Members of Parliament have used this year’s Pink Shirt Day to launch a cross-party GLBT working group.
The group has been established to provide education, leadership and legislative progress on GLBT rights. It was initiated by Green Party MP Jan Logie and includes 12 members from Labour, National, Greens, NZ First and Act.
“We are hoping others will see the importance of the work we are tackling and want to join us,” Ms Logie says.
Labour MP Louisa Wall says that GLBT youth are at significantly increased risk of bullying and points out that they “are three times as likely as their peers to be bullied at school. We need to stop that happening and change our culture of bullying,”
“A recent Westpac survey found discrimination is still rife in our workplaces as well, and an international survey has found disturbingly high levels of homophobia in sports in NZ. I’m proud to be working towards a solution to these shameful situations.” National MP, Paul Foster-Bell says.
Act Party Leader David Seymour says: “We believe in the equality of all human beings and we still have legislative and policy work to do to realise those rights for GLBT people.”
“One the highlights of the last parliament term was MPs coming together to pass Louisa Wall’s Marriage Equality Act. We hope to create more opportunities for that kind of successful collaboration,” says Ms Logie, “and to echo the theme of Pink Shirt Day this year, we’re going to Speak up. Stand together. Stop bullying.”
Article | Levi Joule.
