United Future has got rid of its anti-gay MPs and is now comfortable with once-contentions legislation, such as Civil Unions, remaining in place, according to its party leader.
The small political party entered Parliament in 2002, and encompassed a number of right-wing Christian MPs, including Paul Adams, Bernie Ogilvie and Gordon Copeland who had previously found homes in non-performing religious-based parties.
In an interview with GayNZ.com which touched on United Future's reputation for being anti-gay, party leader Peter Dunne, who himself didn't vote for Civil Unions, said: "I know that some [glbt people] may have an understandably jaundiced view of us because of past events, and I'd simply make the point that the people who were associated with some of those more extreme guises are now long since gone. We’ve moved on from that phase – we've got rid of them."
Dunne says he believes the legal manouvre known as gay panic defence, which regularly sees attackers left off lightly because their victim is perceived to be homosexual, should be struck off the law books.
