NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Masterton debate on gay marriage fierce

By Nathan Crombie
Wairarapa Times-Age·
19 Sep, 2012 08:25 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Gay rights supporters travelled to Wairarapa by the carload for a fierce public debate on the marriage amendment bill in Masterton.

More than 100 people packed the Frank Cody Lounge in Masterton for the standing-room-only debate on Tuesday between the bill's author Labour MP Louisa Wall and Green Party MP Kevin Hague and their opponents Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and Masterton Baptist Pastor Scott Lelievre.

The forum centred on the motion 'That the Marriage Amendment Bill is in the best interests of our country, and deserves the support of our Parliament'.

Postings to Facebook were made by Labour Party youth members earlier Tuesday offering transport to the debate from Wellington and Palmerston North, as "the Conservative Party is going to stack the meeting".

Supporters of the bill were impassioned and cohesive at the Masterton debate while, in contrast, opponents were scattered and muted.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Debate organiser Kieran McAnulty, Wairarapa Labour Party chairman, told the audience an invitation to the event had been declined by National MP for Wairarapa John Hayes, and said "we are blessed" to have attracted a cadre of high-calibre speakers, nonetheless.

Mr Hayes spoke against the bill during its first reading in Parliament and said his opposition to the bill, which he described as a sideshow, was based on a majority view in Wairarapa.

He afterwards told Wairarapa Times-Age he was shunning the public forum in Masterton because he "was not interested".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I've got much more important things to do," he said.

Mr Hayes had canvassed several thousand Wairarapa residents regarding same-sex marriage, he earlier said, and believed the bill would lead to polygamy and legalised incest.

The same line was taken by Mr Craig during his 10-minute speech opposing the motion.

Mr Craig said a mandate is lacking among New Zealanders for a change in the definition of marriage, which would spark "negative downstream effects", including polygamy, polyandry and adult incest and the right of same-sex couples to adopt.

He said a referendum should be called about redefining the definition of marriage.

"I believe gender difference is real, role modelling is real and nature itself sets in place a mum and a dad as the ideal relationship," Mr Craig said.

Ms Wall told the forum her proposed bill seeks "to make all citizens and people in New Zealand equal under the law".

She said the bill remains in keeping with a progressive continuum of human rights legislation that began in 1893 when New Zealand women won the right to vote, and carried on through amendments to the Human Rights Commission Act in 1993, which outlawed discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, and the introduction in 2004 of civil unions. There are about 300 civil unions a year.

Ms Wall said she is happy and proud to sponsor the bill, which if passed into law will put New Zealand in the company of 11 other countries with similar legislation.

Pastor Lelievre said the bill goes against Scripture, which defines homosexuality as a sin, and that the marriage of one man and one woman has been accepted practice through Judeo-Christian history for millennia.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said the bill, if passed, could lead to the prosecution of marriage celebrants, like himself, who are attached to established churches and refuse to marry same-sex couples.

"There are some areas where government should not intrude, areas that belong to God as the source of moral and spiritual authority.

"This measure being discussed will be harmful to marriage and harmful to couples."

Mr Hague, who has a 22-year-old son, said he was a gay man who has been in a relationship with another man for almost 30 years.

He supported the right to hold religious views, he said, but only if they did not impinge on the rights of others or seek to dictate legislation in a secular state.

Mr Hague, a gay rights activist and former executive director of the New Zealand Aids Foundation, disagreed with Mr Craig that tradition was a sufficient reason to oppose the bill and that "the rights of minorities are not a good subject for referendum".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Harm would not be caused to anybody should he and his partner marry, Mr Hague said, and fears of ensuing law changes were "scare-mongering".

"Anyone who believes this bill allows for anything that isn't already there, would have to bring a bill to Parliament and get it passed. I would be voting against it," he said.

Where to from here?

The Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill passed its first reading in Parliament on August 29 with a 2-to-1 majority.


It is now with the select committee. Submissions on the bill are invited from the public by October 26 via www.parliament.govt.nz. A report is due in February 2013.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

National joins Labour to back bill protecting workers talking about pay

New Zealand

'It's on in the Tron': Robertson looking forward to final test

New Zealand

Wellington mayoral candidate ordered to pay former employee $28k


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

National joins Labour to back bill protecting workers talking about pay
New Zealand

National joins Labour to back bill protecting workers talking about pay

Camilla Belich's bill aims to end enforceable pay secrecy clauses in New Zealand.

17 Jul 05:23 AM
'It's on in the Tron': Robertson looking forward to final test
New Zealand

'It's on in the Tron': Robertson looking forward to final test

17 Jul 05:00 AM
Wellington mayoral candidate ordered to pay former employee $28k
New Zealand

Wellington mayoral candidate ordered to pay former employee $28k

17 Jul 04:13 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP