The Homosexual Law Reform Bill, which decriminalised consensual sex between men aged 16 and over, passed by just four votes on July 9, 1986. It transformed the lives of generations of rainbow New Zealanders and paved the way for reforms that followed, including civil unions, marriage equality and greater representation across public life.
Former Labour MP Dame Fran Wilde championed what would become one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in New Zealand's modern history. Looking back four decades later, she told Aziz Al Sa'afin the significance of the change is even clearer today.
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"Getting the law changed and the decriminalisation was absolutely fundamental for all of the other things that have come since," she said.
"We would certainly never in those days have contemplated having openly gay members of Parliament, members of the judiciary, business leaders and sportspeople."
Yet when she first agreed to introduce the bill, Wilde admits she had little idea how fiercely it would divide the country.
The idea first came after members of Wellington's gay community approached her during the 1981 election campaign, asking whether she would support decriminalisation.
"I said, 'Well of course I would." It seemed obvious that there was a rather big black hole in our human rights legislation."
After she entered Parliament, they returned with another question: would she introduce the legislation herself?
"I gave it a little thought and said yes, I can do that," she recalled.
"I had no idea how significant it would be in terms of the work and the impact on my life, but it needed to be done."
What followed became one of the most emotionally charged debates New Zealand had witnessed.
Opponents, led by groups including the Coalition of Concerned Citizens and supported by several MPs, mounted a nationwide campaign against the bill. Public meetings regularly descended into hostility, while supporters were subjected to personal abuse.
Wilde remembers the opposition becoming increasingly intense after the bill was introduced.
"I realised that actually, for them, it was major, and that some people would stop at nothing to prevent this happening."
With three young children at home, she admits there were moments when it became frightening.
"I was a little bit concerned about them," she said. "But friends and colleagues were really great... and the police were also very helpful."
One of the defining moments came when opponents delivered what was then one of the largest petitions in New Zealand's history to Parliament.
More than 835,000 signatures were presented in an effort to persuade MPs to reject the legislation.
Wilde still vividly remembers the spectacle.
"They had the New Zealand flags. They had hymns and the national anthem," she said. "It was very jingoistic - very reminiscent of what it had been like in pre-war Germany. In fact, people noted it could have been our version of a Nuremberg rally."
Rather than strengthening the opposition's cause, Wilde believes the display ultimately had the opposite effect.
"It frightened many Kiwis when they saw the nature of the opposition. I've no doubt in my mind that was one of the turning points in the campaign."
Behind the scenes, another campaign was quietly changing minds.
Members of the Gay Task Force travelled the country speaking at public meetings, challenging misconceptions and, perhaps most importantly, encouraging ordinary gay New Zealanders to live openly.
One of those volunteers was Auckland businessman James Peters and Gay Rights Activist Peter Wall.
Reflecting on the campaign, Wilde says it wasn't politicians who ultimately won the argument.
"It was the gay men who came out. People started to get quite surprised because they found that their neighbour, or their friend, or their workmate, or their son was actually gay.
"I always say they were the guys who won this for us. Their visibility was absolutely critical."
Peters and Wall, alongside the other campaigners, spent two years travelling the country as part of the Gay Task Force, speaking at public meetings and helping campaign for reform.
Wilde credits them, and many others like them, with helping shift public opinion.
"The gay community were absolutely phenomenal," she said. "They really worked hard.
"It was important that we were seen to be law-abiding, just good New Zealanders who wanted other New Zealanders to be able to live their lives in peace."
The bill eventually passed on that July day in 1986 by 49 votes to 44.
For Wilde, the anniversary is not simply about remembering a parliamentary victory, it is about recognising the thousands of people whose lives changed because of it.
"It wasn't just me," she said. "There were many, many people, and I stood on the shoulders of a lot of others who had gone before - particularly in the gay community who had been persecuted for decades in New Zealand."
Forty years on, she believes the campaign still offers an important lesson.
"When people actually know somebody, when they understand it's their neighbour, their friend, their family member, attitudes change.
"It wasn't politicians who changed New Zealand. It was New Zealanders themselves."
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