SpeechGLEN BENNETT (Labour—New Plymouth): Kia ora Mr Speaker. Thank you for giving me the opportunity the privilege and the weight to speak on the third and final reading of a piece of important legislation for our country. And this evening I just want to not necessarily tell my stories but tell other people's stories people from around Aotearoa who have shared with me what tonight means for them. Most of the people I'll be speaking about are Christians some are in the rainbow whānau and some are our allies. And today marks a change in Aotearoa's progress to being a better country for our rainbow citizens. The fight isn't over tonight but it's just another step in terms of our equality our inclusion. One of my friends spoke about the words of the psalmist that said How long Lord how long?" Today is long enough and we will not tolerate conversion practices any more.A friend of mine Neil spoke to me about the Christian church talking a lot about the love of God the unconditional love of God and who made us in their image. And this ban this move tonight helps to action this. It sends a strong message: that rainbow people we're not mistakes. We aren't damaged. We don't need to be fixed. God's love encompasses all.I want to say thank you to the Auckland Rainbow Community Church. I know many of us here know them. For more than 40 years they've been singing from the song sheet. They've been fighting whether it be around homosexual law reform whether it be around marriage equality—the list goes on. And I want to say thank you to those members of the Auckland Rainbow Community Church who have spent so long—long before I was involved in this; long before I was alive as well. I say: thank you.This piece of legislation changes lives—and I know we have this rhetoric and we talk about it but if you haven't been through it you might not fully understand. David said to me this: "I was raised in a Christian family and when I realised my attraction to others of the same sex I was told that God didn't like me that I was going to Hell. I was 12 years old. I spent a lifetime of prayer ministry being exorcised. I completed two conversion therapy programmes. I finally learnt that I can't change my sexual orientation. I'm still gay and I have never met anyone whose sexual predispositions have changed. I wish that I hadn't had to go through so many years of being told and feeling that my very being was wrong. I believe in a loving and just God. I hope for a loving and just society. While this won't change the haters out there this law at least does something to right some of the wrongs."For me in my journey—for me coming to a space as a Christian and as a member of the LGBTIQ+ community—I've had people on my journey who have supported me I've had people on my journey who have not supported me who have told me some of the things like Hell like I'm broken. But Mike Hercock who lives in Australia these days he was one of those people that empowered me to be me. He said "Hey brother the journey's been a long one for me too and it's best symbolised by the ability of a man like yourself to be part of bringing about this change."It is not the fear and loathing that I reflect on as the basis for outlawing this practice although this is incredibly powerful and dangerous; it is simply that we were made to be loved and to love and no one on this earth has the right to take that away from any other human being. For me I found that love and I'm grateful to be married to have a husband all because of this place. I say it many times but this place is a place of liberation. It is a place of other things but we can make it a place of liberation like we are tonight.As we reflect on what this means to our whānau out there to our parents: don't be afraid. This doesn't change your ability to engage. It doesn't change your ability to be a good parent to listen to learn to ask questions of your children. Because that's all I think we ever want.A friend of mine Craig a number of years ago came out to me. He'd lived a life of depression. He'd lived a life of a lot going on. So I asked him today I said "What does this piece of legislation mean for you? What does it actually mean?" And he said "The more I continue working to grow out of the harm that was done simply by listening to and coming to believe the ideology the proponents of conversion therapy profess to be true the more I realise how incredibly insidious these ideals were and how deep the damage went. Living a huge part of my life in fear and extreme doubt struggling with mental health in the form of severe depression my only real defence being secrecy I'm now in my early forties starting to fully understand what it is to be at relative peace with oneself and freely expressing the daily moments of joy that make life worth living." In his forties and he's still trying to overcome the challenges of something that us as a church put upon him and put upon others.I've got a friend who's a teacher and she says "For me it means my rainbow rangatahi will grow up in a country that will protect them from harmful practices."I want to go on to Greta who said "Every time I wanted to write back to you today I almost cried because I think of all the times I hid myself all the way through school from my church from my friends. I think of the time I came out to a friend and he pulled out his Bible and quoted Leviticus to me. Don't tell me it's about freedom of speech when it's not your freedom on the line. Don't tell me it's about freedom of speech when it's your freedom on the line." That's powerful words thank you Greta.For me I'm grateful to those who have worked so hard. Generations before us those who worked and walked so hard on this journey in this House over recent parliaments. I'm grateful to those services out there that work with young people that work with those on the margins who have been excluded who are struggling with mental health. And I hope that this piece of legislation is a symbol of our society that we will not tolerate this any more. I want to finish with a quote by L.R. Knost and it says "Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time as they say but with intention." And for me this bill is around fixing a broken system and it's not time that fixes it; it's with intention. In that case it's the intention that this bill be passed tonight. Kia ora."