Bennett GlenGLEN BENNETT (Labour—New Plymouth): Kia ora Mr Speaker. Grandmother God Creator of all things; the lover of seekers and dreamers of the disaffected and the disillusioned of the worn-out burnt-out washed-up; lover of the rejected the leavers and the grievers; lover of the queens and the divas of the transgender gays and lesbians of the intersex cis non-binary and of our fabulous rainbow community. In our moments of marginalisation isolation and bigotry grant us the ability to act boldly along the road to human liberation. Our gender sexual orientation and faith beliefs do not define us. May our roads be one of freedom. Christ is freedom. May we know wholeness know our bodies and know you. Ake ake ake Āmine. I rise this afternoon as someone who is from the church and as someone who is from the rainbow community and there have been moments in my upbringing in my life where I felt rejected from both of them. But today I stand here feeling affirmed knowing I have a faith community behind me that loves affirms and supports me. Kia ora. Now for many of us listening for many of us here today we're not talking about theory. We're not talking about legislation. We're not talking about an issue. I am not an issue. I am not an issue; I'm fabulous. I want to thank our Labour Party and our Government on delivering on this manifesto promise. I want to thank our Minister Faafoi. I want to thank Marja Lubeck and the work you've done. I want to thank our transgender and intersex whānau who often feel left out of these conversations. Thank you for being patient with us cis gay males. And I want to thank all those who have gone before us both living and passed on. In my lifetime a lot has happened. My two-year-old self back in 1977 was when finally the World Health Organization chose to declassify homosexuality and take it out of the international classification of diseases. I was two. In that same period here in New Zealand my issue was seen as a mild form of schizophrenia. My nine-year-old self saw homosexual law reform pass in this House in this place and I was part of a church that was not affirming at that time. And I thank the member of ACT for talking about the Salvation Army who came out last week in support of this piece of legislation which makes me so proud. My 18-year-old self—yeah you're figuring out how old I am now I'm sure—back in 1993 was when the discrimination of sexual and gender expression was banned and then my 29-year-old self in 2004 saw in this House civil unions passed. Then my 37-year-old self back in 2013 saw—thank you Louisa Wall—marriage equality pass in this House. I am so disappointed today to hear that the Hon Simon Bridges and the Hon Louise Upston who both voted against marriage equality standing up here telling me that I'm still an issue and I'm still a problem. Where are the liberals from the National Party? Where is the support from the National Party? Where is the leader of the National Party who said I might add that she opposes conversion therapy? I'm a parent and I have to say to my son and I hope other parents would also say this Just be who you are." That's unconditional love not trying to convert your child to anything else the Hon Judith Collins.Then in 2017 my 41-year-old self saw the Government apologise to men who have been convicted from past acts of homosexual offending. And then in February 2021 this year my 45-year-old self got married in this place. This place is a place and has been a place of oppression. I said this in my maiden speech. But this place also is a place of liberation and I feel liberated to be part of this Parliament of this Government who makes transformational change for the sake of freedom and faith. Now for me I'm fortunate. I didn't get too pressured into having conversion therapy when I was growing up in the church. I remember being scared and afraid. I remember going to a few healing services. I remember having hands laid on me someone trying to force me to the ground as I was released from my evilness. But I wasn't because there was nothing to release from me. And the psalmist says that I was fearfully and wonderfully made—I was fearfully and wonderfully made. Now today we are talking about this piece of legislation that is around protection. It's to make sure that people are kept safe and the unhealthy practices don't occur in our nation anymore. This bill is about freedom something that I know well. Growing up in the church I learnt that the truth will set me free. And I thank my God and my faith that I've been set free and am able to be the man that I am today with the husband that I have. Now conversion practices do emotional harm they do physical harm they do social harm and as the member of the Green Party and also Te Paati Māori said they do spiritual harm. As a Christian it grieves me to see the harm and the hurt that my faith has caused for centuries and centuries. And I experienced that. I felt like I was broken. I felt like I needed to be fixed. I heard words like "abomination"—I am an abomination a thing that causes disgust and loathing. I am not an abomination. My God does not believe that I am an abomination. He loves me just the way I am. And I'm grateful that I found my faith my true faith—that is loved and knows that he's beautifully and wonderfully made. I also want to say thank you to the Salvation Army for coming out strongly in support of this piece of legislation. Like I said earlier as a nine year old my church led a petition to stop the passing of homosexual law reform a church that aligned themselves with MPs from this House who told my whānau who told us to "go back to the gutters to go back to the sewers where you belong." And I'm grateful today that I am connected to a church that came out last week and said this: "Christians are called to be like God and therefore to be living examples of his love in action in this world. Conversion practices which have been shown to be both ineffective and deeply harmful are the antithesis of this." And then it goes on to say "We are told [in the Scriptures] to 'Accept one another … just as Christ accepted [us] … and to be 'sympathetic love one another [to] be compassionate [to be] humble' ". That is what my God says and I am proud to follow them. In closing I'm going to do a repeat of what was just said at the end of the last speech. I come from Taranaki and Parihaka is a place that's special to me and this makes complete sense because it talks about glory to God above. It talks about peace on Earth which is not just amongst the land it's amongst the people. It's amongst your own self. And it talks about goodwill to all people—goodwill to all people—caring for our whānau caring for those you don't understand caring for those who are different to us. So in closing I will also close with those words: "He Hōnore he kōroria ki te Atua. He maungārongo ki te whenua. He whakaaro pai ki ngā tāngata katoa. Āmine.""