The title of this recording is "Marilyn Waring - Rainbow Voices of Aotearoa New Zealand". It is described as: Interview with Marilyn Waring, from the documentary Rainbow Voices of Aotearoa New Zealand. It was recorded in Rainbow Room, Parliament buildings, Molesworth Street, Wellington on the 7th March 2019. Marilyn Waring is presenting. Their name is spelt correctly but may appear incorrectly spelt later in the document. The duration of the recording is 6 minutes, but this may not reflect the actual length of the proceedings. A list of correctly spelt content keywords and tags can be found at the end of this document. The content in the recording covers the 2010s decade. A brief summary of the recording is: This abstract summarizes a recording titled "Marilyn Waring - Rainbow Voices of Aotearoa New Zealand," which captures the insights and recollections of the individual's experiences and contributions to LGBTQ+ rights and political developments in New Zealand during the 2010s and earlier. The presentation took place at the Rainbow Room, Parliament Buildings, Wellington on March 7, 2019. The account begins with a reference to the year 1974 when an opposition member, Ven Young, proposed a homosexual law reform bill that was not supported by Prime Minister Norman Kirk due to their perception of normal behavior. This event provoked the speaker to join the National Party and get involved in politics. Within the party, the speaker worked alongside Robin Stewart, a gay man responsible for writing the National Party justice policy which included commitments to the Human Rights Act. However, during the duration of the speaker's parliamentary term from 1975 to 1984, it was not possible to extend the protections of the Act to include sexual orientation - a goal later achieved by the speaker's successor. In 1976, the speaker faced a tumultuous personal challenge when outed by a newspaper, leading to extensive public scrutiny and media coverage. Contrary to expectations of condemnation, the reaction from New Zealanders was overwhelmingly supportive, reflecting a national sentiment that was against the public invasion into politicians' privacy. The then Prime Minister, Rob Muldoon, took a step of protective silence, advising that the lack of commentary by both the Prime Minister and the speaker would allow the scandal to subside. Following a redistricting in 1977 which dissolved the speaker's constituency of Raglan, they successfully ran for office in the Waipa electorate, defeating challengers who positioned themselves as upright family men. The victory underscored the electorate's approval of the speaker's work and suggested a low level of prejudice against them. Throughout the speaker's career, they often stood out - for instance, from 1978 to 1981, they were the only female member of the National Party Caucus and the sole female MP from the North Island until 1981. The speaker announced their resignation from Parliament in March 1984, shortly before an early election was called by the Prime Minister. Taking over from the speaker was Catherine O'Regan, the speaker's former electoral agent. O'Regan's significant political moves included, as Associate Minister of Health, carrying out amendments to expand discrimination grounds in the Human Rights Commission Act to include sexual orientation and protections for those with HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases. The full transcription of the recording begins: In 1974, Ven Young, who was an opposition member of Parliament, was going to introduce a homosexual law reform bill. The Prime Minister at the time, Norman Kirk, said he couldn't support it because he couldn't support anything that wasn't normal behaviour. I read that headline of the Dominion in the Victoria University Library, uh, in the Dominion, yes, in the Dominion, and I got up from the table and I walked straight down to Lampton Quay and joined the National Party. Uh, I then, subsequently, I was offered a job in the Opposition Research Unit. So that was National and Opposition between 1972 and 1975. One of my colleagues there was a gay man called Robin Stewart. And Robin wrote.. The National Party justice policy for the 1975 election, and that included the commitment to the Human Rights Act. At the time, while I was in Parliament from 75 to 84, we were never able to expand the grounds to include sexual orientation. That came later, and that was led by my successor. In the city, in the seat of Y Park, Catherine O'Regan in 1976, when I was 23 years old and a back bench member of the national government, I was outed, uh, by truth newspaper who ran the story for something like six weeks. Um, I expected, frankly, to be run out of town. Uh, the response from New Zealanders was extraordinary. Absolutely extraordinary. They were so angry that this had been picked on, that a young woman had been picked on, in a context where, prior to this, pretty much MP's private lives had no space or place in this kind of public announcement. When the newspaper published, I was called to the Prime Minister's office. And Muldoon said to me, We've shut the whole party down. There will be no statement from any party official in any part of the country. You are to remain silent. I will remain silent. If you don't talk and I don't talk, the story will go away. Any question about your remaining a member of parliament will be in the hands of the National Party in your constituency. In 1977 there was a change of boundaries. My constituency of Raglan disappeared entirely and no majority part of Raglan went to any of the new electorates. So I was, um, invited to stand for the Waipa electorate. It included about 40 percent of my old constituency. And of course I was challenged by three men who described themselves all as upright family Christian men. I defeated them on the first ballot. So it was fairly obvious that even the rural conservative area of Waipa had no complaints about my work and very little judgment. Um, in 78 to 81, I was the only woman in the National Party Caucus. From 75 to 1981, I was the only woman Member of Parliament from the North Island. Uh, I left, or I announced that I was resigning in March 1984, and subsequently an early election was called by the Prime Minister. Which was a very good idea. And yes, I played a part in that. Fortunately, Catherine O'Regan, who had been my electoral agent, none of them were paid for in those days. Those of us who had research offices or electoral agents were paying them out of our salaries. Um, and Catherine worked for me for all of that period. In 1977, she'd become the first woman elected to the Waipa County Council. And in 1983, when I told her I was going to retire, Um, I said, you know, I'm letting you know really early in case you'd like to run for it. And she did. And she won. What that meant.. When she came into Parliament though, and especially when she became the Associate Minister of Health, and particularly, uh, um, worried about, um, transmission of diseases. It meant that when the government introduced an amendment to the Human Rights Commission Act, she did something really extraordinary. As a minister, in that government, she moved an amendment to expand the grounds of discrimination, to include sexual orientation, and those who were suffering from HIV and AIDS and other, uh, transmittable notifiable diseases. And she would have had no issues whatsoever in Waipa in doing that. So it seemed unusual for someone coming from, um, what was seen as a provincial rural constituency to advocate in those areas, but she was always supported and very proud of that work. . The full transcription of the recording ends. A list of keywords/tags describing the recording follow. These tags contain the correct spellings of names and places which may have been incorrectly spelt earlier in the document. The tags are seperated by a semi-colon: 2010s ; Aotearoa New Zealand ; Homosexual Law Reform ; Human Rights Commission ; Job ; Member of Parliament ; National Party ; Parliament buildings ; Raglan ; Rainbow Room ; Space ; advocate ; boundaries ; change ; conservative ; council ; discrimination ; family ; gay ; government ; health ; homosexual ; human rights ; justice ; law ; library ; march ; normal ; other ; peace ; policy ; rainbow ; research ; rural ; sexual orientation ; straight ; suffering ; support ; time ; truth ; university ; work. The original recording can be heard at this website https://www.pridenz.com/rainbow_voices_of_aotearoa_new_zealand_marilyn_waring.html. The master recording is also archived at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, New Zealand. For more details visit their website https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.1089896. Marilyn Waring also features audibly in the following recordings: "Marilyn Waring - AsiaPacific Outgames", "Marilyn Waring - Rainbow Politicians" and "Rainbow Voices of Aotearoa New Zealand documentary". Please note that this document may contain errors or omissions - you should always refer back to the original recording to confirm content.