Wellington MP Fran Wilde with supporters after the passage of the Homosexual Law Reform Bill. NZ Herald Archive)
Wellington MP Fran Wilde with supporters after the passage of the Homosexual Law Reform Bill. NZ Herald Archive)
On July 9, 1986 in an editorial headlined "High noon for reform" the Herald urged Parliament to pass a bill which would decriminalise homosexual acts between consenting men over the age of 16.
All the signs suggested the Homosexual Law Reform Bill would be defeated by the narrowest of marginsin a conscience vote that night.
The Herald argued that the bill mattered because social stability rested on voluntary adherence to respectable law.
"That respect is lessened when one element of the criminal code is held in contempt by those whom it purports to control as well as by the standards of civil liberties which inspire modern democracies," it said.
"The country, surely, has been subjected to a debate too long and too rancorous to end in abject acceptance of unsatisfactory law."
The bill passed at the last minute when two MPs defected from opposition to support. Credit for the landmark social reform went to the bill's sponsor, Wellington Central MP Fran Wilde.
She had devoted 16 months of her life to fighting an often traumatic battle for reform. After the final vote she was relieved the battle was over, but said the effort had taken its toll on her and her family.
"I am very tired and I am just pleased that it is all over and we won."
