Dear friends. A milestone was passed in New Zealand parliament last month. The Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill passed its first reading with 80 MPs voting for, and 40 against. The Bill, if it becomes law, will afford the same marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples in New Zealand. I watched the debate live on Parliament TV, and shed tears as I remembered the road we have travelled to get this far. As a forty three year old gay New Zealander I long remember the ugly days of our past.
Last year in a writing class I was asked to come up with a lsit of landmark moments in New Zealand's history, and then to write about the one which affected me the most. Here is what I came up with:
Twenty
landmark moments in NZ history
Amongst
many other landmark moments...
1)
1769 – Captain Cook maps the entire coastline of New Zealand
2)
1840 – Te Tiriti o Waitangi / The Treaty of Waitangi is signed
3)
1893 – Women get the vote (a world first)
4)
1894 – Elizabeth Yates becomes Mayor of Onehunga, the first woman mayor in
British empire.
5)
1898 – the Old Age pension Act came into effect (A world first)
6)
1899 – Introduction of eight hour working day (a world-first)
7)
1931 – Devestating earthquake in Napier, 7.8, killing 256 people
8)
1953 – Edmund Hillary conquers Mount Everest (a world first)
9)
1953 – New Zealand’s worst rail disaster killing 151 people on Christmas Eve
10)
1960 – Television comes to New Zealand
11)
1967 – New Zealand’s currency goes decimal
12)
1967 – Bars extend their closing time from six o’clock until ten o’clock,
ending a period referred to as ‘six o’clock swill’
13)
1968 – Wahine disaster. 51 people drown when the interislander ferry sinks at
the entrance to Wellington harbour
14)
1974 – Prime Minister Norman Kirk dies in office
15) 1985 – The Rainbow Warrior is attacked by
French terrorists.
16)
1986 – Homosexuality is decriminalised in New Zealand amidst huge opposition.
17)
1987 – New Zealand becomes nuclear-free
18)
1993 – Mixed member proportional representation (MMP) voting system is
introduced
19)
2004 – The Civil Union Act provides processes by which two people of the same
or of different gender, can be officially recognised as being in a civil union
20)
2011 – A powerful 6.3 earthquake in Christchurch kills 182 people and decimates
the city.
nations and judgments - the Salvation Army and Rotoroa
Island have their own stories to tell. While the title of the book suggests
that the book is about a stint in rehab, (and it partly is) the rehab narrative
is largely a vehicle to relay the story of my childhood and adolescence. There
are embedded narratives in the main body of the work that are told in the form
of flashbacks, prompted by things that trigger memories.
'The truth will set you free' is an oft-used slogan on Rotoroa Island. But on
my first day, the Program Manager takes me aside and insists that I don't
disclose my homosexuality to anyone while I am on the island. In a place where
we are expected to face our demons I find myself having to edit my life from
the start. This is the beginning of many lies that are told during this book,
in order to protect the truth.
But the truth has a way of rearing it's ugly head, and all is revealed in this
gripping Memoir nations and judgments - the Salvation Army and Rotoroa Island
have their own stories to tell. While the title of the book suggests that the
book is about a stint in rehab, (and it partly is) the rehab narrative is
largely a vehicle to relay the story of my childhood and adolescence. There are
embedded narratives in the main body of the work that are told in the form of
flashbacks, prompted by things that trigger memories.
'The truth will set you free' is an oft-used slogan on Rotoroa Island. But on
my first day, the Program Manager takes me aside and insists that I don't
disclose my homosexuality to anyone while I am on the island. In a place where
we are expected to face our demons I find myself having to edit my life from
the start. This is the beginning of many lies that are told during this book,
in order to protect the truth.
But the truth has a way of rearing it's ugly head, and all is revealed in this
gripping Memoir
'Go
back into the sewers where you come from ... as far as I'm concerned you can
stay in the gutter.'
'Turn
around and look at them ... gaze upon them ... you're looking into Hades ...
don't look too long – you might catch AIDS.'
Member
of Parliament Norman Jones addressing a public meeting in 1985 LAGANZ 0080-B,
Peter Nowland Collection
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/homosexual-law-reform/reforming-the-law
Here is an extract that recalls the ‘ugly’ years, when homosexuality itself was still a crime in New Zealand, and the experiences I went through as a teenager trying to process my sexuality, 25 years ago.
My
book On an Isle Called Rotoroa is set against a backdrop of some New
Zealand moments in history. But when I was asked to choose ONE of my
identified moments from my list, and how it affected me, this is what I came
out with, and now forms part of the book.
Extract
from ‘The Sound of Broken Voices’ by Ivan James Miller.
‘…Homosexuality
was rarely brought up in our household. In fact, in 1970’s New Zealand it was
rarely spoken about at all, generally, unless it was in a negative context. My
father seemed very uncomfortable even talking about it. Homosexual men were
still being imprisoned. Some that may have approached their doctor, or Minister
for guidance may have had psychiatric treatment advised, including
electro-convulsive therapy, and aversion therapy.
I
learnt from an early age that it was sick, perverse, unnatural, immoral,
illegal, but above all a sin worthy of all God’s might and retribution. God had
even destroyed a city full of them with fire and brimstone. I had never
met a ‘real-life’ homosexual and wasn’t entirely sure that they even existed.
On TV they sometimes were portrayed in sit-coms, usually as limp-wristed,
flamboyant ‘Nancy-boys’, like Mr Humphries on Are you being served?
One
day when I was sixteen, I had just finished a piano lesson with my teacher,
Rona, when my father pulled up in his car, to collect me. Rona followed me out
to the car, carrying a clipboard.
‘Mr
Miller,’ she said. ‘I know you’re a church-going man. I wondered if you
would like to sign this?’ Rona handed the clipboard to him.
‘What
is it?’ Dad asked.
‘I’ll
let you read it,’ she replied, then half-whispering, ‘I don’t like to say
the words.’
Dad
quickly scanned it, before holding the pen firmly and signing it.
‘You’re
sixteen, now,’ he said, passing the clipboard over to me. ‘You can sign it too.
I
took a quick look at the document. It was a petition to the government opposing
plans to decriminalise homosexuality. I felt my face go hot, beads of sweat
forming in the hair-line. I stared at the paper so hard that the words went
blurry as I signed it, handing it back to Rona, avoiding eye-contact with them
both.
I
couldn’t discuss my homosexuality with anyone. I couldn’t talk to anyone in my
family (least of all my parents). It was not covered in sex education at
school, nor was it brought up in youth group at church. My guidance counsellor
at school belonged to our church and knew our family so he was out of the
question. There were no books that I knew of that spoke in any way about
homosexuality and even if such books existed, how could I get my hands on it? I
couldn’t take it out at the library. I certainly couldn’t buy anything like that.
I
imagined how life for me would be - a life of being ostracised and isolated,
having to ‘move on to a different town’ every time I was at risk of being
discovered. I wondered when the inevitable day would come, when I would develop
paedophile instincts, which everybody knew found it’s roots in the homosexual
deviants. I pictured myself, old, frail, exposing myself to children in the
park from behind a heavy over-coat.
Amidst
huge opposition The Homosexual Law Reform Act was passed on the ninth of July,
1986 decriminalising homosexuality and discrimination on the basis of
sexuality. Inwardly I rejoiced. I was no longer doomed for prison. But it was
going to take a lot more than a law change for society to change it’s
attitudes. It was going to take time…’
In some respects, we are still fighting the battle to reach equality and liberation. We have come a long way, but we're not there yet!
