3PM: Gay Wellington lawyer Charles Chauvel has become New Zealand's sixth openly gay MP. Chauvel, who is next on Labour's party list, will replace outgoing MP Jim Sutton, who is retiring from politics to take the position of New Zealand Trade Ambassador and Chair of Landcorp, the Prime Minister announced this afternoon. Chauvel was Labour's candidate for the northern Wellington seat of Ohariu-Belmont at the last general election, which is held by United Future leader Peter Dunne. He missed out on entering Parliament, just one position short on Labour's List, ranked 44th. Chauvel has been prominent in the LGBT community, serving in the past as Chair of the New Zealand AIDS Foundation Trust Board. He is currently a partner in the law firm Minter Ellison. “I hope that my experience in the law, in health and in business will mean that I can make a valued contribution to the Labour Caucus and to Parliament, and I look forward to the opportunity, from the beginning of next month, to do so,” he says. The percentage of openly LGBT MPs in Parliament has risen to 5 % following Chauvel's success. Other openly LGBT MPs are Labour's Georgina Beyer, Tim Barnett, Chris Carter and Maryan Street, and National's Chris Finlayson. Ref: GayNZ.com (d)