LGBTQ+ Rights in New Zealandš³āš
LGBTQ+ is a term associated with those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and more. People often criticize this community for a variety of reasons, it has even gotten to the point where many people use gay as an insult or label the community as weird or unnatural. I'm sure that most of the boys in this class have had a crush on a girl and if a boy can be attracted to a female what says that a girl canāt either? And of course vice versa with males. We should be respecting each other's opinions, beliefs and preferences. Treating someone differently based on their sexual orientation can be just as bad as other serous topics like racism
Since 1986 the Homosexual Law reform has been in effect, legalising same sex relationships with males, while female relationships were always legal. New Zealand was even the first Oceanic country and 13th country worldwide to legalise same sex marriage as well as adoption rights for same sex couples. Many NZ Opinion polls have also been held and showed that majority of New Zealanders are supportive of same sex marriage. Though New Zealand may have appeared accepting at first, the discrimination it once had toward the community was shocking.
āGo back to the sewers where you came from, let the normal people stand up, we do not want our children contaminated by these peopleā was the advice of one New Zealand politician to homosexuals, Shortly after another politician added: āYouāre looking into Hades, youāre looking at the homosexuals, donāt look too hard or you might catch aidsā comments like these had basically summed up how the majority of New Zealand had felt about homosexuality at the time.
Same sex relationships with men became highly illegal, leading to hard labour or a life prison sentence if caught, sometimes it could even lead to a death penalty. When the early 1970ās came along it showed the growth of many LGBTQ+ movements, petitions and protests, fighting for LGBTQ+ rights and to legalise homosexual relationships. Around this time a young American boy named Deagan Huntford had opened up to being gay, his friends, teachers and even some family members avoided him and said what he was doing was wrong and or disgusting, this carried on until he met a new friend, she was accepting of how he was and understood how he felt as a homosexual, together they created a speech that they said infront of the entire school, encouraging students and even teachers to treat everybody equally. The two had even managed to change a school rule which was against homosexual relationships or even talking about homosexuality. No matter how small you may feel, you can make a difference. It doesnāt have to be much, and itās not like iām saying you all need to make huge LGBT speeches, im not forcing you to by a 10$ pride pin, and iām not saying you all should be gay, just something small is fine, something that may seem small can change alot.
Nowadays there are over 160,600 LGBT+ New Zealanders aged 18 and over. This number was once much smaller, but as time passed and got closer to 1986 this number rose rapidly due to the many protests with people coming out about their sexuality. After seeing the negative impact their laws had caused on the country, the government announced that male homosexuality had been legalised. Plenty of New Zealanders now felt free and werenāt afraid to love the people they loved most in life. Regardless of gender.
Who we love should not divide us, we are all equal no matter who we like, how we look, or where we are from. Love is not a crime.