt at homosexual law reform in New Zealand. However it wouldn't be until 9 July 1986 that law reform would be achieved - this time championed by Labour MP Fran Wilde.

On this day, representatives from five Gay Liberation groups made submissions to a parliamentary select committee. The Committee was considering MP Venn Young's members bill which set out to decriminalise homosexual acts between consenting adults aged 21 and over. This was the first major parliamentary attempt at homosexual law reform in New Zealand. Media reported that Rae Dellaca from Gay Liberation (Victoria University of Wellington) told the Committee that Gay Liberation's aim was to broadly end the legal and total social repression of homosexuals. Dellaca said that society inflicted a feeling of guilt, shame and nastiness, and homosexuals could feel an incredible sense of worthlessness. M. McAllister from Auckland University highlighted examples of people being fired from their jobs and being evicted from flats because of their sexuality. While H. Sydow from Christchurch said that repealing the current laws would be a step in the right direction, but would not break down all the self-loathing on its own. Ultimately, Young's Bill was defeated, with only 29 MPs voting in favour, 34 against and a massive 24 abstentions.

Parliament voted to have the Privileges Committee investigate Carmen Rupe's claim in a television interview that she knew of Members of Parliament who were bisexual and at least one who was gay (homosexual activity was still illegal at the time). After the interview was broadcast, the Leader of the Opposition Robert Muldoon called for the matter to be referred to the powerful Privileges Committee. Carmen remembers: "At 9.30am sharp I had a black, chauffeur-driven limousine pick me up from Carmen's International Coffee lounge and convey me to Parliament... I've always thought that black made a woman of my complexion and stature look so dignified. If I say it myself, my overall appearance that day was stunning." The Committee found that, "this baseless and unsavoury incident... tended to lessen the esteem in which Parliament is held." Carmen unreservedly apologised for the statements and told the Committee that she regretted making them.

Around 200 people protested on the steps of Parliament against a proposed (but ultimately not adopted) homophobic law put forward by Labour MP Dr. Gerard Wall. Wall's proposal surfaced during Parliament's consideration of Venn Young's 1974 homosexual law reform bill. Wall wanted to make it illegal for anyone other than "a clergyman or a registered medical practitioner" to speak about homosexuality to people under the age of 20. The proposed law also had far-reaching consequences for schools, libraries, publishers and broadcasters as it would make it a crime to publish or distribute material that suggested homosexual behaviour was "normal". Anyone breaking Wall's law would face up to two years imprisonment. The MP told protestors at Parliament, "What I am attacking is that people should get hold of students in the schools and tell the 15 and 16-year-olds that homosexuality is normal." Activist Porleen Simmonds from the Sisters for Homophile Equality, responded by saying that she would not live her life believing she was subnormal and that she was as "normal" as Dr Wall.

The first major parliamentary attempt at homosexual law reform in New Zealand was defeated. National MP Venn Young had introduced the proposed legislation a year earlier. It aimed to decriminalise homosexual acts between consenting adults aged 21 and over. Just before the vote, Young told the House, "My amendment to the Crimes Act is proposed on the bases of humanity, logic, and equality. I believe New Zealand is a country where these values are held high... There are times and countries in which humanity becomes lost in laws inherited from the past. Equality, compassion, and logic each demand that parliaments alter such laws." Young's words did not resonate with other Members of Parliament. More than a quarter (24) chose to abstain from voting, with another 34 voting against the bill. But rainbow communities and their allies were not going to accept the status quo. After eleven more years of campaigning, on 9th July 1986, MP Fran Wilde’s Homosexual Law Reform Act was successfully passed (49 MPs voted in favour, 44 against).

Activist and educator Robin Duff stood in the General Election as New Zealand's first openly gay parliamentary candidate. It was a courageous move because at the time homosexual activity was still illegal. But Duff was no stranger to leading from the front. He helped establish the University of Canterbury Gay Activists Society and Gay Liberation Christchurch in 1972 and, according to fellow teacher Jude Rankin, was the first openly gay secondary school teacher in New Zealand, "he was quite out and proud and basically unstoppable really." Duff didn't get elected but continued to advocate for rainbow teachers and students through his work with the Post Primary Teachers' Association up until his death in 2015.

The fifth National Gay Liberation Conference was held in Wellington. The first conference occurred in 1972 following the formation of Gay Liberation Front groups in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. The 1976 conference was promoted with the message: repeal all anti-homosexual laws, ban discrimination against gays! Writer Tim Birks commented at the time "the political climate has never been better for a strong gay movement in New Zealand." One of the most significant aspects of the conference was that it set the scene for the formation of the National Gay Rights Coalition the following year. By 1979 the coalition had 32 member groups and over 70,000 affiliated members.

After being baited in parliament by Labour MP Colin Moyle, Prime Minister Robert Muldoon retaliated by accusing Moyle of being picked up by the police for homosexual activity (which was still illegal at the time). Members on both sides of the House were shocked and Moyle later resigned over the incident. But Muldoon was a complex character. While he viciously used homosexuality as a political weapon against Moyle, he had also spoken two years earlier in support of homosexual law reform, saying that even though he felt it was "abnormal" it should not be treated as a criminal offence. He would later vote against law reform in the mid-1980s. Muldoon died in 1992, and at least one rainbow community member has admitted to dancing on his grave.

The first Vinegar Hill camp took place over the New Year period in Manawatu. Beginning with only six campers the event has grown into an annual rainbow camping experience open to all. The first Queen of Vinegar Hill - Wellamiena (Bill) Armstrong - was crowned in 1985. Initially drag names were used and the contest was comedic. But the honour soon expanded into acknowledging people who had provided service to the camp. By the late 2000s, Fashion in the Field, Pick a Purse and other competitions were run leading up to the main festivities on New Year’s Eve when drag shows were held and awards presented to recognise the most camp campsites. Awards included best lighting, best decorations and best use of technology.

The first meeting of the National Gay Rights Coalition of New Zealand was held in Wellington. The diversity of activist and social rainbow groups had been growing since the early 1970s. The coalition offered these groups and individuals an opportunity to speak and organise with a collective voice while at the same time keeping their autonomy. Writing in the Wellington Gay Liberation newsletter before the meeting, activist and member of the Steering Committee, Judith Emms wrote, "This is probably the most important progressive step for gays in New Zealand since the formation of the first Gay Liberation group back in 1972." The coalition had three aims, including "to liberate Gays by promoting a social environment free from repressive laws, discrimination, sexism, sexual stereotyping and social attitudes causing fear, guilt, shame and loneliness." Within two years the Coalition had 32 member groups and an affiliated membership of 70,000+ supporters.

The newly formed Committee to Oppose Persecution (COP) protested in Te Aro park, Wellington, against the "political witch-hunting" of Members of Parliament. The group, which grew out of Gay Liberation Wellington, demanded an end to media muck-raking, police entrapment and political blackmail. It was established following the targeting in 1976 of MPs Marilyn Waring, Colin Moyle and Gerald O'Brien. At the time, even the accusation of homosexuality could end a career. A COP press release spoke of a campaign "to destroy the careers of individuals by making use of an unjustifiable intrusion into their private lives and psychological warfare on them and those near to them. Quite regardless of the truth or falsehood of the insinuation and allegations, COP protests especially the use of the issue of sexual orientation in the attempt to undermine the political credibility by appealing to ignorance and bigotry. These tactics are based on, and reinforce, the prejudiced and erroneous belief that sexual orientation detrimentally affects job ability." After rallying in the park, around 40 people moved to the nearby offices of the NZ Truth newspaper to picket the tabloid, which had a long history of homophobic and transphobic reporting.

The Manawatu Gay Rights Association (MaGRA) was formed in Palmerston North. The Association was later renamed the Manawatu Lesbian and Gay Rights Association (MaLGRA) and is New Zealand's longest running LGBTI rainbow rights and social organisation.

The second nationally co-ordinated Gay Pride Week took place around the country. Events were held in Auckland, Whangarei, Hawke's Bay, Whanganui, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. As part of the week a National Blue Jeans Day was held where "everyone wearing Blue Jeans supports Gay Rights." The event drew national media attention. OUT! Magazine reported afterwards that in Wellington, "those handing out leaflets at the Railway Station noticed far fewer people wearing blue jeans than normal and those who were seemed to realise the implications." People were also asked to wear the Pink Triangle as a badge of Gay Pride. As noted in a Gay Liberation Wellington newsletter, "The Pink Triangle makes no statement about the wearer's sexual orientation." Instead, it highlights those "written out of history" - the hundreds-of-thousands of gay men persecuted by Nazi Germany.

The LGBT Bay Area Reporter newspaper in San Francisco reported that the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand had banned the airing of Tom Robinson's political song Glad to be Gay by its radio stations. The song, written for a London Pride parade in 1976, contained strong commentary on the oppression of homosexuals in the United Kingdom. A BCNZ official insisted that the radio ban was not an attempt to discriminate against homosexuals, citing the broadcaster's earlier attempts to expand "understanding of the views of Gay people." Wellington Gay Liberation disagreed, labelling the action as "blatant and unjustifiable discrimination." The song was however heard in Auckland, broadcast on the independent Radio Hauraki.

Media reported that the National Gay Rights Coalition had adopted the slogan "We are everywhere" for its public education campaign. Peter Apperley from Wellington Gay Liberation told media, "There are homosexuals living in all streets and suburbs in Wellington, that homosexuals occupy jobs in all occupations and at every level, that there are homosexuals in every race and every age group, and above all that gay people contribute a great deal to the quality of life enjoyed by all." As part of the campaign, t-shirts, badges, posters, stickers and pamphlets were distributed. Apperley said the campaign aimed to correct ignorance and misinformation about homosexuality.

Media reported that a newly enacted Defence Council regulation simply formalised a long held policy in the New Zealand Defence Force to discharge practising homosexuals. The Secretary of Defence, Mr D.B. McLean said that homosexuality was something that "the services considered detrimental to good order and discipline." The persecution of individuals was highlighted in a case from 1985 where a serviceman was outed to his parents by the Defence Force sending them a letter saying that their son had been discharged because he was "a practising homosexual." It wasn't until after the passing of the Human Rights Act 1993 that the NZDF allowed openly homosexual people to join and serve.

Police raided the Westside sauna in Auckland. They questioned the men at the sex-on-site venue and arrested some. The raid prompted large protest marches. One demonstrator outside the High Court in Auckland carried a sign that read "A cop in a gay sauna is a screw!" In 2017 the NZ Police Association's magazine Police News carried a letter from [name withheld] which talked about historic actions by the police that harmed the gay community, and that were "not purely in the spirit of enforcing the law [...] These are the types of things I would like to see the [Police] Commissioner make a comment or apology for."

MP Warren Freer told Parliament that he would no longer proceed with a private member's Bill that would have decriminalised homosexual activity between consenting adults. This was the second time Freer had suggested homosexual law reform. While both attempts drew support from some groups, there was also opposition. The Gay Rights Coalition felt strongly that the age of consent should be set at 16 (the same age of consent for heterosexual acts) rather than the proposed 18 or 20. Activist Judith Emms told media "Any bill which is not an equality bill simply reaffirms the idea that homosexuals are unequal." It would be another six years before homosexual law reform occurred - this time with an age of consent set at 16.

2021 marks the 40th anniversary of the inaugural broadcast from New Zealand's first permanent community radio station - Wellington Access Radio. Communities now had the ability to create radio by themselves, for themselves and about themselves without the interference of an external editor. The first broadcast featured the feminist programme Leave Your Dishes In The Sink which was insightful, provocative and comedic: "Mommy what's an orgasm? I don't know dear, ask your father." It was followed in June with audio from the local Pride Week. An unidentified man told listeners "A lot of straight people, particularly men, have this paranoia that they think it’s actually possible to be converted [to being homosexual] ... There's no way a person's sexuality can be changed."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report highlighting five young, previously healthy gay men in the United States who had developed pneumocystis pneumonia - later linked to what we now know as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). James Curran, formerly of the CDC, recalls "patients were having severe shortness of breath and pneumonia, weight loss, diarrheal disease [and] Kaposi's sarcoma." Even though the report came out in 1981, AIDS and the HIV virus had been quietly active in communities - not just gay communities - for decades earlier. In New Zealand, the first death from AIDS-related complications was in 1984. The next year blood testing for HIV was introduced. Nowadays, with significant advances in medical care, HIV is no longer a death sentence and now people who are diagnosed and tested early can have a normal life expectancy.

Possibly the first community-initiated gay radio broadcast occurred in New Zealand. The show was produced as part of Gay Pride Week and aired on the newly established Wellington Access Radio. There are earlier examples of rainbow voices on mainstream radio, for example "Gary" talked to host Ian Fraser on the National Programme in 1970 about having to leave his teaching job because he was gay. And in June 1979, Radio New Zealand's 2ZN station interviewed members of the Nelson Gay Welfare Group.

Wellington Mayor Michael Fowler was picketed by members of the Solidarity group during a visit to San Francisco. The picketers chanted "Fowler go home" and held signs saying "No sister city, no deals with homophobes." At the time, Fowler was trying to establish a sister-city relationship with San Francisco that would have increased trade and business opportunities. However word had come from New Zealand that the Mayor had earlier backed a Wellington City Council ban on the Lesbian Centre advertising on local buses. When asked why the council's transport committee had banned the adverts, Fowler said that it was "to not encourage deviations from the norm."

The first AIDS Candlelight Memorials took place in San Francisco and New York. Within a few years the annual observances were taking place around the world. In 1987 Dr. Bill Paul told memorial-goers in San Francisco that events were happening "in four cities in New Zealand and in major cities all over the world." In Wellington the memorial grew in scale, peaking in May 1993 with the Beacons of Hope commemoration. The night-time memorial at Frank Kitts Park, featured the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and members of the New Zealand Youth Choir. It began with people carrying flaming torches representing those that had passed away.

A conference in Dunedin of Australasian physicians was told that AIDS was coming to the Pacific. In May the media had reported the first cases in Australia, but no cases had yet been reported in New Zealand. A couple of years later in 1986, three-year-old Eve van Grafhorst moved with her family to Hastings from Australia due to ongoing discrimination around HIV/AIDS. Van Grafhorst had been born prematurely and had required eleven blood transfusions – one of which had contained HIV. Her story was widely reported throughout the world and on her 10th birthday she received a letter from Diana, Princess of Wales. Van Grafhorst died from AIDS-related complications on 20 November 1993.

TV One screened an interview with Henry (identified in the footage as Denny), a 29-year-old who would shortly become the first person in New Zealand to die from AIDS-related complications. He had been brought home from a hospital in Sydney to New Plymouth to be cared for by his sister Pat. She was interviewed after his death and talked about the stigma surrounding AIDS: "We had him buried before the papers were told about it [...] His full name wasn't even put in the paper." In contrast to the small number of deaths in New Zealand by the end of 1984, the United States had already experienced over five thousand deaths from AIDS-related complications.

Henry became the first person in New Zealand to die from AIDS-related complications. Henry had returned to New Plymouth from Australia to be nursed by his sister. Hospital Superintendent Don King told media, "It is our social responsibility, as we would with any other disease, to have our own people back in New Zealand and care for them here." However not everyone was as compassionate, with one nurse threatening to resign rather than care for Henry. Despite the prejudice and stigma surrounding AIDS, Henry talked openly on national television about his health, "If you are putting all of your energies into being worried about things, then you’re draining what energies you can be putting into helping yourself get better." Asked about coming home, Henry said he wanted to see "good old Mount Egbert, I haven't seen him for donks." It was only a few weeks after Henry's death, that the US Secretary of Health Margaret Heckler announced the probable cause of AIDS had been discovered. A blood test became available in 1985, and in 1986 the virus was officially named HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus).

Activist Bruce Burnett from the newly formed AIDS Support Network, began a one-person nationwide roadshow to educate at risk communities about AIDS. The roadshow began in Dunedin and ended in Auckland. Out! Magazine reported that the support network didn't want to equate the emergence of AIDS with the end of gay "sexual liberation." It didn't believe "the party is over", but it was trying to "make it healthier... even better." During the tour, Burnett became increasingly unwell. He died less than a year later on 1 June 1985, aged 30, from AIDS related complications.

A ten-day Womyn's Summer Camp was held at Waipara in north Canterbury. The lesbian summer camps had earlier taken place between 1976-1978, before returning in 1985 and running until 1991. The camp in 1985 attracted around 130 women and children from around the country. It was open to both lesbians and "lesbian-oriented" women. The camps offered a wide range of activities – from concerts to workshops, sports to simply relaxing and having fun. Torfrida Wainwright, writing in Women together: a history of women’s organisations in New Zealand, said "these camps represented more than a network of friends going on holiday together; they were a deliberate attempt by lesbians to intensify their experience of lesbian community and create an alternative to the heterosexual world." Another camper reflected "At camp we created our own reality."

Labour MP Fran Wilde introduced the Homosexual Law Reform Bill in Parliament. The private members' bill set out to decriminalise consensual sexual activity between males over the age of 16 and make it illegal to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation. Within a week, a group of MPs including Graeme Lee, Norman Jones, and Geoff Braybrooke promoted an anti-reform petition. Braybrooke said that this would be the "thin edge of the wedge... It could well lead to gay bars, gay massage parlours, gay churches, gay marriages... and gay people adopting children." Norman Jones was more rabid. Speaking at a public meeting he told both anti-reformers and a smaller group of pro-reformers "We do not want homosexuality legalised. We do not want our children to be contaminated by this. Turn around and look at them... gaze upon them, you're looking into hades. Don't look too long or you might catch AIDS."

The first appearance of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in New Zealand took place during Gay Pride Week in Wellington. The Sisters told Pink Triangle magazine that although they had international links, the local order would be known as the Sisters of Sodomy. Sister Trev told the magazine that dressing as a nun was "a parody of the Catholic Church which is a major institution of oppression of lesbian and gay men." Sister Angel Thighs said "What we are talking about is genderfuck. We are getting back to androgyny, the blurring of the margins between masculine and feminine." The Sisters were originally formed in Iowa, USA in 1979 but soon blossomed into an international order. In 1981, Sydney's house was established. Its website notes, "Our common aim is to make the world a better place in which to live - one possessed of equality, respect, patience and tolerance. Sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures, and so The Sisters' actions are quite overt and confronting."

AIDS activist and educator Bruce Burnett died aged 30. Originally from Auckland, Burnett had been living in Europe before moving to California in 1982 (just a year after AIDS was first identified). He became a volunteer for the Shanti Project, a community based organisation that provided emotional and practical support to people living with life-threatening illnesses. Feeling unwell himself, he returned to New Zealand in late 1983 where he launched himself into AIDS prevention and support work. Burnett undertook a one-man tour of the country, a "road show" attempting to educate at-risk communities about AIDS. He was also instrumental in establishing the national AIDS Support Network - a community led initiative that would later become the New Zealand AIDS Foundation. In memory of Burnett's tireless work, the first HIV/AIDS clinic in New Zealand was named after him, opening in Auckland in July 1986.

Television news reported that for the first time, blood test kits were available in New Zealand to test for HIV. A $500,000 government funded AIDS awareness campaign was also launched in the same week. The announcements came during the heated debate over homosexual law reform, with both pro and anti-reformers using AIDS as a key argument. Pro-reformers maintained that decriminalisation of homosexual activity would allow for better health care and education, while anti-reformers claimed that it would simply legalise the spread of AIDS. According to anti-reformer MP Norman Jones, it would be better for people with AIDS to die "sooner rather than later" to help prevent law reform.

The Bigot Busters Conference was held over a weekend at Victoria University in Wellington. The national conference took place at a time of fierce societal debate around homosexual law reform. About 150 activists from across the country attended, including Michelle Tui. Tui told the delegates, "Culturally, our Māori identity and our lesbianism flow together... We are sick of being the token speakers in our own country. The homosexual law reform campaign has mobilised white gays from the security of their white privilege, to canvas for a basic human right, to fight for your own self-determination. What support has there been for Maori self-determination from you? The Bill acknowledges our sexuality, but there is other legislation that has raped us of our rights - all passed by Parliament."

A large anti-homosexual law reform petition was presented to politicians on the steps of Parliament. The Salvation Army had agreed to co-ordinate the petition, with Colonel Campbell telling Salvationists that the moral decay of civilisation was proceeding unchecked and that it was in many ways a greater threat than that of nuclear destruction. The petitioners claimed that there were over 800,000 signatures (almost 1 in 4 New Zealanders). However it was later found that the petition contained multiple signatures in the same hand and other forgeries. Critics of the petition likened the presentation to a Nazi Nuremberg Rally, with a platoon of young uniformed people carrying flags and wearing sashes that read "For God, For Country, For Family."

Parliament continued to debate whether the age of consent for male homosexual acts should be set at sixteen - the same age as for heterosexual activity. MP John Banks asserted passionately in Parliament that "legalising sodomy is the thin edge of the wedge and it's going to destabilise the family unit, destroy this nation and democracy... This Bill is evil and while Rome burns we are back here in the House tonight trying to decide whether boys should be able to sodomise each other." Equality was a primary argument put forward by pro law reformers. Earlier in March 1986, members of Wellington's Gay Task Force organised an event under the banner "A fair for a fair law." The fair, which still occurs annually (but under a different name), has become one of New Zealand's longest running rainbow events.

Part 1 of the Homosexual Law Reform Bill was narrowly passed by Parliament, 49 votes to 44. Part 2 of the Bill dealing with anti-discrimination measures was lost in April 1986. It wasn't until 1993 that it became illegal to discriminate against homosexuals in the areas of accommodation, employment and services. The legislation had been introduced as a member's bill in 1985 by MP Fran Wilde. She said at the time that the campaign brought a flood of "terrible phone calls and terrible letters...[but] despite the discomfort it's worthwhile." Working closely with Wilde was MP Trevor Mallard. He recalls "I don't think we ever got above 32% support in the polls for the passing of the Bill. This was a Bill that was, at the time, not wanted by the majority of New Zealanders." Since 1986, the anniversary of law reform has seen celebrations, challenges and apologies. In 2006, the Salvation Army apologised for the hurt its anti-reform actions caused, while a son of anti-reformer MP Norman Jones, told Radio Live that his father's opposition to law reform had been "vindicated" by events since. And in July 2021, activist Shaneel Lal attracted nationwide attention when they wrote that law reform "did not free me as a queer person because it did not free all queer Pacific people... Indigenous peoples have always loved queer people, indigenous people are queer. Colonialism took that away from us."

The Burnett Centre was opened by Health Minister Dr Michael Bassett in Auckland. The Centre was the first HIV/AIDS clinic in New Zealand and was named after Bruce Burnett, an early AIDS educator and activist who among other notable achievements co-founded the AIDS Support Network (later to become the New Zealand AIDS Foundation).

The LGBT Bay Area Reporter newspaper in San Francisco published a profile interview with Terry and Marge. Both were born in the 1920s and had immigrated to the US as war brides - Terry from Germany and Marge from Auckland, New Zealand. At the time of the interview, they had been living together for 3 years in a straight "sister-like relationship." Asked about her opinion of gay people in earlier times, Marge replied "I looked upon them as fairies. I thought they were crazy." But now both women happily volunteered together in local Freedom Day [Pride] Parades. Remembering her first parade, Marge recalled "When we turned the corner... I took my deep breath and was thrilled to death - and danced all the way up Market Street."

Just two months after the passing of the Homosexual Law Reform Act, the community-run Lesbian and Gay Rights Resource Centre in Wellington was torched. The centre had been collecting archives of rainbow groups and providing resources since the late 1970s. On that night, a local resident had noticed two "very straight" looking young men inside the building. The intruders defecated in the resource centre, twinked "FAG" on the floorboards and set half-a-dozen fires. Trustees Chris Parkin and Phil Parkinson reflected "The [centre] provided a focus for and an expression of the identity of gay and lesbian communities, locally and nationally, and so the fire evidenced a destructive desire to violate that identity itself." The arsonists were never caught but the attack prompted a lasting partnership with the Alexander Turnbull Library who now securely house the archives while ownership is held by rainbow communities through the LAGANZ charitable trust.

Celebrating Ourselves - A Lesbian Festival took place at the Ponsonby Community Centre in Auckland. The festival was promoted as four days of continuous events. It grew out of an idea from the Lesbian Alcohol and Drug Action group, to create an event that was "not focussed on a nightclub environment." Jill, who was part of the organising collective, told Broadsheet magazine, "What it's all about is loving ourselves as lesbians." Over three hundred women from around the country attended the event which was packed with discussions, performance and sport. Workshops were held on topics including anti-racism, self-help therapy, writing and lesbian feminist political action. Reviewing the event in Broadsheet, Jenny Rankine, described a workshop dedicated to lesbian mothers and lesbians living with children which attracted about 50 people. There were also discussions about political action – but these weren't so well attended. Rankine wrote, "I think this is partly still reaction from the effort that went into the Homosexual Law Reform Bill campaign, and partly avoidance of the attacks, guilt-tripping and bitter wrangles that in the last few years have often marked lesbian-feminist political disagreements." Overall, Rankine reported that attendees felt the festival was overwhelmingly positive.

Peter Wells' acclaimed film A Death in the Family screened for a week at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. It had earlier screened on primetime television in this country. The film depicted the last sixteen days of the lead character Andrew Boyd who had AIDS. Film reviewer Steve Warren noted in the Bay Area Reporter that although for many in San Francisco the "emphasis has shifted from preparing for death to prolonging and enhancing life" the film still "makes an impact you'll feel many hours later." The film carried the dedication "To all who stay and lend a hand in times of fear and panic." Wells himself died in 2019. In an obituary, author David Herkt said that Wells "reshaped the way New Zealanders saw sexuality. From a country with an unconsidered heterosexuality as a social norm, Wells exposed the true variety of our desires."

New Zealand became the first country in the world to provide a national state-sponsored needle exchange programme. The programme gave people who injected drugs access to equipment and education that supported safe injecting practices. The initiative, much like the early safer sex programmes in rainbow communities, was a peer-led community response to HIV/AIDS. It was based on personal empowerment and harm reduction. Canterbury University Associate Professor Rosemary Du Plessis recalls "The AIDS Foundation was an incredibly good model for how community networks could work with government to achieve a goal, such as minimising the spread of HIV." Now, over thirty years later, the needle exchange programme consists of 20 outlets and 180 pharmacies and alternative outlets.

The first meeting of the Wellington Bisexual Women's Group took place. Co-founder Caren Wilton remembers, "It was great to meet other people who were also bisexual... People were really enthusiastic, they were really keen to have a support group and to keep meeting." The group met regularly for potluck dinners, support and political activities. At the time, biphobia was quite evident in rainbow communities. In one instance, Wilton remembers attending a local women's dance where, "they had a sign on the door that said this is a dance for lesbians: heterosexuals fuck off, bisexuals fuck off. And to my shame... I went into the dance with my friends, and my lesbian friend ripped down the sign and ripped it up." In 1989, the group started producing the Bi-lines newsletter, and in 1990 they organised the first national bisexual conference. The group continues to this day, welcoming "bisexual and bifriendly and pansexual women and nonbinary people."

Carmen Rupe’s autobiography was released on this day. It has the by-line "My life, from schoolboy to successful businesswoman as told to Paul Martin", and gives a vivid first-hand account of a trail-blazing entrepreneur and activist in the 1960s/70s. Martin noted that the book "must be the most sexually explicit biography of any New Zealander." From Rupe's time in Mt Crawford male prison where the prisoners were like "sex starved lions", to her many business ventures, "As people left my coffee lounge at 6am or earlier I would splash them with Carmen's exotic juice which meant that they would be back another night for more. The scent would guide them to me. Some would hear my voice calling like an eerie whisper from the depths of darkness."

Photographer Brian Brake died. Brake is still one of New Zealand's most acclaimed photojournalists. He worked extensively in over forty countries for the international photographic cooperative Magnum Photos, and is probably best known for his Monsoon series and for his coverage of China in the 1950s. During his career he was careful to retain his film negatives and transparencies. The majority of his collection - around 118,000 images - is now cared for by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Singer and rugby administrator Lew Pryme and his long-time partner Jeff Fowler both died from AIDS-related complications. In 1964 Pryme gained national attention with his first single Pride and Joy. Writer Graham Reid described him as "every inch a teen heartthrob." But Pryme was also a semi-closeted "gay man in a ruthless heterosexual culture." Following his music career he led the powerful Auckland Rugby Union. In the late 1980s both he and his partner were diagnosed with AIDS. Fowler died on 16 April 1990, followed a week later by Pryme. Writing in the Sunday Star Times much later, broadcaster and friend Phil Gifford recalled "A sizeable section of the Auckland [rugby] team, all of whom had benefited from Lew's administrative innovations, made a conscious decision to stay away from his funeral. One player's wife was concerned the public would think the players were gay if they turned up."

Radio Gala marked the fourth anniversary of homosexual law reform on Access Community Radio Auckland (now Planet FM) by broadcasting a rich audio retrospective. The recordings, made by community members at both pro and anti-reform events, captured the energy and vitriol of the heated 16-month nationwide debate. In one recording, MP Norman Jones urged a crowd of anti-reformers to, "Gaze upon [the homosexuals]. You're looking into Hades! Don't look too long, you might catch AIDS!" At the same event, Sir Peter Tait, who championed the petition against homosexual law reform, told the crowd how he had recently been propositioned by a young man in Hawaii, "We walked around to the front of the hotel and he said to me - in the dark, at half past four in the morning - will you let me suck you?" In another recording, pro-reformers sang the "hymn" - Yes, Jesus was Gay. Unlike much of the mainstream reporting at the time, community radio focussed on capturing and reflecting the actual experiences of rainbow communities. Through the efforts of these pioneering queer community broadcasters, and subsequently community archives, future generations now have the opportunity to hear these important events from a truly rainbow perspective

Pink Triangle magazine ends publication after eleven years. It started out as the newspaper of the National Gay Rights Coalition and turned into a national magazine produced by the Pink Triangle Publishing Collective. In a time before smart phones and social media the publication was an important source of news, opinion and coverage of community events. It spanned the period of homosexual law reform and the emergence of AIDS in New Zealand.

The first unfolding ceremony of the New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt took place at the Auckland City Art Gallery in the presence of the Governor General, Dame Catherine Tizard. The quilt was based on the international NAMES Project founded in San Francisco. The New Zealand quilt was established by the People With AIDS Collective. It began on 1 December 1988 with the presentation of a quilt panel for Peter Cuthbert who had died in October. The majority of the quilt is now cared for by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. At the ceremony in Auckland, thirty-two New Zealand quilt panels were displayed alongside panels brought from Australia.

Internationally celebrated playwright Robert Lord died on this day. Lord was born in Rotorua in 1945 and studied Arts at Victoria University of Wellington. In 1973 he co-founded Playmarket to encourage the professional production of New Zealand plays. He moved to New York a year later, and was based there for much of the 1980s. Shane Bosher, writing in Playmarket Annual, highlighted that most of Lord’s work was written prior to homosexual law reform in New Zealand, "his articulation of gay experience shows extraordinary courage and defiance." In 1987 Lord returned to New Zealand to take up the Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago. He purchased a cottage which, after his death, was transformed into a rent-free writer’s residence. Since 2003, Lord's home has hosted a wide range of playwrights, biographers and novelists including Renée and Kip Chapman. Lord died in January 1992, just weeks before the premiere of one of his best-known plays Joyful and Triumphant.

The first issue of the underground newsletter Bog Spy was produced in Auckland. It rated and profiled public toilets and parodied police activities. According to academic Welby Ings the concept of reviewing bogs in New Zealand wasn't new but "traditionally messages naming 'active' bogs were written on toilet walls." The newsletter was left in public toilets and gay venues. However the publication only lasted a couple of months after it received negative media attention. In a 2010 PrideNZ.com interview, a community member highlighted how active the bogs were in the 1970s because "there weren't many other places to go." This in turn led to attention from the police. They made use of entrapment, usually sending in "hunky men" to obtain a prosecution. But often "they just didn't know how to behave ... you know, they'd play a little bit but they wouldn’t get a hard on."

Nicki Eddy, convenor of the New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt, travelled with three quilt blocks (each around 3.5 metres wide) to Washington D.C. in the United States for the first ever International AIDS Memorial Quilt display. The quilt spanned a massive 15 acres. Eddy later recalled that it was “soul-wrenching” to see so many new panels being presented during the event. Over three days all of the names of those represented were read over a loud speaker – including all of those on the New Zealand quilt. The quilt’s newsletter reported that on the final night of the display, an estimated 200,000 people took part in a candlelight memorial march “creating a flowing sea of candlelight that expressed a sense of hope and unity in confronting the enormity of the AIDS pandemic.”

The first Freedom dance party was held in Christchurch. It was organised by the New Zealand AIDS Foundation and raised $8,000 for HIV/AIDS awareness. A year earlier NZAF had organised the Devotion dance party in Wellington and HERO party in Auckland. The name HERO was chosen because, as organiser Rex Halliday remembers "we're facing this incredibly disgusting [HIV] epidemic and we're doing it with great heroism... And by acknowledging our heroism we can start to acknowledge our own self esteem." Poignantly, during Wellington's Devotion party in November 1993 , well-known performer and hairdresser Arthur Tauhore passed away at his home from AIDS-related complications. Anne Hogan later wrote "As usual, his timing was impeccable. It was the night of the gay dance party Devotion. His funeral was held on December 1st - World AIDS Day." Andre, another friend wrote "with a laugh as wicked and wild as the stories you told. Never be afraid to be yourself."

The Human Rights Bill was passed. The Bill outlawed discrimination on the grounds of disability, sexual orientation, and having organisms in the body that might cause disease. In 2012 the champion of the legislation, former MP Katherine O'Regan, apologised for not including transgender people in the anti-discrimination measures.

Chris Carter became the first openly gay male Member of Parliament in New Zealand. Reflecting on that moment, Carter said, "I was the first MP to openly acknowledge being gay, although I am sure I was not the first gay MP to enter this Parliament. Why did I choose to be the first to be open about my different sexuality? As a former teacher I knew that gay and lesbian teenagers faced huge amounts of prejudice and had few affirming messages or positive role models. By being open and honest about my sexuality, and joined soon after by my industrious gay colleague Tim Barnett and my remarkable transsexual Labour colleague Georgina Beyer, we broke a glass ceiling." However, it wasn't easy for Carter. In an interview from 2012, MP Grant Robertson remembers, "[Chris] had dreadful stuff said to him, and John Banks was here then as a National MP. And whenever Chris would get up, he’d put papers in front of himself so he didn't have to look at Chris. And terrible things would get yelled out, and they’d call him Christine and all this kind of thing."

Eve van Grafhorst died in Hastings from AIDS-related complications. Originally from Australia, van Grafhorst had been born prematurely and had needed numerous life-saving blood transfusions - one of which contained HIV. Her mother recalled how people in their hometown of Kincumber would cross the road to avoid Eve and how neighbours built high fences around their properties to protect themselves. In stark contrast, the family was received warmly when they moved to Hastings, New Zealand. Van Grafhorst's life journey was reported widely in the media and over 600 people attended her funeral. The Dominion newspaper reported "her small white casket lay covered in flowers, candles and one simple smiling photograph of the child whose short life became a symbol to New Zealanders of the fight against AIDS."

Chef and entertainer David Halls is found dead in his apartment. Halls along with life-partner Peter Hudson were the on-screen cooking duo Hudson and Halls. Their camp humour and same-sex couple partnership aired regularly on television during the decade prior to homosexual law reform. Not altogether openly gay, they told the New Zealand Listener magazine in 1977 "Are we gay? Well, we're certainly merry." After Hudson's death from cancer in 1992, Halls changed his name by deed poll to David Hudson-Halls. A year later he took his own life. In 2015 the couple were celebrated in the multi-award winning theatre production Hudson and Halls Live! starring Todd Emerson and Chris Parker.

Man to Man, the fore-runner to Express Magazine, published a profile piece on Chris Carter - New Zealand's first openly gay Member of Parliament who had just been elected. Carter would go on to serve five parliamentary terms. In 2007 Carter also became the first MP and Cabinet Minister to have a civil union. That same year he met a young Maori woman in Australia who told him that as a teenager she had contemplated suicide because of her sexuality. In his final speech in Parliament in 2011, Carter reflected on that meeting "I had come to her school prize-giving, and my presence, she said, convinced her that being gay was not a barrier to personal success. She told me tearfully that I had saved her life. That story alone made it all worthwhile."

The Human Rights Act came into force. The legislation outlawed discrimination on a variety of grounds including sexual orientation. It also included protections for people living with HIV/AIDS. Prior to the Act, people could lawfully refuse to employ someone, or refuse to offer services and accommodation simply because of a person's sexual orientation. Anti-discrimination measures were originally part of MP Fran Wilde's Homosexual Law Reform Bill almost 10 years earlier. However there was stiff opposition and that part of the Bill was voted down. At the time MP John Banks told Parliament that as an employer, a person should be able to say "you're a homosexual: it’s not good for my business I don’t want you in this business [...] They should be able to hire who they want when they want."

The NZ.com website was established. The site, run by Akiko International, offered a variety of professional services for the internet, which was still in its infancy (the first website in the world was only created in 1991). Akiko was set up by Michael Witbrock, an expatriate New Zealander and "an ex Dunedin queer activist." Shortly after starting, it began offering "a substantial amount of free space to place information about the gay and lesbian community." At the time, website hosting was relatively expensive and so NZ.com's generous offer opened the door for many rainbow organisations to have their first online presence. The site hosted pages for, among others, the New Zealand AIDS Foundation, Body Positive, Aoraki Lesbian & Gay Group (Timaru), the Federation of Gay Games (New Zealand) and Wellington Lesbian Events. Many of these early rainbow pages can still be accessed via the Internet Archive, search: nz.com/NZ/Queer.

Jim Curtis was attacked by Tai Tahi Marsters after they met on a public gay beat in Napier. Marsters was charged with both attempted murder and assault. At his trial he successfully used the provocation/gay panic defence, claiming Curtis had made a homosexual advance. Curtis was left with brain damage and could not attend the trial. The jury acquitted Marsters on both charges. In 2006 law academic Elisabeth McDonald wrote in general about the gay panic defence "The operation of the defence reinforces the vulnerability of gay men as 'dangerous outlaws'. When men who kill in response to homosexual advances are not convicted of murder, 'courts and juries [further] reinforce the notion... that gay men do not deserve the respect and protection of the criminal justice system.'"

The internet newsgroup nz.soc.queer was established on Usenet. The newsgroup allowed for public posts, threaded conversations and the sharing of files. A few weeks earlier, Queer News Aotearoa, one of the earliest LGBTI rainbow websites originating in New Zealand was launched (the first website in the world launched in 1991). The QNA website, run by Mark Proffitt, provided an online resource focusing on national and international news of interest to rainbow communities.

The National Library of New Zealand hosted an event to celebrate National Coming Out Day. The day was initiated in the United States in 1988 as a way to support "coming out" and raise awareness of the rainbow community. However the Day has also been criticised. In 2013, writer Preston Mitchum wrote in The Atlantic, "It's vital to appreciate the ways in which race, class, gender, disability, age, and lack of support can complicate the popular narrative of what it means to come out... Focusing so intensely on coming out places the burden on the individual to brave society rather than on society to secure the safety of the individual. In the name of 'visibility', the victims of repeated discrimination are forced to ensure they are seen."

Same-sex couple Jools Joslin and Jenny Rowan held a wedding ceremony despite being earlier refused a marriage licence. The Acting Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages had told them "Although the Marriage Act 1955 does not state that a female may not marry another female, such a marriage is not permissible under Common Law." Later in 1996 the pair joined with two other lesbian couples to fight for marriage equality in the High Court and then in the Court of Appeal. Though their case was lost twice, one of the judges, Justice Thomas, noted "In a real sense, gays and lesbians are effectively excluded from full membership of society." It took another 17 years before same-sex marriage became legal in New Zealand.

Lorae Parry's play Eugenia premiered at Taki Rua theatre in Wellington. The work was inspired in part by the life of Eugene Falleni. The Falleni family immigrated to New Zealand in the 1870s. Falleni was the eldest of 22 children. While still in his teens he was charged with impersonating a man. A couple of years later he ran away to sea, was raped multiple times by the ship's captain and had a baby in Sydney in 1898. Staying in Australia he married twice. In 1920 Falleni was convicted of murdering one of his wives - Annie Birkett. At the time of writing the play, Lorae Parry noted that the work had been inspired by people who had "crossed the lines of gender and who have lived and loved as men [...] it was a way of entering, undercover, a world of privilege, and yet the price of discovery was extremely high."

Spectrum, one of New Zealand's earliest rainbow websites, was launched (the world's first internet site appeared in 1991). The Spectrum site was established by the social and support group of the same name in greater Nelson. It consisted of just 14 files and featured event notices, newsletters and support information. In its first year of operation, it was accessed from approximately 50 countries, and even Antarctica. Being out in Nelson in the mid-1990s was still a challenge for some. A report by the group noted that "despite every reassurance and encouragement, some still find the prospect of coming along [to our drop-in centre] far too daunting and regard this as a sort of coming out." The Spectrum website, and more broadly the Internet, offered people a new and powerful way of seeking support and community.

GAP, the Gay Association of Professionals was formed in Wellington. An early adopter of the internet, their website in 1996 stated "We want to create an environment where thinking, feeling, men and women can share their thoughts, energy and desire for professional companionship with like-minded individuals. GAP is not about promoting fashionable, radical, extremism. Nor do we encourage continued apathy of free thinkers. We are not dominated by a crippling sense of oppression, nor are we 'queer' - we are proud professional men and women." GAP became Rainbow Wellington in the late 2000s.

The first broadcast of the weekly Express Report occurred. The programme began as a broadcast segment on regional television hosted by Andrew Whiteside and Nettie Kinmont, with a weekly gossip segment by David Hartnell. It soon became a stand-alone half-hour show on TVNZ called Queer Nation. The show (the first of its kind in New Zealand) featured rainbow news, events and profiles from around the country. Writing for the NZ On Screen website, Annie Murray noted "In the years before the internet became widespread, Queer Nation was widely believed to provide a lifeline to LGBT viewers in smaller rural towns where they had little or no other support." Despite this, it was relegated by TVNZ - like other "special interest" programmes - to an off-peak viewing time (a weekday at 11pm). Queer Nation went on to become the world’s longest-running free-to-air factual television series for rainbow communities.

The national Census took place, and for the first time ever, the number of adult same-sex couples living together could be determined. Instead of a specific question, a person's individual information was cross-referenced with who they were living with. The Census showed that 6,500 adults were recorded as living with a partner of the same-sex. This equated to 0.4 per cent of all adult couples. However it is likely that the actual number was higher as people may have been reluctant to self-identify their same-sex relationship (it was only 10-years since the heated homosexual law reform debate, and just 2-years since anti-discrimination legislation had come into force). By 2006, just over 12,300 adults said they lived with a partner of the same-sex, 0.7 per cent of all adults living as a couple.

The first public demonstration by intersex people in the United States and the birth of the international Intersex Awareness Day occurren on 26 October 1996. In 2016, to coincide with the anniversary, the United Nations launched its first ever intersex awareness campaign. It called on governments to ban medically unnecessary surgery and procedures, provide health care personnel with training and ban discrimination on the basis of innate variations of sex characteristics, intersex traits or status. That same year, New Zealand officials were questioned at the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in regards to the rights and care of intersex children. This resulted in the committee issuing four landmark recommendations to the Government. Human Rights Commissioner Richard Tankersley said "protection of the rights of intersex children in New Zealand is long overdue." Recently activist Mani Mitchell told Express "It should be the right of every human being on Earth, to be themselves, whatever that is."

The land mark anthology Best Mates: Gay Writing in Aotearoa New Zealand, edited by Peter Wells and Rex Pilgram is launched in Auckland. Along with a diverse range of writers, the book featured three near-blank pages with the names of authors whose works could not be included: Charles Brasch, E.H. McCormick and James Courage. Author Steve Braunias later wrote that Courage was "cancelled by his own family… Wells and Pilgrim were refused permission by Patricia Fanshaw, Courage's sister and literary executor. She told the editors that her brother had not publicly identified himself as gay." This fear-of-association didn't stop at literary executors. Peter Wells recalled "Auckland Museum refused to give us permission to use a beautiful archival photo of two men affectionately kissing on a boat." Regardless, they went ahead and published the image on the front cover.

Minister of Health Hon. Annette King launched the Intersex Society of New Zealand. Soon after its launch it changed its structure and became a charitable trust (now known as ITANZ). Founded by Mani Bruce Mitchell, ITANZ aims to create "open futures for all children and adults who have Intersex realities” by “developing quality information, increasing positive awareness, breaking the shame, stigma, myths and silence that surrounds the people born with Intersex anatomies." In 1996 Mitchell became the first person in New Zealand to come out publicly as intersex. Mitchell travelled to the USA in August that year to participate in the world's first international intersex retreat. During the gathering, the documentary Hermaphrodites Speak was filmed which documented the experiences of seven people - including Mitchell’s.

Paula Boock's book Dare, Truth or Promise won the New Zealand Post Children's Book Award. The book followed the lives of two schoolgirls - Willa and Louie - who fell in love. It had a mixed reception, with some school libraries refusing to hold it. In the United States it was short-listed for a Lambda Literary Award for LGBT-themed fiction. Reflecting on the book's impact 20 years later, reader (and now author) Gem Wilder said "reading Dare, Truth or Promise as a queer-teen-in-denial felt like the universe holding my hand for a little minute [...] Paula Boock, and Willa and Louie, showed me who I was, and also who I wanted to be, who I could be."

Teenager Jeff Whittington died in Wellington Hospital. Early in the morning of the previous day, the 14-year-old was sitting on the kerb of a petrol station in the central city. Stephen Smith and Jason Meads randomly drove past him. They didn’t know Whittington, but stopped and offered him a ride. They then drove to a secluded street where they dragged him from the car and violently beat him. According to a witness, the pair later boasted “how they fucked up a faggot and they left him for dead.” The witness recalled Meads saying, “The faggot was bleeding out of places I have never seen before.” Whittington suffered severe brain damage and had a ruptured bowel. A woman found him alone, lying in a puddle at 4.40am. He died the next day. The jury convicted Smith and Meads of murder, and they were sentenced to life imprisonment.

After deliberating for nine hours, a High Court jury found Jason Meads and Stephen Smith guilty of murdering teenager Jeff Whittington. Media reported it as a gay hate-crime. The pair had picked him up in central Wellington in the early hours of 8 May. They drove a short distance before severely beating him in Aro Valley. He sustained severe head injuries and a perforated bowel. Later, Meads allegedly told an acquaintance "the faggot was bleeding out of places I have never seen before." A passer-by found Whittington alone, lying in a puddle at 4.40am - he later died in hospital. Both Meads and Smith were sentenced to life imprisonment. Meads was released in 2013 and Smith was released in 2017.

The final HERO parade was held along Ponsonby Road. The parade had run into financial difficulties, with the Hero Charitable Trust owing creditors more than $140,000 dollars. The following year a smaller "march" was organised with around 10,000 spectators (at its peak, HERO attracted around 100,000). A pride parade was re-established in 2013 and on 17 February 2018, in front of a crowd of around 30,000 people, Jacinda Ardern became the first Prime Minister to walk in the Auckland event. The organisers called it the "largest and loudest carnival of equality and diversity in Aotearoa New Zealand" and Ardern said the government "walks beside" the rainbow community.

The New Zealand AIDS Foundation launched its safe sex campaign Toolbox on National Penis Day. The toolbox was distributed to people on the street and contained condoms, lubricants and application hints. NZAF executive director Kevin Hague told media that demand was so high people were chasing distributors down the street to ensure that they received one. Earlier the NZAF had unsuccessfully tried to erect public billboards featuring large penises. Hague said "Despite practically everyone either having a penis or being pretty familiar with the sight of someone else's, men's penises are considered to be so obscene and offensive that they cannot be shown on a billboard in New Zealand."

Fashion designer Michael Pattison gained national media attention by competing as an openly gay man in the Cleo Bachelor of the Year. The popularity competition had been run by the women's magazine Cleo since 1985. Pattison had previously won Mr Gay Wellington and Mr Drag Wellington. He would go on to establish his own internationally successful fashion label that was initially kick-started through a WINZ grant. A few years ago Pattison moved to Berlin and founded the Fusion Factory - a dynamic concept space for fashion design, gastronomy, photography and events.

Fiona Clark's Go Girl exhibition opened at the Govett-Brewster Gallery in New Plymouth. The exhibition explored gender and identity over a 30-year period. It included contemporary images plus two captioned photographs from the mid-1970s that caused moral outrage at the time. The images depicted transgender partygoers and contained captions that were described as "objectionable and indecent" by the then Mayor of New Plymouth Denny Sutherland. The public outcry was so strong that various galleries (including the Govett-Brewster) removed the images from the touring exhibition. The two photographs subsequently disappeared on route between galleries.

Over $110,000 dollars was raised to support HIV and AIDS work in New Zealand. The money was raised through the sale of MAC Cosmetics Viva Glam products and the M.A.C Art for AIDS auction - with 34 New Zealand artists donating works. New Zealand AIDS Foundation spokesperson Jonathan Smith told media that he was over the moon with the money raised and the response from artists. M.A.C AIDS Fund is an international charity established to support people living with HIV and AIDS and is funded entirely by the sale of M.A.C products.

The Prostitution Reform Bill narrowly passed its third and final reading in Parliament, with voting 60/59. In doing so, New Zealand became the first country in the world to decriminalise sex work. The law set out to protect sex workers from exploitation and safeguard their human rights. Prior to this, prostitution hadn’t been explicitly illegal in New Zealand, but there were a range of closely-related offences that were actively policed and prosecuted. For example, under the Crimes Act 1961, brothel-keeping and living on the earnings of prostitution were imprisonable offences. The New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective had been advocating for reform since its inception in 1987. That call was taken up by Labour MP Tim Barnett who introduced a bill that would enable sex workers to have access to the same protections afforded to workers in other industries. Speaking during the final debate, MP Georgina Beyer said that she was voting for the Bill "for all the prostitutes I have ever known who have died before the age of 20 because of the inhumanity and hypocrisy of a society that would not ever give them the chance to redeem whatever circumstances made them arrive in that industry."

A TVNZ broadcast at 9.30pm of Reel Life: The Truth about Lesbian Sex generated both large audience numbers and complaints to the Broadcasting Standards Authority. An estimated 382,000 viewers watched the documentary which explored lesbian relationships and provided "graphic instruction on how to achieve sexual gratification with and without the use of various sexual aids." Media reported that talk radio was bombarded with irate callers, while the BSA received formal complaints - both about the programme and its promotion. One person complained about an advert which featured the comment "The truth about lesbian sex for me is that I am having the best sex that I have ever had in my entire life." Another person complained that the programme inappropriately encouraged lesbian sex as an exciting and viable alternative to heterosexual sex. Both complaints were not upheld by the BSA.

Television personality David McNee was killed by Phillip Edwards in Auckland. McNee had paid Edwards $120 for a sexual encounter. However Edwards' lawyers would later tell the court that he was only there to masturbate in front of McNee on a "no-touch basis." Edwards told police that he was provoked into killing McNee because "he thought I was gay." He admitted to bashing him 30 to 40 times around the head. Edwards was charged with murder but was ultimately convicted of the lesser crime of manslaughter. Commenting on the case, and more generally on the defence of provocation (gay panic), author Peter Wells wrote, "It is impossible in New Zealand - and many other countries - to murder a homosexual. It is possible to be found guilty of manslaughter. The underlying message is that any homosexual’s life is of little value... It seems unjust that the person charged with the killing is the one who gets to tell the story."

Media reported that a stunning 3-metre-high nude photograph of performance artist Mika was causing controversy at the Christchurch Art Gallery. The work, Mika: Kai Tahu by Christine Webster showed Mika in a full-frontal nude pose. A number of locals complained saying that it was disgusting and pornographic. One woman told media that she couldn't get the image out of her mind "I walked around the corner, and I felt like there was a nude man standing there exposing himself to me... you just couldn't get away from it." Hubert Klaassens from the gallery responded by saying that the male nude was a well explored subject in international art and artist Christine Webster welcomed the comments saying that it was "very affirming" to get strong feedback.

The Broadcasting Standards Authority decided not to uphold a complaint against TVNZ for censoring music videos involving same-sex affection. The public broadcaster justified the removal of same-sex kisses because the videos were being shown in the daytime to a younger audience and, in the case of Christina Aguilera's Beautiful, the decision was due to "the intensity of the kissing in which it was clear that there was an intertwining of tongues between the two men involved." One of the complainants, New Zealand Young Labour, labelled the censorship as "active discrimination." Another complainant, Tony Milne, stated "Your station is contributing [to] the marginalisation of same-sex people and displays of affection. Your station, by omitting same-sex displays of affection, is contributing to making young gay people invisible yet again."

Media reported that Waikato policeman Bruce Lyon had been appointed as the first rainbow diversity liaison officer within the police. The announcement was met with criticism by some - including Radio Pacific talkback host Mark Bennett. Bennett questioned why there shouldn't also be a liaison officer appointed for necrophiliacs, sado-masochists and homophobes. The broadcast would later become the subject of a complaint to the Broadcasting Standards Authority. While the complaint was not upheld, the BSA said Bennett's comments were "close to the border of what amounts to 'hate' speech."

Television New Zealand hosted a symposium in Auckland to discuss the future of local Queer television. Johnny Givins, executive producer of the award-winning television series Queer Nation (1996-2004), told the gathering, "That a queer television symposium is happening at all is amazing to me." At the time Queer Nation was relegated to a late-night broadcast time because TVNZ programmers felt that it was "not suitable" for an earlier slot. Despite this, Givins said "Make no mistake - Queer Nation has made a difference. The stories we tell, the people we interview, and the places we go to have changed people's perceptions of themselves and their place in the world." Givins also said "It is clear that the days of exclusion are numbered. The attitude of acceptance of diversity, truth to ourselves is overpowering, as Justice Kirby so eloquently stated a year ago at the opening of the Gay Games in Sydney, 'We are on the way to enlightenment and there will be no u-turns.'"

The Broadcasting Standards Authority partially upheld a complaint about TVNZ broadcasting a six-part religious series featuring Pastor (now Apostle) Brian Tamaki. The broadcast received a number of complaints, including from the New Zealand AIDS Foundation who said TVNZ clearly encouraged the denigration of sections of the community on the grounds of sexual orientation. In the programmes, Tamaki repeatedly used the word "perversion" when characterising the lifestyle of the gay community. While TVNZ advised the producers that the comments in the series were “totally unacceptable” it also told the BSA that it had an ongoing responsibility to preserve the right to freedom of expression. Still, the authority ordered TVNZ to review its processes for appraising such programmes before broadcast in the future.

Media reported that some traditional signs used in New Zealand Sign Language were being replaced ahead of NZSL becoming New Zealand's third official language. At the time, Gays were depicted with a "limp wrist", Jews were represented with a "hook nosed" gesture and Chinese were depicted with a pulling motion to the eye. Brent Macpherson from the Deaf Association told media "It's not really political correctness gone mad. It's more to do with respecting each other." Although new signs were developed the old variants are still shown in the online NZSL Dictionary. After complaints from the public in 2019, Rachel McKee, one of the editors of the dictionary, told media "The job of a dictionary is to record, document and describe the language as people use it, not to prescribe it."

Phillip Edwards was found not guilty of murdering TV celebrity David McNee. Instead the jury found Edwards guilty of manslaughter, after he successfully used the partial defence of provocation, commonly known as gay panic defence. In general terms, a person is so offended and frightened by a same-sex sexual advance that they lose self-control - often characterised by unusual violence. Five years later on 18 August 2009, Parliament began voting on an amendment that would ultimately remove the partial defence of provocation from New Zealand law.

MP Georgina Beyer, along with pro-civil union campaigners, confronted thousands of Destiny Church supporters on the steps of Parliament. Destiny Church had marched through the streets of Wellington dressed in black, fists in the air chanting "enough is enough." A couple of days later The Dominion Post published a Tom Scott cartoon mocking the church's rally. The text on the cartoon read "I know this is not the right place or time, Kev, but you're really hot in those tight black pants."

It was announced on this day that Natasha Lewis had won the Katherine Mansfield Young Writer's Award for her lesbian-themed story The Unsaid Things. Lewis, a student at Epsom Girls' Grammar School, told media "I wanted to show the boundaries between friendship and another kind of relationship and how those get blurred." Judge Barbara Else said Lewis's entry was a "very impressive story. It has the sophistication, structure, and unsentimental use of language of an outstanding writer." The award announcement occurred on Katherine Mansfield's birthday. In 1922, on the last birthday that Mansfield celebrated before her death, she famously wrote in her journal, "Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth." Her journal also contains beautiful descriptions of same-sex love and desire. Writing of an experience with Edith Kathleen Bendall, Mansfield said "I feel that to lie with my head on her breast is to feel what life can hold [...] She, every now and then pressing me to her, kissing me, my head on her breasts, her hands around my body stroking me lovingly."

The Rev. Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., flew to New Zealand to speak out against civil unions at a Destiny New Zealand rally in Auckland. The Civil Union Bill was still being debated in Parliament when King visited. She said that her father "did not take a bullet for same-sex unions". She recounted her father's words "injustice anywhere is a threat to injustice everywhere" and "immorality anywhere is a threat to morality everywhere". At the time, some in the media pointed out that her mother, Coretta Scott King, and sister, Yolanda King, had both spoken out in support of gay rights and that Bayard Rustin - one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s closest advisors - was gay.

Parliament passed the Civil Union Act allowing both same-sex and heterosexual couples to be legally recognised in an arrangement similar to marriage. Most parties treated the legislation as a conscience issue, with MPs being allowed to vote according to their own personal conscience. Leader of United Future, MP Peter Dunne, railed against civil unions saying "this misguided piece of legislation is pure social engineering and the ultimate in political correctness. [It is] an out and out attack on the values of mainstream New Zealand." Dunne, along with National MP Maurice Williamson (another opponent of the legislation) would later vote in favour of marriage equality in 2013.

The NZ Herald reported that Frank Geddes, a marriage celebrant in Northland, had quit the role because he didn't want to civilly unite same-sex couples. Geddes found the idea of homosexuality "abhorrent [...] I find women very attractive. I don't find men attractive at all." At the same time, after a week-long advertising campaign, the Department of Internal Affairs received almost forty applications from people wanting to become celebrants. Four years later, in January 2009, MP Grant Robertson and long-time partner Alf Kaiwai exchanged vows in a civil union ceremony at Old St Paul's in Wellington. Robertson told media "we met playing rugby. I was the number eight and he was the halfback - a great combination."

Debate was heating up over MP Georgina Beyer's Human Rights (Gender Identity) Amendment Bill. The legislation, which was introduced at the same time as the Civil Union Bill was being debated, offered protection from discrimination on the grounds of gender identity. Organisations like the NZ AIDS Foundation and the Green Party backed the measure, while the Maxim Institute asked if this would be "the latest victory of political correctness over biology?" The Bill was ultimately shelved until after the general election in 2005, and then withdrawn by Beyer in 2006 following an opinion from Crown Law saying that transgender people were already protected under the existing human rights legislation of New Zealand.

After celebrating its 20th anniversary on-air, Gay BC (Gay Broadcasting Collective) ended it's weekly radio programme on Wellington's Access Radio. Long-time presenter Hugh Young told media "With gay programmes on mainstream TV, gay love on Coro St and openly gay MPs, GLBT culture and awareness is much more mainstream than it was when we started out [in 1985]." Starting around the same time – but still continuing to broadcast weekly on Access Radio - is the Wellington Lesbian Community Radio programme. It is one of, if not the longest running community radio show in New Zealand.

In the wake of the Civil Union Act 2004, United Future MP Larry Baldock's Marriage (Gender Clarification) Amendment Bill was introduced into Parliament. The Bill set out to explicitly define who could marry: "For the avoidance of doubt, marriage may only occur between one man and one woman", that "a person may not marry another person of the same gender" and same-gender marriages solemnised overseas would not be recognised as marriage in New Zealand. The Bill was championed by United Future MP Gordon Copeland who said "…marriage is a solid rock [...] It is in the interests of creating stable, beautiful, adult relationships between a man and a woman. It safeguards the interests of children, particularly the right of the child - the right of every child - to have both a mum and a dad." However the Bill didn’t get past its first reading, with Parliament voting in December 2005 against it continuing by 73/47.

Labour MP Maryan Street made her inaugural speech in Parliament. Street was New Zealand's first openly out lesbian elected to Parliament (MP Marilyn Waring was publicly outed by the New Zealand Truth newspaper in August 1976 - a couple of months before the Colin Moyle incident). Street's speech reflected on her journey: "As a lesbian, I have often been the subject of other people's efforts to push me to the margins, to erode my legitimacy as a citizen, and to belittle my efforts and achievements. I have never accepted marginalisation; it is a construct of others who wish me to be marginalised. It is not where I see myself or the many others like me. But it has always required courage, and I have not come into this House to be less than brave about the human rights of those whom some would seek to marginalise."

The first ILGA Pacific Conference was held in Auckland. The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association was formed in the United Kingdom by a group of international activists in 1978 with the intention of creating a network and platform to campaign against discrimination and persecution faced by LGBTI people around the world. In March 2019 the ILGA World Conference was held in Wellington - the first time the global conference had been held in this part of the world.

Security guards at an international cricket game in Napier made newspaper headlines when they stopped two women from kissing. The kiss had been shown to a cheering crowd on McLean Park's big-screen monitor. A guard allegedly then told the women that they were distracting the crowd, and would be thrown out if they did it again. A spokesman for Redback Security later told media that the kiss was inflammatory and had "upset two of my more sensitive staff. It got the boys riled up, to be honest."

Broadcaster and kaumatua of the NZ AIDS Foundation Henare te Ua died. Te Ua had a 40-year career in radio as well as being a champion for HIV education and prevention. Former NZAF Board Trustee and Chair Charles Chauvel, told media at the time that Te Ua played "an enormously significant role in helping frame our thinking about how the Foundation should work with Maori in a meaningful, not tokenistic, way." Te Ua was awarded the Queen's Commendation Medal in 1990, the Queen's Service Medal in 1992 for public services and in 2002, the Sir Kingi Ihaka lifetime contribution award.

After a nearly five-month delay, the Charlotte Museum Trust was finally registered as a charitable trust. The enthusiasm for a museum of lesbian culture in Auckland had been growing for some time, and in January 2007 a Trust deed had been signed. And then the waiting began. Founding trustee, Miriam Saphira, recalls phoning the Charities Commission in May 2007: "I do not know what the problem is as our trust deed has been rigorously checked by a lawyer. We are lesbians so we are used to discrimination and some people would have a personal or religious difficulty with the idea." Within hours they were told that their application had been approved. The museum now holds a diverse and significant collection of lesbian-related taonga, books and early publications.

The second Safety in Schools for Queers (SS4Q) conference was held at Wellington High School with over a hundred people in attendance. Launched in 2005, the SS4Q campaign brought together organisations from around the country to address the safety of both students and staff. Spokesperson Sarah Helm told media before the first conference that a study had found that 34% of non-heterosexual students did not feel safe in school most of the time. "This is one of the biggest human rights issues facing the queer community - young people's right to go to school and be treated with respect and dignity." In a press release for the 2007 conference, Post Primary Teachers' Association President Robin Duff said that the PPTA had been working on these issues since the late 1980s, while 17-year-old Peter Hotere recounted how he had left school because of homophobic harassment. When asked what would have made him feel safe at school, Hotere replied "being free to be me."

The New Zealand AIDS Foundation announced an increase of over 200% in the number of people testing for HIV since the introduction of a new rapid HIV test. People were now able to receive results in 20 minutes. NZAF Positive Health Manager Eamonn Smythe said that many people using the tests had never been tested before, "Some of these people had been deterred from testing previously by the anxiety of having to wait up to a week for results from a blood test." Rapid testing began in Auckland in December 2006 and was then rolled out to Hamilton, Christchurch and Wellington. Nowadays, rapid tests can give results for both HIV and syphilis in a minute.

New Zealand's Chief Censor Bill Hastings sought input from the public about the effects of freely-available condomless gay pornography. He told media "Depictions of explicit sexual behaviour influence us to a greater or lesser extent, and in a variety of ways. The emergence of "bareback porn" is, therefore, particularly worrying." Hasting was concerned about the threat that the material posed to public health with the practices it depicted becoming “normalised through repeated viewing.”

Danny Beech, who set up New Zealand's first Deaf gay and lesbian group, died on this day. Beech was born in Pahiatua in 1942. From the age of 5 he attended St Dominic's School for the Deaf in Fielding. Setting up the Deaf rainbow group in the 1990s was only one of his many achievements. The Sign Language Deaf National Archive website states "Danny was instrumental in supporting the development of the modern Deaf community in NZ." He was involved in setting up the New Zealand Association of the Deaf and establishing NZSL interpreter training. He also worked tirelessly for the Catholic Deaf Ministry. Beech attended the World Federation of the Deaf Congress 1981 in Rome where he had an audience with Pope John Paul II. In 1997, the Pope honoured him with the prestigious Benemerenti Medal for his service.

Jenny Rowan was elected Mayor of Kapiti Coast District. Rowan was only the second openly LGBTI person in New Zealand to be elected to the office of Mayor (the first being Georgina Beyer in the Carterton District). Back in 1995 Rowan and partner Jools Joslin along with two other lesbian couples challenged the country's marriage laws by applying for licences to marry. Their applications were declined and so began years of court action, culminating in the couple suing New Zealand before the United Nations Human Rights Committee. It wasn't until August 2013 - eighteen years later -that same-sex marriage would become legal in New Zealand.

The Human Rights Commission published To Be Who I Am/Kia noho au ki toku ano ao. The report was the result of its Transgender Inquiry, which had begun in 2006. The inquiry was a world first by a national human rights institution and focused on transgender people's personal experiences of discrimination, their difficulties accessing health services and the barriers that they faced when trying to have their gender identity legally recognised (e.g. on birth certificates and passports).

Singer-songwriter Mahinarangi Tocker died in Auckland following a severe asthma attack. A few months earlier Tocker had been appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to music. Reflecting on Tocker's career, Tama Waipara told media "she was fearless [...] a real advocate for mental health, feminism, gay rights, Maori rights: she was a super-hero." On the 10th anniversary of her death, in 2018, a special tribute concert was held in Auckland featuring fellow singer-songwriters including Shona Laing, Charlotte Yates and Anika Moa.

TVNZ broadcast an episode of Shortland Street that contained a gay sexual encounter. The Broadcasting Standards Authority later ruled that the episode breached broadcasting standards (children's interest, good taste and decency). This was the first time a BSA complaint had been upheld against the television soap. The scene involved two male characters laying in bed talking. Lindsay went under the blankets and Gerald nervously asked him "where are you going?" Lindsay popped his head back up and replied "it's a surprise" before descending back under.

Chris Brickell launched his groundbreaking book Mates and Lovers, A History of Gay New Zealand. Described as "a priceless treasure of who we are and how we arrived here", the 430-page book took over three years to research. In 2009 it won the Best First Book Award for Non-fiction at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. Now over a decade later, a new generation of rainbow historians are paying tribute to Brickell's work. In 2020, historian Will Hansen told a queer history event at Te Papa "[This book] is incredibly special to me personally, as I'm sure I'm not the only queer history kid in Aotearoa who would tell you that stumbling across Mates and Lovers is what made me realise that doing queer history is possible in New Zealand."

Parliament’s Speaker at the time, Margaret Wilson, opened the Rainbow Room - a select committee meeting room dedicated to New Zealand’s rainbow communities. The room is one of several select committee spaces in Parliament dedicated to different communities, including the Women’s Suffrage Room. Wilson told attendees at the launch "This is where we, as members of Parliament, are at our most influential and intensive, and so it is appropriate that it is with our select committee rooms that we celebrate our diverse Parliament and the democratic system which has finally delivered representation." In 2019 the room, which can be visited by the public, was refurbished and now features photographs of former and current rainbow Members of Parliament, a variety of community flags, six significant pieces of legislation and Mana Takataapui - an artwork by Elizabeth Kerekere commissioned to celebrate marriage equality.

The Rule Foundation was established to "advance the health, wellbeing and visibility" of rainbow communities in New Zealand. The Foundation took its name from Peter Rule who had had a distinguished career within the Royal New Zealand Air Force in the 1950s and 60s. However in the mid-1970s he was told that officials had observed him socialising too closely with a man while on a United Nations posting overseas. The incident effectively ended his military career. From there, Rule moved into arts administration. Before his suicide in 1987 he wrote about his wish to financially help other members of the rainbow community after his death "This may be towards [assisting] those who have had difficulty in coming to terms with their lifestyle and the related feelings of isolation and loneliness, or may [be] in other ways disadvantaged." Since 2008 the Foundation has given out over $400,000 to a wide range of rainbow projects.

The national Kaha Queer Youth Hui took place at Wellington's Tapu Te Ranga Marae. The hui built on earlier annual gatherings run by OUT THERE, a joint initiative between the New Zealand AIDS Foundation and Rainbow Youth. The first OUT THERE hui in 2003, attracted around 40 participants. In 2007, over 70 rainbow youth attended, and by 2009 the attendance had jumped to around 130 people. Nathan Brown, one of the organisers of Kaha in 2007, noted "Quite a few of the young participants said that Kaha was their first marae experience. Many parallels were drawn between racism and homophobia through the incorporation of tikanga into the process of the hui." The experiences gained at those early Kaha hui still resonate strongly today. One of those attendees was Tabby Besley, who would go on to co-found InsideOUT Koaro - a national charity supporting and advocating for rainbow youth. In a recent interview, Besley talked about how those earlier gatherings, fed into the development of Shift hui - a significant annual event for rainbow youth from around Aotearoa.

The not-for-profit website PrideNZ.com was established. It has become the largest online audio repository of rainbow experiences and events from New Zealand, with over 900 audio recordings freely accessible online. Since 2011 the website has been archived by the National Library of New Zealand. Then in 2021, the website was selected by the Library of Congress in the United States to be part of its permanent archive. Founder of PrideNZ.com, Gareth Watkins told media at the time, "It is a richly deserved tribute to the hundreds of community members that have freely shared their experiences with the world."

Tourist Ferdinand Ambach was found guilty of the manslaughter of Auckland pensioner Ronald Brown. Brown was found in his flat with part of a banjo forced down his throat. He had also been bashed and bludgeoned multiple times with a dumbbell. Originally charged with murder, Ambach successfully used the provocation (gay panic) defence, claiming Brown had made an unwanted homosexual advance. Ambach was one of the last people to successfully use this form of defence in New Zealand - with Parliament passing the Crimes (Provocation Repeal) Amendment Act in November 2009. Ambach was sentenced to twelve years imprisonment. He was released in 2016, after serving eight years and immediately deported back to Hungary. He cannot re-enter New Zealand until after his parole period ends on 9 December 2019.

Broadcasting live from the offices of Rainbow Youth in Auckland, breakfast weather presenter Tamati Coffey announced a donation of over a quarter-of-a-million dollars to Rainbow Youth, his chosen charity for the television show Dancing with the Stars. Coffey and dancing partner Samantha Hitchcock won the competition back in April.

Untouchable Girls, the internationally acclaimed film about the Topp Twins, won the Best Feature Film (budget under $1 million) award at the Qantas Film and Television Awards. Also in September 2009, Niki Caro’s The Vintner's Luck had its world premiere. The film was based on Elizabeth Knox's acclaimed book. Knox lay in bed for days crying over the film's treatment of the gay romance between the angel and winemaker. She told media that the film reduced the gay relationship to little more than the angel giving advice about wine, "[Caro] took out what the book was actually about" Knox said.

Glenn Mills was found dead in his cell at Auckland's remand centre at Mt Eden prison. Mills was due to stand trial for allegedly infecting numerous sexual partners with HIV. The trial was set to become one of the biggest criminal proceedings relating to the transmission of HIV in New Zealand. The case also created intense media interest, with some publications labelling Mills as the "HIV predator." Mill's pre-trial suicide compounded the tragedy of the situation on many levels. The website hivjustice.net reflected "we shall never know whether the case was more hysteria than fact." And Express magazine editor Hannah Jennings-Voykovich noted "Whether there was the intent. Whether there could be proof that there was an intent in court. I think there are going to be a lot of hurt people out there wondering what happened."

GayNZ reported on complaints of "blatantly offensive sexual behaviour" around Te Horo Beach on the Kapiti Coast. The area was popular with a number of different communities, including gay men, who according to some locals were popping up in the dunes "like meerkats." Joyce Fleming from Free Beaches NZ told media that anyone having sex in open view on a beach was offensive, "They are ruining it for other beach users and in particular for bona fide naturists and skinny-dippers." BJ, a local resident, said the dunes were like "an open outdoor brothel for gay men." While Sergeant Bigwood of the Ōtaki police said, "One or two people need to be made an example of so the sun lovers can get on with their discreet sun loving, the gay community can get on with being a discreet gay community and other beach users can use the beach without anything being shoved in their face."

The group Queer Avengers launched its Queer our Schools campaign by delivering a set of demands to the Ministry of Education. The group was calling for, among other things, the Ministry to support "transgendered, queer and gender-variant students through providing flexible dress codes and non-gendered bathrooms; and incorporating sexuality and gender diversity into school subjects." Co-organiser of the demonstration, Kassie Hardendorp, said "Since 2007 the Ministry has known that 33% of queer youth face bullying on the basis of their identity and that 20% of queer youth will make at least one attempt on their own life, a rate five times higher than heterosexual students." Victoria Bell, a youth speaker at the event, said "I wish that I didn’t have to Google 'famous gay people' because I didn't know any older queer people to teach me about our history." Looking towards the future, Hardendorp said, "If we are going to challenge the queer oppression we face on a daily basis we need to stand together as a community and demand it. While we may now be legal now, we’re certainly not accepted and valued as equals."

Media reported on another homophobic advertising campaign from the Marlborough based Moa Brewing Company. The company ran billboards with the text "Fifty years ago before there were lesbians this is what beer tasted like." P. Armstrong complained to the Advertising Standards Authority that the advertisement was extremely offensive as it implied same-sex orientations and relationships were a recent phenomenon which were being "associated with a decline in standards, tastes, authenticity and in particular (by implication) with a decline in masculinity." A year earlier the company had made international headlines when it promoted its full strength beer with "light hearted" t-shirts that read: Low Carb B(Q)eers, Moa Beer - Full Strength. A pink 'Q' was super-imposed over the 'B' implying, as writer Max Simon noted "you're a sad little fag if you need fewer calories."

Carmen Rupe died in Sydney. Rupe was a trailblazing activist, entertainer and entrepreneur - both in Australia and New Zealand. Her businesses included a cabaret club, a coffee shop, an Egyptian tearoom, a curio shop, a massage parlour and a brothel. Anecdotally, Carmen had a great line for male patrons who might prove troublesome. She would apparently say "Do you want a fuck or a fight? I can give you both." During Pride 2018, Georgina Beyer publicly talked about the ongoing lack of care available for rainbow elders, emotionally revealing that St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney "didn't treat [Carmen] with the dignity she deserved." Loved and admired both in New Zealand and Australia, Rupe was known for her manaakitanga - offering love and compassion to many. Phil Rogers, a friend of Rupe's, recently spoke about how she "always had an interest in you; [Carmen] remembered your name." In 2021 Rupe's curio shop at 288 Cuba Street was added to an historic rainbow sites list maintained by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.

New Zealand flags were officially flown at half-mast to honour Corporal Douglas Hughes. Hughes had committed suicide in Afghanistan on 3 April after being questioned by a sergeant about his feelings for a fellow male soldier. Coroner Gordon Matenga refused to hold an inquest and relied solely on the Army’s Court of Inquiry. This led to calls from the family and others for greater transparency. Matenga was also criticised by some after it was revealed that he had made submissions in opposition to marriage equality, though Chief Coroner Judge Neil MacLean said coroners were entitled to their personal opinions.

A powhiri and gifting ceremony was held at Te Papa to mark the national museum becoming the guardian of the New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt. The New Zealand quilt is made up of sixteen blocks and a small number of individual panels. Each block contains up to eight separate panels, each measuring six feet by three feet (roughly the size of a grave). Attending the ceremony were Nicki Eddy and daughter Megan. They knelt next to the quilt they had made in 1991 for Nicki's brother Robin. Nicki reflected on how Robin's nieces and nephews left painted handprints underneath his birth and death dates: "Under the 2nd May is my daughter Megan's handprint because she was born on [Robin's] eighteenth birthday, and my son Bryce is under the 20th May because [Robin] passed away on the 20th May [1991] which was Bryce's seventeenth birthday."

A large crowd gathered in Wellington's Civic Square to march in support of marriage equality. Joseph Habgood, co-founder of LegaliseLove told the crowd, "We can all march today in the warm glow of knowledge that New Zealand is with us. The vast majority agree that love is love." Another group that supported marriage equality was The Queer Avengers. However they also wanted to stress "that marriage equality is not the end of [the] line for LGBT rights and that struggles beyond marriage lie ahead." In a press release, Queer Avenger Sara Fraser pointed out that rainbow communities still faced many obstacles including queer youth bullying, suicide and homelessness, inadequate access to quality health care for trans people and common intimidation and violence in the streets. Fraser reiterated, "this is not the final struggle."

The first reading in Parliament of MP Louisa Wall's marriage equality law took place on this day. Reflecting on the campaign in her farewell speech in Parliament in April 2022, Wall said "It would be fair to say that, despite legislative reform for our LGBTIQ+ community being included in our Labour [Party] manifesto, there was not universal approval to me putting my member's bill in the ballot." She paid tribute to the late MP Parekura Horomia who "tackled those who were opposed... So while my name is often associated with the passing of the bill, it would probably have never been realised without Parekura." Wall went on to say "I believe that advocacy for marriage equality was based on fundamental human rights, and that civil unions became a stopgap measure because it was not clear that marriage would get over the line. When I expressed this view, I was told that this would be the end of my career and I would be on my own."

Media reported that the domain name FamilyFirst.co.nz was redirecting to a website in support of marriage equality. Family First were totally opposed to same-sex marriage and were actively campaigning against it. Family First's Bob McCroskie told media that they had never owned the .co.nz version of the domain name and "it's not an issue." However Hamish Spencer who had recently purchased the domain told GayNZ.com "It did used to redirect to the .org.nz address... Right after I purchased the domain I talked with a few friends about what I should do with it, we all thought redirecting it to porn would be pretty funny, but then the idea of using it for some good eventuated, and it was pointed at Marriage Equality."

Former MP Katherine O'Regan publicly apologised for not including transgender people in the anti-discrimination measures of the Human Rights Act 1993. O'Regan had first been elected to Parliament in the 1984 general election as MP for Waipa, replacing the retiring Marilyn Waring. In the early 1990s, as Associate Minister of Health, she championed human rights legalisation that would outlaw discrimination on the grounds of, among other things, sexual orientation and having organisms in the body that might cause disease (e.g. HIV). During her presentation in 2012, O'Regan recounted a letter she had received at the time from a gay man: "I seek to be judged for who I am, for my work, and for my successes and my failures, not on the basis of prejudice."

The second reading of MP Louisa Wall's marriage equality legislation took place in Parliament. Wall told the House, "This bill is about marriage equality. It's not about gay marriage, same-sex marriage, or straight marriage. It's about marriage between two people. There's no distinction to be made. That is equality." National MP Chris Auchinvole was also in support of the bill. He told the House, "As an older person, we do have a baggage to carry of remembering when homosexuality was illegal, in fact, it was criminal. And it was, we were told, immoral. What I learned from listening to the [public] submissions, is that in fact, each homosexual, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person appearing before us was not just to be seen as an individual, not just identified by gender preference. But in fact, as a mother’s son or a daughter, and a father's daughter or son, siblings to their brothers and sisters, grandchildren to their grandparents... They're all family, along with their heterosexual friends and relations, and all are an integral part of the New Zealand family. All part in my mind, in my heart, and in my conscience, all part of God's family. I now realise that this bill seeks to put first something that critics have accused it of undermining - and that is the family."

The Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill passed its final reading in Parliament, granting same-sex couples the right to marry. While MP Louisa Wall's legislation didn't gain unanimous support (77 ayes/44 noes), it was more accepted than the civil union legislation in 2004 (65 ayes/55 noes), and the earlier homosexual law reform in 1986 which only passed by four votes (49/44). One of the major opponents of homosexual law reform was National MP John Banks who told Parliament at the time "This day will be remembered as a sad and sickening day." However by 2013 his views had changed significantly and he voted in favour of same-sex marriage: "If I knew then what I have since learnt, I would have acted differently. I see this as a debate more about human rights, predicated on the basis that we are all entitled to live our lives to the fullest extent of human happiness while respecting the rights and beliefs of others." Speaking just before Banks, Labour MP Maryan Street said "We leave this world to others, especially our young people. Let's make it a better, fairer, kinder place than we found it."

National MP Claudette Hauiti gave her maiden speech in Parliament. Prior to becoming a Member of Parliament, Hauiti had a long career as a broadcaster and journalist. She produced Children of the Revolution, a documentary about protest movements in New Zealand in the 1970s and 1980s. It won Best Maori Language Programme award at the 2008 Qantas Film and Television Awards. During her maiden speech she told the House, "Thanks to the takataapui community, I bring to this House and my Government the strength of courage to overcome adversity, tolerance in the face of rejection, acceptance where there is love, and an ability to recognise diversity as being the fabric that makes up this young, beautiful nation. If we go forward as a nation, united in our diversity, then we do so with purpose and with passion. We may not agree with one another's policies, processes, or procedures. We are not a homogenous people, but I respect the right of anyone to voice their opinion, and I welcome the opportunity to debate robustly."

Internationally recognised equestrian and icon Peter Taylor died in Auckland after stopping all treatment for both HIV and the rare infection Leishmaniasis (caught from a sandfly bite at the Barcelona Olympics). Over a fifteen-year period Taylor underwent a massive 922 doses of chemotherapy resulting in additional health complications. His infectious diseases specialist, Professor Mark Thomas reflected "Pete taught me about determination, tolerating tough life, optimism and generosity." Taylor himself said "I think it is about positive thinking, taking responsibility, and reducing any bitterness and blame in your life. You can't have negatives in your body that will feed the illness." Taylor's businesses included Urge Bar (which he co-founded in 1995), and the much-loved Surrender Dorothy and Dot's Sister.

Minister of Corrections Anne Tolley announced that transgender prisoners would now be housed according to the gender on their birth certificate. Transgender prisoners would also be able to apply to be moved if the gender they self-identified as was different from that on their birth certificate. At the time of the announcement, Corrections said there were nine transgender people in the prison system.

The Beyond conference took place in Wellington. Organised by the Queer Avengers activist group, the event set out to "look beyond marriage [equality] towards an inclusive movement for gender and sexual liberation." The Queer Avengers had earlier supported MP Louisa Wall’s marriage equality legislation in 2012, saying that it would "alter a statute that currently discriminates against queer communities. Laws should be free of discrimination." However, the group also pointed out that "the passing of this bill will not end the fight for equal rights and an end to forms of discrimination that still exist for Queer communities." The weekend conference, spread over fourteen sessions, focused on the lived experiences of queer/trans people in relation to identity, race, disability, the media, healthcare, parenting, education and imprisonment.

A tribute evening was held in Wellington to honour icon Georgina Beyer. Earlier in the year Beyer had been diagnosed with chronic end-stage renal failure and required dialysis four times a day. MP Louisa Wall told media that "we need to celebrate and we need to remember and we need to acknowledge and we need to support her for the work that she has done." Event organiser Jo Paku said "while we remember Georgina as the politician, as the mayor, as the performer, as the artiste, we also want to pay homage to her whakapapa as a Maori woman." The event was held at St James Cabaret, the same location where Beyer won “Miss Personality” in the Ms Wellington contest 34 years earlier. Beyer would eventually receive a kidney transplant in 2017 - a birthday gift from close friend Grant Pittams.

Entrepreneur Tony Katavich died. In the 1970s, well before homosexual law reform, Katavich along with his long-time partner John Kiddie and business partner Brett Sheppard established a variety of openly gay-focussed businesses. Saunas, bookshops, nightclubs, a magazine, travel agency and a mail order service all became part of the Out empire. In a time when people could lose their job, their accommodation or not receive service on the grounds of their sexual orientation, the Out empire was at the forefront of challenging the status quo. Remembering Katavich and co, publisher Jay Bennie said "Landmark morality cases were defended with tenacious vigour. Some cases hit the nation’s headlines, some were lost, but many were won and helped unpurse the nation’s lips regarding things erotic and gay."

Youth delegates from New Zealand and around the Pacific attended the NXT:14 Youth Leaders Conference held in Auckland. The conference was a collaboration between the Auckland Pride Festival Trust and the US Embassy, with the support of outgoing US Ambassador David Huebner - only the third openly gay ambassador in US history. The event featured MPs Louisa Wall, Kevin Hague, Claudette Hauiti and former Young New Zealander of the year Sam Johnson. The conference attracted many young activists that have since gone on to become community leaders – including Tabby Besley, co-founder of InsideOUT Koaro, and Duncan Matthews and Toni Duder – currently both co-chairs of the philanthropic Rule Foundation. Reflecting on NXT:14, Duder said "I was just so blown away by everyone's passion and by the amount of willingness to act that's in our community. And how I've always known that us young folk, our generation, has got the drive to do this stuff, and it's just amazing to see it actually there."

The third and final reading of the Sullivan Birth Registration Bill took place in Parliament. The Bill had a specific purpose: to correct the post-adoptive birth certificate of Rowan Sullivan by including the names of both of her mothers Diane and Doreen. The family had moved to New Zealand in 1999. At that time, the couple could not marry or jointly adopt Sullivan and so only Diane could be listed on the birth certificate. However when Diane died in 2010, Doreen adopted Sullivan, resulting in Diane's name being removed. The bill’s sponsor Louisa Wall said that the legislation was by definition "very private, for Rowen, Doreen and their family ... To know that they have been empowered through the process of sharing their life story is something that this house should celebrate and be proud of." The bill passed unanimously.

Matthew Muir QC was sworn in as a High Court Judge - the first openly gay High Court Justice in New Zealand. Speaking to Express magazine, Muir said "As a gay man I would hope also to bring a sensitivity to difference and to minority interests which, were it not for the fact that I am part of such a minority myself, I may not have." At Muir's swearing in, Chief Justice Sian Elias said “This office is not a prize or a destination but a promise of vocation ... There has been a revolution in our lifetimes in the position of those who are different because of gender, or race, or sexual orientation. I do not suggest that all the barriers are down. But we have come a long way. And I think it would be wrong not to acknowledge that on this occasion. And to acknowledge that you personally played a significant role in bringing about change by advocacy in the 1980s and indeed by your own example."

Jonathan Smith was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to people with HIV/AIDS. Smith's citation applauded his involvement in raising awareness, compassion, quality of care for and the self-esteem of people living with HIV and AIDS. Smith was the first person living with HIV to be appointed Chair of the New Zealand AIDS Foundation and was closely involved in setting up the annual Red Ribbon Day street appeal. For a decade he and husband Kevin Baker produced The Queen of the Whole Universe - A Very Queer Beauty Pageant. It became one of the largest drag shows in the world and raised over $200,000 for HIV/AIDS related charities. The last pageant was held in a sold-out Aotea Centre in 2012. It had a cast and crew of over 100 volunteers, with audience noise levels peaking over 120 decibels.

Arsonist Angelo Bitossi was jailed for eight-and-a-half years after being found guilty of starting a large fire at a self-storage depot in Kilbirnie. The fire affected over 200 storage units with an estimated combined loss of $9-10 million. One of the units contained former MP Fran Wilde's irreplaceable collection of material relating to homosexual law reform. She told media "many of the documents were unique - for example all the correspondence I received, both pro and anti." The unit also contained her dairies from the time. At a hearing in 2019, the Parole Board noted that Bitossi had been "motivated by revenge against a former friend. It was accepted that his immediate intent was to burn in only the storage locker of his former friend but it was foreseeable that the fire would spread." Bitossi was subsequently released on parole in November 2019.

Composer Jack Body received the New Zealand Arts Icon award - the highest honour given out by the New Zealand Arts Foundation. The honour is limited to a living circle of twenty recipients. The medallion is then returned to the Foundation at the end of an Icon's life to be presented to a future recipient. Body received the medallion of the late artist Ralph Hotere. "I could think of no greater honour than to accept Ralph’s medallion. He was a mysterious and deeply loved friend to me" said Body during the private ceremony at Mary Potter Hospice. Body died three days later.

The inaugural Same Same But Different LGBTQI+ literary festival was held in Auckland to celebrate New Zealand’s top writing talent and "the richness inherent in difference." Reflecting at the time on his own journey, founding Festival Director Peter Wells said "I have to thank the bullies [at Mt Albert Grammar School] because I became a writer, which enabled me to say on paper what I couldn't say out loud... I began to feel the enormous freedom of being able to say exactly what I wanted... Written and spoken language became my weapon." In 2021 the festival expanded to five days, made all of the events free to attend and welcomed Sam Orchard as Festival Director.

The first ever intersex workshop was held in New Zealand at an ILGA regional conference in Wellington. Co-facilitator Mani Bruce Mitchell described intersex as "the rainbow within the rainbow." In a recent interview with the Listener magazine, Mitchell recollected a story about how in some communities, elders would say that an intersex child was taonga (a treasure) and had been sent by the gods to teach us something. Mitchell reflected that if Europeans could learn from this, and hold this powerful concept, how transformative that would be.

The inaugural Matariki Awards took place at Auckland's War Memorial Museum, with Dr Huhana Hickey being named as a finalist for the Te Tupu-a-Rangi Award for Health and Science. All of the awards are named after the stars of Matariki. Co-host Stacey Morrison told the audience that it was a time to celebrate "those of us who shine like the stars of Matariki and provide a beacon, an inspiration for us all." On being nominated for her extraordinary mahi, Hickey, a highly respected disability advocate and lawyer said "It is a passion, my life, my journey, shared by those who are also a part of that journey." Hickey is currently taking part in the Abuse in Care inquiry. She recently told the NZ Herald that she had been given up by forced adoption at 3 days old. A major step in reclaiming her whakapapa was getting her moko kauae: "This was done for me and my mokopuna so they know who they are and where they are from, it was to bring an end to the lies and secrets, and to say to the Crown: 'You may deny my whakapapa but my tipuna know me'."

Human rights activist Briar Bentley died. Originally from the United Kingdom, Bentley moved to New Zealand to take up farming. She was a share milker in the Bay of Plenty before owning a number of dairy farms in Northland. Paying tribute to Bentley, Human Rights Commissioner Richard Tankersley said, "Briar was the driving force behind the transgender support network in Whangarei and through that community work, became an invaluable contributor to human rights education in Northland." As part of the Human Rights Commission's Taku Manawa (My Human Rights) programme, Bentley launched her Conversation on Human Rights exhibition in Whangarei in 2011. The show presented thirty of her photographs, each a visual representation of an article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Speaking about the exhibition, Bentley said "I'm not trying to make a statement, I'm trying to get people to question their values." The show went on to tour the country and was seen by thousands of people.

Hui Takataapui celebrated its 30th anniversary. The first hui took place in 1986 and was in response to a homophobic backlash experienced by some within Maori communities during homosexual law reform and the early years of AIDS. Commenting before the 2016 hui, Jordon Harris from the New Zealand AIDS Foundation said "We have emerged from the darkness of oppression and from the efforts of the early brave survivors paving the way, to standing with hope and pride on the Marae."

A public vigil was held outside of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Wellington. It was sparked by graphic reports of abductions, torture and killings in Chechnya (a republic of Russia) of primarily gay and bisexual men, and those perceived to be. Green Party MP Jan Logie told the gathering, "We know that silence is a form of death, and without speaking up we are in some ways allowing that violence to happen." An embassy official came out from the compound and began filming participants while encouraging "more picture please, you are very beautiful people." Police were then called on the group. Later, another official (mis)informed the vigil that "there is no situation in Chechnya." For the record - in 2021 a Council of Europe report described the "state-sponsored attacks carried out against LGBTI people in Chechnya in 2017" as "the single most egregious example of violence against LGBTI people in Europe that has occurred in decades."

The daily news and feature website GayNZ.com closed. For just over 16 years the website, led by publishers Jay Bennie and Neil Gibb, reported on local and international news and gave a platform for community members to express their opinions and creative talents. Signalling its impending closure, the editors reflected, "GayNZ.com grew out of a challenge in another time of great change. In 2001 the post-law reform age was combining with the start of the digital revolution and we rose up to tackle the challenge." During its time, the website published over 18,000 articles - many of which remain available via a number of online archives.

Athlete and change-maker Aaron Fleming was presented with a Blake Leader Award from the Sir Peter Blake Trust. As a teenager, Fleming's lung had collapsed four times. His surgeon told him that he would not be able to physically exert himself ever again. Using this as motivation, Fleming took on the sport of Ironman, completing his first event just five years later. Fleming came out in 2007, and along with athletes Louisa Wall, Blake Skjellerup and Robbie Manson, are Proud to Play NZ Ambassadors - promoting inclusive sports and recreations throughout the country.

Authors Chaz Harris and Adam Reynolds released a Te Reo Maori translation of their internationally acclaimed children's book Promised Land. Whenua Taurangi was translated by Te Ama-Rere Tai Rangihuna and Te Ara-Ripeka Rangihuna. Harris told media that they've "had a lot of requests from parents telling us they enjoy reading in Te Reo with their kids." The love story was originally produced with the help of a crowd funding campaign. Harris and Reynolds wrote "During our childhoods and teen years, we had no role models or stories that represented the notion that 'happily ever after' could even exist if you're gay. As such, we felt there should be more stories like that, and so we wrote one together." Reviewing the book, Demi Cox wrote "Promised Land is a book that warms the heart. It instils a sense of faith that a world of acceptance is possible and not so far away."

Yachtsman Cory McLennan was profiled in the media advocating for more inclusivity in sport. McLennan had made history in 2014 when he became the youngest person to complete the Solo Trans-Tasman yacht race. However he kept his sexuality hidden, fearing that it would negatively affect sporting opportunities, "I was scared that someone would find out, scared of what would happen to me... It's not easy to come out - it means putting myself out there and conquering my own fear." McLennan is still sailing and inspiring people. His website opens with a quote from Alain Gerbault, "Adventure means risking something, and it is only when we are doing that, that we know what a splendid thing life is and how well it can be lived."

Parliament apologised for the hurt and stigma caused by the historic criminalisation of consensual homosexual activity. Justice Minister Amy Adams said "Today we are putting on the record that this house deeply regrets the hurt and stigma suffered by the many hundreds of New Zealand men who were turned into criminals by a law that was profoundly wrong, and for that, we are sorry."

During a sermon broadcast from the Westcity Bible Bapist Church in Auckland, Pastor Logan Robertson stated he wasn't against homosexuals getting married "as long as a bullet goes through their head the moment they kiss."

The 10th National Day of Silence is held throughout New Zealand. The day involved students undertaking a form of silence to draw attention to the silencing effect of homophobic, biphobic, transphobic harassment in schools. The first National Day of Silence was held at Nayland College, Nelson in 2007.

Police told media that Pastor Logan Robertson committed no criminal offence with his latest outpouring of hate speech. In a sermon distributed on the Internet in July, Robertson from the Westcity Bible Baptist Church in Avondale said "I'm not against [homosexuals] getting married as long as a bullet goes through their head the moment they kiss... that's what should happen." In 2014 Robertson made news headlines after telling a gay author "I pray that you will commit suicide." Robertson subsequently moved to Australia, but was deported in 2018 following alleged harassment of Muslims. He then moved to the Philippines and, as recently as March 2019, was preaching to high-school students.

The General Election saw the return to Parliament of at least five rainbow politicians: Louisa Wall, Grant Robertson, Meka Whaitiri, Jan Logie and Chris Finlayson. The election also saw two new rainbow Members of Parliament - broadcaster Tamati Coffee and Kiritapu Allan. Allan had studied law and politics, and had interned under then Prime Minister Helen Clark. Having openly out Members was in stark contrast to the mid-1970s when Carmen Rupe suggested controversially that there were some closeted gay and bisexual MPs. She later unreservedly apologised to Parliament's Privileges Committee for the statements that had, in their view, "lessen[ed] the esteem in which Parliament is held."

Trail-blazing athlete Laurel Hubbard made history by winning two silver medals at the Weightlifting World Championships in California, USA. No New Zealand lifter had ever before won a world championship medal. But the firsts didn't stop there. In June 2021 Hubbard became the first openly transgender athlete to be selected to compete in weightlifting at the Olympic Games. NZ Olympic Committee chief executive Kereyn Smith told media "As the New Zealand team, we have a strong culture of manaaki and inclusion and respect for all." Speaking after the competition, Hubbard said “I think the world is changing and there are opportunities for people to be out in the world and do things just as any other person would do... Life is difficult, there are disappointments ... but if you just keep pressing on it does get better."

The outside of the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington was lit in the colours of the trans flag – light blue, pink and white - in memory of Zena Campbell who died a month earlier. The lighting up of the MFC followed a vigil for Campbell, organised by former classmate and transgender advocate Bella Simpson. Simpson spoke at the vigil about the average life expectancy of trans women - 41 years. Campbell's partner was subsequently accused of murder, but the judge dismissed the charge on the day the High Court trial was due to start. A pathologist said the death was "likely due to methadone and alcohol toxicity, or neck compression or some combination of the two."

The second reading of a bill that would allow for the wiping of historic homosexual convictions took place in Parliament. The legislation followed Wiremu Demchick's 2014 petition and a similar law in the United Kingdom - informally called the Alan Turing law. Prior to homosexual law reform in 1986, men could be imprisoned for up to 7 years for consensual homosexual activity. In 2017 Justice Minster Amy Adams introduced the legislation. At every stage of the Bill's journey, MPs voted unanimously in favour of it. In 2019, the family of the late Charles Aberhart used the new law to successfully have his 1963 conviction for "indecent assault" (i.e. consensual sex) wiped. Sadly, shortly after his release from prison, Aberhart was brutally killed by a group of teenage boys looking to “belt up a queer” in Christchurch in January 1964.

Rugby Australia chief executive Raelene Castle told media that player Israel Folau, according to her, acknowledged he could have "put a positive spin" on his earlier statement that gay people would go to "HELL .. unless they repent of their sins and turn to God." Castle described Folau as a "strong role model" and suggested that he could have made his comment in a more respectful way. Folau later told media that he had "no phobia towards anyone" but refused to back down on his beliefs.

A world first: the transgender, bisexual, intersex and rainbow flags were flown together for the very first time on the forecourt of Parliament. The flags flew to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT). They flew again at Parliament on 17 March 2019. Originally flown to mark the beginning of the ILGA World Conference in Wellington, the flags flew at half-mast to also mourn and pay respect to the victims of the Christchurch mosque massacres two days earlier.

The Human Rights Commission announced that it would facilitate ongoing 6-monthly hui between Rainbow communities and the Rainbow NZ Parliamentary Network. Commissioner Dr Jackie Blue said that the regular events would provide "a space for the community's voices to be heard by Rainbow leaders in Parliament." The Commission hadn't always been so progressive. In 1981, when discrimination based on sexuality was still legal and homosexual acts illegal, the Commission issued a report saying that homosexuals did not qualify for protection as an oppressed group: "Human rights are not simply whatever people might claim as rights for themselves or others." Chief Human Rights Commissioner Pat Downey was quoted in the media as saying, "I do not agree that all discrimination should be made unlawful." The Commission went on to suggest that the Crimes Act relating to homosexual activity could be reframed "so as to make no distinctions between males and females" - effectively criminalising lesbian activity too (this recommendation wasn’t taken up by the Government).

Two petitions calling for a ban on what is commonly known as conversion therapy, were presented on the steps of Parliament. Conversion therapy sets out to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. It comes in a variety of forms including institutionalisation, electroconvulsive shock therapy (ECT) and talk therapy where people are told to pray the gay away. The petitions, with a combined 20,000 signatures, were received by MPs Jan Logie and Marja Lubeck. One of the key activists who campaigned for a law change was Shaneel Lal. Lal labelled conversion therapy as "state-sanctioned torture." In a submission to an Independent Expert for the United Nations, they pointed to the Counting Ourselves survey in 2018, which found that a massive 17% of the 1,178 respondents had experienced some form of reparative therapy from a professional who had tried to stop them being trans or non-binary.

New Zealand's second rainbow pedestrian crossing was launched in Wellington (the first crossing being in Queenstown). The crossing's launch was timed to mark the birthday of the late Carmen Rupe. The Transport Authority had earlier opposed the rainbow crossing saying that there was "a high risk of confusion and a dazzling and distracting effect" and the police said that the crossing posed "risks of death and serious injury for road users." However the crossing went ahead, painted in part by Mayor Justin Lester, who told media that he was glad not to be arrested in the process. Wellington City Council was quick to point out that the rainbow crossing was not an official zebra crossing, saying it was simply an "art installation placed on the street."

Minister of Justice Andrew Little announced that under a newly enacted law, the first wiping of historic homosexual convictions had taken place. Since then, there have been a total of 21 applications to wipe historic convictions. Nineteen have been made by individuals and two by family representatives. Thirteen applications have been successful, and six declined. The Ministry of Justice has also recently published statistics on the number of historic convictions from the 1920s to 1980s. It shows that convictions for men who permitted an "indecent act" on themselves (which was just one of the unjust laws), rose sharply in the years leading up to homosexual law reform in the mid-1980s: 1950s (no convictions), 1960s (19), 1970s (53) and 1980s (66).

Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced that the Government would defer the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Registration Bill. Among other things, the legislation would have allowed for a person to self-declare their gender rather than having to go through the Family Court. However the self-identification clauses had been added by the Select Committee after public submissions had closed. Martin told media that deferring the bill would "allow for more comprehensive consideration of the legal implications of this issue and formal public consultation." Responding to the announcement, Ahi Wi-Hongi from Gender Minorities Aotearoa said "It is over 11 years since the Human Rights Commission's Transgender Inquiry called for a simpler process [...] All human beings deserve dignity and a fair chance at life. But at the moment, trans people can’t even get identification documents."

After thirty-five years, one of New Zealand's longest running access radio shows - the Lesbian Community Radio Programme - changed its name to QUILTED BANANAS. The acronym stands for Queer, Intersectional, Intersex, Lesbian, Takataapui, Trans, Enby (non-binary), Diverse, Bisexual, Asexual, and "Nanas - because a lot of us also identify as nanas." Run by a collective, the radio show began in October 1984 and has broadcast weekly ever since. Broadcaster Linda Evans remembers "[The programme] became extremely important. Isolated lesbian groups and individuals could therefore keep in touch via the programme. One talkback session revealed a lesbian who had 'listened for years' before she dared to make contact with others." The name shift in 2019 was a celebration of people's diverse identities. The collective's Facebook page noted that the name was "celebrating all the slippery overlaps these communities can have, and how finding your identity within them can be as messy - but also as fun."

The Transgender, Intersex, Bisexual and Rainbow flags were flown at half-mast on the forecourt of Parliament. Originally the flags were to be flown to mark the opening of the ILGA World Conference. However they, along with the New Zealand flag, were lowered to half-mast in mourning for the victims of the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre terror attacks in Christchurch three days earlier. New Zealand hadn't experienced this scale of terror attack before, with 51 people killed and 49 injured. Subsequently a number of events throughout the country were either cancelled or postponed for fear of similar attacks - particularly against Muslim, Jewish and rainbow communities. In Wellington, the annual Out in the Park was cancelled and the pride parade was postponed until May.

Media reported the inspiring story of the Christchurch Boys' High School rowing team who rallied around their coxswain after he had been subjected to homophobic bullying earlier in the season. Before the final race at the Maadi Cup regatta on Lake Karapiro, the team contacted the other seven crews who all taped their oar handles with rainbow tape in support of the rower. Former New Zealand Olympic rower Robbie Manson, who came out publicly in 2014, posted on social media "I'm so proud of... the Chch Boys team for showing the kind of courage and leadership to create this change that is making everyone feel like they are welcome and they belong." The day was made more historic with Christchurch Boys' winning their first Maadi Cup national title.

Destiny Church leader Bishop Brian Tamaki apologised to the rainbow community during the Love is Greater Than Hate event. Media reported Tamaki as saying "It has never been my intent to cause hurt or harm." This may have been, in part, referencing his 2004 nationwide speaking tour which set out to expose "a government gone evil [and] a radical homosexual agenda", or possibly when he rallied against "gaypower" in 2015, or when he reflected on earthquakes and other natural disasters in 2016, telling followers that the earth "convulses under the weight of certain human sin." Referring to the early 2000s and the anti-civil union march Enough is Enough, Tamaki rather ambiguously said that if he had another chance "we'd do some things differently."

The Ministry for Culture and Heritage announced that oral historian Caren Wilton had been given an award to record interviews with people who were part of New Zealand's transgender community from the 1970s to today. Wilton recorded long-form interviews with people talking about how things had changed over the last five decades. One interviewee talked about the Wellington scene in the early 1980s and winning Miss Queen of Queens, another talked about being married and transitioning later in life, and members of a family with two transgender children talked about growing up in the 2000s. The interviews have subsequently been deposited with the Alexander Turnbull Library. Since 1990, the New Zealand Oral History Awards have given over $2 million to more than 400 community groups and individuals to record histories relating to New Zealand and the South Pacific.

A Year 9 student at Auckland Grammer School was stood down because their shoulder length hair breached school rules. Victoria Trow from RainbowYouth told stuff.co.nz that the hair rule could be particularly harmful for trans and gender-diverse students or those questioning their gender. Trow said it perpetuated a culture where boys and men were "punished and ridiculed for displaying any feminine traits." The student told media that they planned to take the school to court over the decision. A year earlier, Auckland Grammer had gained the Rainbow Tick – a certification mark that allowed an organisation to show the world that they were "progressive, inclusive and dynamic." As of January 2021, AGS rules still stated that a student’s hair should be "short enough to ensure it does not touch his shirt collar... and should not be long enough to be tied up in any form."

St Andrew's on the Terrace in Wellington marked the 20th anniversary of Transgender Day of Remembrance with a special service. It began with the congregation joining with the Rev Dr Susan Jones in affirming "All human beings are due unconditional love, all humankind, all orientations, all genders. All people are welcome here." Recently the church spoke in support of legislation that would ban conversion 'therapy.' Speaking about people undergoing conversion practices within religious groups, Fionnaigh McKenzie told the Select Committee "Consent is not a defence. These practices occur in the context of massive power imbalances, misinformation and manipulation within a homophobic, biphobic and transphobic environment which leads people into shame and fear and desperation. People are wanting to escape pain but not able to see in the midst of it, that the pain is caused by their environment not by who they are."

The project Trans Past, Trans Present was launched at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa to mark International Transgender Day of Remembrance (20 November). The collaboration between the museum and community groups encouraged trans people to submit objects of personal significance. The taonga were photographed and a digital record deposited into the national collection. "What emerged was a quirky collection that is a testament to the diversity of trans experiences, and which disrupts established (and cis-written) narratives about trans lives" wrote project co-ordinator Will Hansen. From a pounamu grounding stone, to an envelope addressed to "Mr", to a hand-poked tattoo on a participant's leg - "a symbol of me being openly trans, even when I could 'pass' and fly under the radar, for those who can’t be."

March saw a dramatic change in how people lived their lives, socialised and conducted business. The first case of the COVID-19 virus was confirmed in New Zealand in late February and by 11 March the World Health Organisation had declared a global pandemic. Remarkably just four days before that Wellington held its Pride parade. It was attended by tens-of-thousands of people who partied without social distancing or face masks. However the reality of the pandemic quickly set in, and within two weeks New Zealand’s borders were closed and the country was preparing to enter a nationwide lockdown. In Wellington the sex-on-site venue Checkmate closed indefinitely and the New Zealand AIDS Foundation began advocating consensual phone sex, webcam sex and masturbating as alternatives to casual sex.

Over five hundred Pride organisations from around the world came together to create a 24-hour Global Pride online event. The virtual Pride was born after COVID-19 pandemic restrictions forced the cancellation of many physical gatherings. Global Pride featured a livestream of music, performances and messages of support. Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern represented New Zealand. Ardern told the international audience that Pride was about "recognizing and supporting inclusivity, unity and a sense of community. For me, Pride is recognition of all the work that has been achieved and all the work that is left to do. And Pride can also change people's lives. It's an opportunity for people to meet their role models and see people celebrating their pride."

The first ever National Schools' Pride Week took place throughout New Zealand. Over one hundred schools took part, including a number of primary and intermediate schools. The week-long celebrations were co-ordinated by the national youth charity InsideOut. They told schools "We hope that by celebrating and affirming rainbow identities through our pride campaign we can help reduce the experiences of bullying and distress for our rainbow rangatahi." Tabby Besley, managing director of InsideOUT, said "For many young people it could be the first time they've heard their identities talked about in a positive light... It sends a clear message to all students that diversity is normal, it's something to be proud of." Each day had a different theme: education, inclusion, accessibility, whakapapa and rainbow history and celebration/pride.

Expressionist painter Douglas MacDiarmid died from Covid-19 in Paris, France. Born in Tihape in 1922, MacDiarmid attended Timaru Boys' High School. Soon after leaving school, he met and fell in love with composer Douglas Lilburn. Their relationship was full of passion, dispute, anguish and joy - some of which is expressed in surviving letters. In 1945 MacDiarmid wrote to Lilburn, "My God, you're beautiful and wonderful and it's impossible not to be in love!" And in 1948 Lilburn wrote to MacDiarmid, "To think of you is to think of goodness and singleness of heart. It’s as though I were thirsty and you come to me with clear mountain water to drink." However, MacDiarmid didn't feel accepted in New Zealand. A website dedicated to the artist recounts how he left permanently for France in 1951, "Douglas chose not to be shamed into hiding personal relationships or living a half-life for love." It was in Paris in 1968 that he met Patrick, his life partner, who was with MacDiarmid until his death.

The Salvation Army (New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa Territory) issued a set of guidelines relating to the Army's stance on gay conversion practices, sexuality and gender identity. The Army affirmed their opposition to any form of gay conversion practices and stated "Salvationists will continue to oppose vilification of, or discrimination against, anyone on the grounds of sexuality or gender. This includes attempts to change another person’s sexual orientation or gender identity and includes actions which deny a person's sexual orientation or gender identity." The statement was in stark contrast to the Army’s strident opposition to homosexual law reform in the mid 1980s, when Colonel Donald Campbell told Salvationists that the moral decay of civilisation was proceeding unchecked and that it was in many ways a greater threat than that of nuclear destruction.

Joan Bellingham gave chilling public testimony to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care on this day. Bellingham recounted how during the 1970s, she had been subjected to over 200 ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) treatments and excessive doses of medication, in part, to treat her homosexuality. She recalled that while training as a nurse in Canterbury "word got around that I was gay. I was constantly picked on... I was told that I needed treatment and was taken to Princess Margaret Hospital that same day." Bellingham reflected "Many of the things that are socially acceptable now were not in the 70s... I've been gay for as long as I can remember. I never saw it as something that I needed to hide away."

The first issue of the collaborative zine The Archive is Alive was launched at the National Library of New Zealand. The project was organised by Caitlin Lynch from Wellington Zinefest and Will Hansen, a Trustee of Te Puranga Takatapui o Aotearoa/Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand. Hansen wrote "The two of us [were] frustrated with academic gatekeeping and eager to find ways to rebel, to give queer community members ongoing and meaningful opportunities to build relationships with the queer past." Twelve participants delved into the collections to discover and respond to posters, leaflets, photographs and other ephemera. When asked for their "emotional response," one participant wrote "I feel honoured to b queer." While another wrote that they felt "anger at the way Aotearoa's queer history is largely absent from the dominant cultural narrative - that we need our archives to learn about ourselves, that queer people might look overseas before looking here."

New Zealand made international news headlines when, as Out magazine put it, "New Zealand Elected the Gayest Parliament in History." The outcome of the General Election saw thirteen Members of Parliament who openly identified as being part of rainbow communities – equating to almost 11% of all MPs. The previous record was held by the United Kingdom with 7%. The rainbow MPs came from just two of the parties in Parliament - the Greens and Labour. Newly elected Green MP Elizabeth Kerekere told media that there was still a long way to go in creating a representative and diverse House of Representatives. Kerekere noted that all of the current MPs were cisgender, adding "we still have to go a long way towards representation for our trans, intersex and non-binary whanau."

Following the 2020 General Election, Minister of Finance Grant Robertson was appointed Deputy Prime Minister. Robertson became an MP in 2008, telling Parliament in his inaugural speech "I am proud and comfortable with who I am. Being gay is part of who I am, just as is being a former diplomat, a fan of the mighty Wellington Lions, and a fan of New Zealand music and New Zealand literature." Robertson quickly rose up the political ranks. On his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister, Robertson told media "It's important for young people in the rainbow community to know that their sexuality is no barrier to them progressing."

Over 1,000 people gathered outside the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington to rally in support of trans rights. The event was in response to the group Speak Up for Women, who were lobbying against proposed sex self-identification legislation. Attending the rally, Wellington City Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons told media, "The mood is one of celebration, of inclusion, and I think you can see that from the signs: 'Trans rights are human rights', 'Indigenous genders are real', 'Trans women are women.' Personally, I was a bit disappointed that [Speak Up For Women] were able to use a public venue for their meeting. But what we’ve done is light up the Michael Fowler Centre in the colours of the transgender flag." Elle Kingsbury, from Queer Endurance/Defiance said, "Twenty years ago we would not have seen anything like this in support for trans rights. That we see this now, a crowd of people gathering in support of our rights - this is the direct result of the work that trans people and activists have done over the last 20 years and I’m so grateful for that work, and proud to stand in their tradition."

A bill that sought to outlaw conversion "therapy" was debated for the first time in Parliament. The legislation was introduced by Justice Minister Kris Faafoi and set out to prohibit conversion practices that sought to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. The Bill went on to ignite the largest ever public response to a proposed law change. The select committee received almost 107,000 submissions from people in New Zealand and overseas. However, the majority of submissions (64%) were deemed to be form submissions and were ultimately disregarded. MP Elizabeth Kerekere, who took part in the select committee process, told the House "[About] 38,900 submissions had unique content, and those are the ones we engaged with... so that means approximately 68,000 voices were actually lost in this process because they were identified as form submissions, even if they added unique text to that form." She said this was an important lesson for community organisers who encourage people to engage with the democratic process: "go with guidelines, not necessarily templates."

The 2019/20 Household Economic Survey conducted by Stats NZ was released. For the first time the social survey contained "inclusive questions on gender and sexual identity." Over 31,000 people aged 18 and over, took part from across the country. The survey suggested that 4.2% of adults in Aotearoa would self-identify as LGBT+. Social and population insights general manager Jason Attewell told media "This new information can help inform policy making and support further research on the different experiences and outcomes for the LGBT+ population." Attewell also pointed to the inclusion of new identity questions in the upcoming nationwide 2023 Census, "We will be able to say with more accuracy how many people make up the broader LGBTI+ community in Aotearoa and provide more detailed insights."

Mani Bruce Mitchell stepped down from their role as Executive Director of the Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand (ITANZ). Chair of ITANZ, Rogena Sterling, said “As the first open Intersex person in Aotearoa New Zealand, Mani has set a pathway for others to follow. Mani having the courage to form ITANZ 25 years ago has provided an organisation for the Intersex community to grow in the next 25 years.”

The New Zealand AIDS Foundation changed its name to Burnett Foundation Aotearoa. Its website said "Bruce [Burnett] made the government take notice, made our most vulnerable and marginalised communities take notice, and, impressively, he made the general public take notice. We are an organisation founded by heroes. Heroes who saw what was coming and decided to do something about it - who undoubtedly impacted and saved countless lives. Bruce Burnett, one of our co-founders, is one of these heroes." It went on to say "Our name no longer captured the breadth of the mahi we do. HIV and AIDS have always been our core focus... However, the landscape of HIV, AIDS and STIs in Aotearoa has changed drastically over the past almost 40 years... A new name makes it easier for us to evolve over time by reflecting our broadened scope."

Multi-disciplinary artist Lindah Lepou received the inaugural Toi Ko Iriiri Queer Laureate Award at the Arts Foundation awards held in Auckland. Accepting the award, Lepou playfully told the crowd, "I want to thank the panel for choosing me - you got it correct." She went on to say that the award also acknowledged all of the queer artists who inspired people in the mainstream, but were often forgotten. The Foundation's website describes Lepou's art as sitting at "the intersection of fashion, art and her fa'afafine identity - creating a visual language that has paved the way for those following in her footsteps." Lepou herself, talks about coming from a long line of fashion-forward women who would mix home-sewn clothing with items found in local op shops. She told journalist Andre Chumko, "Before I came out of my closet, I would also sneak into some of their closets to try on dresses and heels before they came home."

The Supreme Court found that a "substantial miscarriage of justice" had occurred in the case of Peter Ellis. In a unanimous verdict, the court quashed all of Ellis's convictions relating to sexual offending against children. Ellis had been a childcare worker at the Christchurch Civic Creche in the early 1990s. At the time, media were reporting an increase in moral panic around alleged sexual abuse and Satanic ritual abuse. In early November 1991, the Sunday News reported police saying that "Satanism was rampant in New Zealand and linked to child pornography." A few weeks later, the first complaint was received about Peter Ellis. He was subsequently convicted on sixteen charges, and served seven years in prison. Ellis always maintained his innocence, taking his case to the Court of Appeal in 1994 and 1999, along with petitions to the Governor General and government ministers. Speaking after a further request for a commission of inquiry was declined in 2009, Ellis told media, "I'm cross and devastated. I’ve done this for 18 years and I don't know if I’ve got another 18 in me." Sadly, this turned out to be true. Shortly after lodging his last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court in 2019, Ellis died of cancer and never witnessed his name being cleared.

Author Gina Cole was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature. In 2016 she published her first collection of short stories called Black Ice Matter. It would go on to win the Best First Book Fiction award at the 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. In 2022 she published her first science fiction novel Na Viro. In an interview on the Creative NZ website, Cole said, "Science fiction can be used as a tool to write about culture and queer identity, especially in the afterlife of imperialism and colonialism in the Pacific. [It] provides the ability to imagine new futures and to recover Indigenous histories that may have been lost in the colonial project." A review in the journal Landfall said that the work was "an important and enjoyable pioneering story that not only brings a uniquely Pasifika voice to the genre but also uses its inter-galactic plot to celebrate the traditions and challenges of the Pacific."

Carterton District Council voted unanimously to name a new road Georgina Beyer Way. The council met just days after Beyer had passed away at the age of 65. In the 1990s, Beyer had been a local councillor, and then Mayor of Carterton District before representing the Wairarapa electorate as a Member of Parliament. The developers of the new subdivision in Carterton, Matt and Rosie Carter, told the meeting that it was an absolute privilege to have the street named in this way. Rosie Carter said that she had helped Beyer campaign for the mayoralty, "At the time when perhaps we weren't always so proud of our community, she made us feel proud of our community and that we could do things that hadn't been done before." Matt Carter told the meeting, "I'm so proud of what she did for the community and I'm proud of what she did for friends and family, and she was a very loving person. So, Gina wherever you are, thank you very much for everything you’ve done for this town and thank you for being who you were."

Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga announced that Duigan's Building in Whanganui had been given a Category 1 historic place on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rarangi Korero. The site was the private office of Charles Mackay - the city's former mayor. In May 1920 Mackay shot Walter D'Arcy Cresswell in the office after he threatened to expose Mackay’s homosexuality. Kerryn Pollock, Area Manager at Heritage New Zealand said, "We believe it is the first place in this country to be listed as a historic place specifically for its queer history." Pollock leads the Rainbow List Project, an initiative to recognise places of significance to rainbow communities, "This is a really ground-breaking listing for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. The events that took place there, and the subsequent impact on the lives of the people involved, are emblematic of the threat of incarceration and social shame which was a reality experienced by homosexuals living in New Zealand." Acting Whanganui Mayor Helen Craig told media, "This listing is unique and personal, bringing out of the shadows the homophobic prejudice of the time that caused the downfall of someone as talented as Mayor Charles Mackay."