A united struggle to eliminate discrimination

Until the 1970s, homosexuality was considered sinful, sick and immoral. It was also a crime, specified in the Crimes Act (and would remain so for some time). Male homosexual acts were punishable by imprisonment for up to five years. Lesbian sex was unspeakable. It was not socially acceptable to be gay, lesbian or “camp”. So lesbians and gays led an undercover social life. Many were in heterosexual marriages.

In the early 1960s, the issue of homosexual rights began to be discussed in the public domain, helped by articles written by academics. In 1967, more than 100 people attended a public meeting in Wellington, chaired by Victoria University of Wellington Senior Lecturer in Law, Dr Don Matheson. The meeting set up the New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Society, with Victoria University Professor of Sociology, Jim Robb, as its first president.

The Homosexual Law Reform Society was a leading-edge organisation in its day. Its members produced leaflets, spoke out publicly, challenged the views of the police and helped church public questions committees work on law reform. It petitioned Parliament as early as 1968. Prominent citizens – academics, clergy, legal and medical professionals – were among those increasingly prepared to speak out in support of homosexual rights. It was dangerous for homosexuals to advocate for themselves.

As a new age of questioning the status quo dawned, progressive movements gained momentum on many fronts, with protests against the Vietnam war, apartheid and racism, and the struggle for women’s liberation, workers’ rights, environmental protection, human rights and many other issues. In this context, the gay liberation movement began to take off.

In 1972, the Auckland Gay Liberation Front was formed following Ngahuia Te Awekotuku (then Ngahuia Volkerling) being refused a United States visa because she was lesbian. Other Gay Liberation groups followed, heightening gay and lesbian visibility in society, and the reality of gay and lesbian lives slowly began to be accepted more widely.

Wellington’s Gay Pride Week was reported in Salient, the Victoria University student newspaper, in 1973, showing support for gay rights coming from organisations as varied as the New Zealand University Students Association, many churches, the Jaycees, National Council of Women, Howard League for Penal Reform and Council for Civil Liberties.

In 1977, 20 gay rights and welfare organisations in New Zealand united to form the National Gay Rights Coalition of New Zealand (NGRC), the first national organisation of the gay rights movement. It aimed to draw people together in a united struggle to eliminate the discrimination that pervaded the political, religious, medical and social institutions of New Zealand society.

Meanwhile, in Parliament, moves to decriminalise homosexuality had been underway since 1974, when Venn Young, National MP for Egmont, introduced a Crimes Amendment Bill, which would legalise “homosexual acts” between consenting adults. Dr Gerry Wall, Labour MP for Porirua, proposed an amendment making it an offence, punishable by up to two years in prison, for anyone to tell a person under the age of 20 that homosexuality is “normal”. The bill failed to pass by just five votes.

Subsequent attempts by MPs to decriminalise homosexuality and provide legal protection against discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation continued over the next decade.

It wasn’t until 1986 that homosexual activity between men was decriminalised. Fran Wilde, Labour MP for Wellington Central, sponsored the crucial bill and led the concerted parliamentary campaign that culminated in the Homosexual Law Reform Act. But the LGBTI+ community had to wait until 1993 for sexual orientation to be added to the Human Rights Act as a ground for complaint of discrimination.