US fundamentalists
fund New Zealand
anti-gay cam paign
O n March 8,1985, the Homosexual Law
Reform Bill was introduced into the New Zea
land PariiamenL This bill would decriminalize
homosexuality and indude sexual orientation
in the N Z Human Rights Act to give basic
protection in areas o f housing, em ploym ent
and access to goods and services for les
bians and gay men. Currently gay men are
subject to seven years imprisonment for anal
intercourse, and there is no human rights
protection for gay men and lesbians.
Th e Law Reform Bill which was introduced
by Labor Party m em ber o f Parliament Fran
W ilde is subject to a “conscience vote,” not a
party vote. On its first reading (three readings
are necessary for passage) the bill passed
with a large majority. It is presently before a
Parliamentary Select Com m ittee which is
hearing submissions both for and against the
BUL This com m ittee will report back to Parlia
ment, either recom m ending that the BUI pro
ceed unamended or with a recommendation
for amendments. The bill wUI then return to
Parliament for a second and third reading.
Th e Gay Task Force o f N Z and a number
o f other lesbian and gay groups have been
preparing for the introduction o f the bUI for
som e time. Public opinion surveys indicated
that reform would receive widespread sup
p o rt Gay and lesbian grou p» have been poli
tically active in N Z since the early 1970s.
T o the surprise o f the lesbian and gay com
munity, a well organized and financed attack
against the BUI was launched by four MPs and
by right wing religious group». A petition op-
posing the Bill is being taken door to door
throughout N Z by the Salvation Army (the
N Z branch ofth e organization which in New
York G ty has refused to com ply with NYC
Executive Order 50 which requires group» or
businesses doing business with the dty to
sign a non-discrimination statement regard
ing sexual orientation), supjported by the Re
form ed Church, the Assem bly o f G od and
other fundamentalist sects. This petition is
also being taken to work places, schools,
hospitals and hom es for the aged with peti
tion stands being set up in shopping centers
and other public places. The petition cam
paign has so for gathered 750,000 signatures
and aim s for one million. N Z has a popxria
tion o f three million.
Many people including gays and lesbians
have been pressured into signing the petition
in workplaces for fear o f losing their jobs, and
60% o f the students at a teachers training
college signed under the threat o f being con
sidered unsuitable as teachers if they did not
A clim ate o f hom ophobia is being created
which is intimidating people who are called
“ anti-petition.”
The religious right is also running full page
ads throughout N Z in newspapers and
m agazines which carry headlines such as
“ D on’t legalize the spread o f AIDS” or "W e’ve
had enough — this bill is an attack on family
life.”
Literature is also being printed, most of it
CIS.-sourced, with misinformation about
AIDS, lies about the lesbian and gay com
munities in the (IS ., and quotes from people
such as Judge Murtagh and Dr. Paul
Cam eron.
Further, hundreds o f anti-lesbian and gay
rallies and meetings have been held featuring
cam paigners such as Pastor Richard Flinn
who is calling for the death sentence for gays
and lesbians, and Keith Hay who is demand
ing quarantine on a waterless volcanic atolL
Th e petition, the ads, the literature and the
m eetings are costing huge sums o f money
which the right in N Z does not have. The
Gay Task Force o f N Z does not believe that
this cam paign is being funded from within.
"W e think,” said Alison J. Laurie, spokes
person for the Gay Task Force o f N Z , “that
this cam paign is being financed and organ
ized by (IS . fundamentalist group» including
the Salvation Army. Ap»art from the use of
Am erican material, the sums o f money in
volved and the style o f the campaign bear all
the hallmarks o f the (IS . moral imperialism.”
“ Furthermore,” she said, “ it is hardly coinci
dental that this campaign was started so soon
after N Z ’s implementation o f our anti
nuclear policy which forbids G.S. naval ves
sels carrying nuclear weapons access to our
ports. This decision is said to have placed the
ANZCIS Treaty (mutual defense treaty be
tween N Z , Australia and the (IS .) in
jeopardy, and (IS . Secretary o f State Schultz
stated, ‘New Zealand has weakened regional
stability.' ” The policy o f N Z is considered
very dangerous by the G.S. government as it
sets a precedent which may be followed by
several NATO member nations including
Holland, Denmark and Norway.
“ Is the (IS . religious right attempting to
destabilize the N Z government by scape
goating gays and lesbians?” asks Laurie who
noted that N Z Prime Minister David Lange, a
N obel Peace Prize nominee, debated Jerry
Falwell at Oxford on the issue o f nuclear
p>olicy. (Lange won) “Could such a campaign
have received the approval and covert
support o f the (IS . government?” con
tinued Laurie.
T h e accumulating evidence and the
record o f (IS . interventions around the world
lead to the conclusion that the involvement o f
the (IS . governm ent in this matter is notout
o f the question," concludes Leslie Cagan,
Program Coordinator o f the Mobilizaton for
Survival
BWMT convention
sparkles
by Morgan Pirmey
John Bush, a black professor from
Boston, was re-elected co-chair o f the Na
tional Association o f Black and White Men
Together at its fifth annual convention in Los
Angeles, July 20. He em phasized a platform
o f renewed militancy for the organization.
Tim Wilson, o f Denver, re-elected as the
white co-chair, said that several m em ber
chapters are now positioned for direct action
after extensive documentation o f racial dis-
criminaton at gay bars in their cities.
Seventy-five year old veteran black civil
rights activist Bayard Rustin told the delegates
that gay rights is the m ost difficult
struggle o f all because it is labelled anti-God,
anti-family, and anti-children. “ N o other civil
rights m ovem ent faces such heavily em o
tional charges from its enemies,” he said.
Rustin, whom Bush described as a role model
for black gay youth, emphasized the need for
hom osexuals to build coalitions with other
minorities — and with the vast wave o f work
ers displaced by "an econom ic system which
must be re-ordered to provide jobs for all."
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