1News presenter Melissa Stokes speaks to Dame Fran Wilde, who was then a young Labour MP who remained resilient in the face of abuse and death threats to support – and eventually help pass – the Homosexual Law Reform Act in 1986.
Scrolling through the 1News archive in the 16-month period the Homosexual Reform Bill was being debated is, at times, a bewildering and hurtful watch.
"Don't look too hard, you might catch AIDS," yelled National Party MP Norman Jones at one of a series of public meetings on the topic.
A media stunt to deliver a petition at the steps of Parliament has since been compared to the Nuremburg Rallies.
"Don't allow this parliament to vote for sodomy" rang out over the microphone.
The lead-up to decriminalising gay sex in New Zealand was a huge story – a bullish and nasty campaign.
One woman who felt it more than most was Dame Fran Wilde, who was at the time a young Labour MP who helped support and introduce the bill.
"It was a huge black hole in our human rights legislation," Dame Fran said.
"I thought, well, I'm in a very liberal electorate and I'm a woman so there were a whole lot of factors that helped politically, so I said yes, I would support it."
It was the start of a torrid 16 months, battling abuse and death threats.
"I did get a lot of threats and of course, lack of social media, if someone wanted to send me a death threat they had to send me a letter which meant that it went straight to police.
"We had no idea how it would be. It was absolutely horrific."
Dame Fran Wilde remained resilient in the face of abuse and death threats to get the Homosexual Reform Bill over the line in 1986. (Source: 1News)
The anti campaign fed on the public's fear that making it legal for men to have consensual sex together would ruin families and spread AIDS. The young MP knew education was the only way to get the bill over the line, but she also had a few tricks up her sleeve as the parliamentary whip.
"The campaign made sure that anti people – it was always on a Wednesday night which was when private members bills were debated – and there were always invitations for the anti people to go and talk in extreme parts of the country where they could get back for the vote."
But she credits the brave gay men that stepped up to help the cause.
"Most New Zealanders would have known gay men, but didn't know they were gay because people didn't come out because they were 'criminals'," she said.
"The single most important aspect of the campaign was when gay men decided to come out. It was visibility because then people said 'John, who I work with. is gay and he's not a child molester'.
"I think that is what backed up our campaign to actually help the public through and understand the stereotypes were incorrect and to say to their MPs to vote for the bill."
On July 9, 1986, the bill squeaked through with a five vote margin: 49-44.
Dame Fran remembers some champagne was drunk, but mainly there was just relief.
"It was just a trend of people saying, 'Hey, I'm gay' and they came out."
Had the bill not passed in Parliament, it "would have been disastrous", she said.
"I had letters from people in the police and military saying, 'I'm gay, but I can't come out because I'd have to leave immediately' and others would just have been sacked.
"The real tribute is to those men who bravely put aside their own personal interests to make sure we could educate New Zealanders."
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