New Zealand: Gay sex convictions should be wiped from records, say petitioners

The Homosexual Law Reform Act is passed, legalising consensual sex between men aged 16 and older. The Act comes into effect on August 8.

TVNZ OneNews source - A petition has been organised for historic gay sex convictions to be wiped from New Zealanders' records, after the Government announced it would consider the move. 

Sex between men was illegal until 1986 and punishable by up to seven years in prison, and many in the gay community say that stigma still hangs over them.

Well before he found literary fame as Frank Sargeson, Norris Frank Davey was arrested for having a series of homosexual encounters during the late 1920s.

Sex between men was illegal until the Homosexual Law Reform Bill was passed 29 years ago.

"People like myself and others who were very vocal and very out, if the bill didn't go through we would have been targets," says Des Smith, a gay rights activist.

Mr Smith and his partner John Jolliff have been fighting for gay rights for decades, and now they want the hundreds of gay sex convictions held by New Zealanders to be wiped.

And they're not alone. Wellington man Wiremu Demchick has started a petition.

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"It allows for people still living with the public disgrace brought by conviction to live the last years of their life in a better state than before," he says. 


A petition has been organised for historic gay sex convictions to be wiped from New Zealanders' records, after the Government announced it would consider the move.

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