Forty-one years after MP Fran Wilde introduced the Homosexual Law Reform Bill on 8 March 1985, legislation that would partially pass into law in 1986, a new musical exploring that historic debate is being released - created largely using artificial intelligence.
“Equality: A Work In Progress” launches today, 8 March 2026, combining human storytelling with AI-generated music, recordings and imagery.
Producer and lyricist Gareth Watkins, a Wellington-based queer historian and founder of PrideNZ.com, created the structure, characters and lyrics for the two-act musical before using artificial intelligence platforms to generate the musical score and performances.
Watkins says collaborating with AI has opened new creative possibilities.
“I’ve been documenting queer history for decades, and in that time I’ve come across extraordinary stories of courage and perseverance in the fight for equality within our Rainbow+ communities. Those stories have been fizzing in my mind for years - the narrative and the lyrics - waiting for a way to bring them to life. Then AI music creation happened.”
The musical is centred on talkback radio host Karen Hertz. In the mid-1980s, before the internet and mobile phones, talkback radio was one of the main public forums where New Zealanders voiced their opinions. In the musical, it becomes a storytelling device, grounding key events and allowing different viewpoints from the law reform debate to shape the narrative.
Karen’s brother Jim, an activist who returns from Sydney in 1985 feeling unwell, reflects the growing visibility of gay communities during the AIDS crisis. Another character, Ali Way, delivers powerful anthems calling for visibility and recognition of earlier generations who fought for equality. Other characters include two mother figures navigating social change over cups of tea, and Julz Vern, who moves from simply surviving to becoming a community leader.
Watkins says the musical also reflects the hostility that accompanied the reform campaign.
“It would have been childish to single out individuals like Norman Jones, Geoff Braybrooke, Peter Tait, Keith Hay and John Banks,” Watkins says. “Instead, the anti-reform movement appears in the musical as a tight harmony barbershop quartet.”
“That choice also reflects how we got AI to differentiate the characters - through musical style and voice type - rather than maintaining a consistent character voice, which remains technically challenging.”
Collaborating with artificial intelligence also raises questions about ownership of creative work.
“As producer and lyricist, I make no claim over the AI-generated parts of the musical,” Watkins says. “The human-authored elements - including the structure, characters and lyrics - are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. That means anyone can reuse, adapt, stage or record the material, even commercially, provided they credit the original source. I would love to see people reinterpret the work. As the title suggests, equality itself remains a work in progress.”
Asked whether this will be his only musical, Watkins laughs.
“When you look at later moments in our history, like the Civil Union debate - where you’ve got an evangelical preacher, an international Rainbow icon and a chorus of muscular men in tight black T-shirts - let’s just say enough is never enough!”
The musical launched on 8th March 2026, with new songs being released progressively online over the next few months.
About the project: “Equality: A Work In Progress” is an experimental musical exploring the debates surrounding homosexual law reform in 1980s New Zealand. The project combines human-written storytelling with AI-generated music and production tools, with new songs being released progressively online over the next few months.
For more information visit: Equality: A Work In Progress