Thu 9 Feb 2017 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
The 'mother' of the 1985/86 Homosexual Law Reform Bill that decriminalised adult gay sex says she is sure that trying to get previous convictions for consensual adult gay sex quashed would have doomed the bill. Fran Wilde The government today announced a bill to allow pre-1986 convictions to be examined on a case by case bill with a view to quashing those where it is clear there were no problems with consensuality or under-age sex. Fran Wilde, who as a new MP in the mid-1980s shepherded the groundbreaking decriminalisation through Parliament says she is delighted by the announcement. "It's about time, it's one of the last things that needs to be done to put things right in this area in New Zealand," she said this evening. "During the campaign the emphasis was on making sure that nobody got convicted in the future and, frankly, I think if we'd tried something like this we probably wouldn't have got the bill through Parliament. I think the country needed a little time to think about things before some of these other changes came through. It's great that it's happened, it's long overdue. "It will be so wonderful for those men who can get their convictions wiped, they won't be convicted criminals any more, and, for instance, they'll be able to get visa for travel to countries that would have turned them away before... I'm really delighted."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 9th February 2017 - 8:05pm