The 97th Labour Party conference held in Christchurch over the weekend of 1-3 November 2013 approved a remit that required its party list to “fairly represent” gays and lesbians among its selected candidates. The inference implicit in the wording of the remit was that the existing Constitution did not allow for a “fair” representation of such people on its party list.

The Conference delegates voted to delete Rule 293 of its Constitution which had stated:

“There shall be no barriers to nominees on the grounds of sexual orientation or marital status” Gender, ethnicity, age and disability are active criteria listed above.”

Unhappy with the comprehensive and perfectly adequate protections afforded its openly “gay” aspiring candidates – protections that are fully in harmony with the Human Rights Act 1993,  those seeking a more “pro-active” position on the advancement of gays and lesbians, rather than one based on merit alone, sought radical change to the Constitution. [Read more…]