Logie JanJAN LOGIE (Green): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. It's a huge honour for me to again be able to stand and speak on behalf of the Green Party in support of this legislation and to note Georgina Beyer sitting in the House as well—as it seems appropriate for a piece of legislation that is so significant and when she's been the leader up front for many of these issues in our community and in this House.I also want to specifically thank Wiremu Demchick and the 2000 other petition signees and the Campaign to Pardon Gays in Aotearoa group for all of their work getting us to this point. Wiremu Demchick presented the Green Party MP Kevin Hague with the petition that was the immediate catalyst first for the apology and this legislation to enable men convicted of indecency between males of sodomy or of keeping places of resort for homosexual activities—which I always thought sounds like quite a good time—to be able to apply in writing for the Secretary of Justice to have their criminal record expunged. It wasn't a matter of chance that Kevin Hague received the petition; he had previously—unsuccessfully I might say—approached the prior Minister of Justice seeking such legislation.He did this because Kevin was an out gay man in the 1980s living under the cloud of these oppressive laws and campaigning for decriminalisation. He was one of those men who put his life at risk for this campaign and for our collective well-being and he knew well many men who had their lives destroyed by these convictions or even just the threat of such a conviction. So while I certainly need to acknowledge the previous Minister of Justice Amy Adams for bringing this bill and the current Minister Andrew Little for seeing it to third reading so expeditiously I do want to acknowledge Kevin Hague and Wiremu Demchick as significant forces behind this significant piece of legislation.It was the parliaments of the early 1900s that introduced or legalised homophobia in this country. Those laws overrode indigenous laws which held that both same-sex attraction and diverse gender identities and expressions were natural. That was the status quo before the Government introduced legislation to legalise homophobia and hatred so it is our job to remove the harm from the laws that were created by this place and to apologise because it was harm that we created from this House.I do think it is worth following on from some of the other reflections and to take a moment to feel some satisfaction in how uncontested this legislation has been. It is encouraging that we've progressed so far since homosexual law reform in 1986 when so many New Zealanders seemed to believe that homosexuals gays lesbians and bisexuals were an abomination to God and were mentally ill—that we were sexual perverts and all paedophiles. Those views though were a reflection of the legislative status quo of the time—of those laws that had been introduced in the early 1900s. Those views which we now recall with a slight sense of horror reflected the law. The law reinforced those beliefs.Through the process of the petition and then the select committee hearings on the bill we have heard again how many lives were ruined by those laws. We've heard the experiences of men who were convicted and men who were not convicted but had their lives made small when they could have been huge. We heard of people isolated and stigmatised and beaten and abused because of these laws and these convictions and we know that people have died and sadly still in some cases continue to die because of homophobia. This legislation—and we are now seeking to expunge the convictions that were the result of it—legitimised the view that homosexuality was a mental illness and this ended up seeing people hospitalised and electrocuted and tortured by our State as a result of being who they were and loving who they loved.We need to remove the convictions and the shame from these innocent men who suffered horribly because of the decisions of Parliament to criminalise them. Many gay and bisexual men lived in constant fear of being discovered. Many did things they were not proud of to try and protect themselves. This legislation can't fix it all.There were famous incidents. A previously incredibly popular mayor of Whanganui was given 15 years of hard labour for attempted murder after shooting another gay man who was attempting to blackmail him. This incident and the media around it led to many gay men and bisexual men leaving the country as we've heard described already. It was a common situation for men to leave and go over to another country to escape the homophobia here. This mayor's conviction will not be expunged by this legislation obviously—it's not covering attempted murder—but I hope the apology and this debate around this legislation does extend to remove the shame and blame from all the men and their families affected by this legislation directly and indirectly.Also to note the well-respected closet New Zealand author who was given a suspended sentence in return for giving evidence that sentenced an older gay man to six years of hard labour for being gay who never ever mentioned that incident again because of the shame—we can only assume—of feeling responsible for that man's conviction and pain.So to those men who were criminalised and irreparably hurt and who have been left in the words of one submitter with self-hatred worthlessness unjustified guilt and shame." I want to repeat that the shame belongs with this Parliament and our society for robbing you of your inherent and inalienable right to be who you are and love who you love. We cannot undo the damage but I hope that today represents another step towards healing for you and for us as a society.As has been noted by previous speakers we do—this homophobia when you pass the law and decriminalise it does not disappear. We still feel it in our schools and in our communities and in people's lives. I will echo the words of Grant Robertson in saying the only reason I can understand that we have not ensured access to basic healthcare and basic legal rights for transgender people can only to my mind be a result of the outstanding impact of these laws. We in this House need to make that connection to be able to move forward. It is not enough to say sorry and to enable people to get the convictions wiped out; we need to wipe out homophobia and transphobia from every part of our society. I am proud in the Green Party to stand in this House in one of those moments where we are making a united commitment to do that. Kia ora."