Focus on the Family New Zealand is the local satellite of the predatory US Christian Right transnational, Focus on the Family. What does it have to say about LGBT issues?
One might be forgiven for assuming not much, given that its New Zealand franchise tends to be more obsessed with a forthcoming local Nelson-based anti-abortion conference […]

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From: http://www.paroleboard.govt.nz/media-and-publications/decisions/capill—graham-john—240608.html
                                              CAPILL - Graham John - 24/06/08
                                                          Parole hearing
                                Under Section 21(1) of the Parole Act 2002
Graham John Capill
Hearing: 24 June 2008 At (Withheld) Prison
Members of the Board:
Judge J Macdonald
Ms S Gill
Mr R Wilson
Counsel: (Withheld)
DECISION OF THE BOARD
Mr Graham Capill, you are serving a sentence of nine years’ imprisonment for sexual offending against (details […]

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At Massey University, there’s an extramural 1o1 paper on “Magic and Witchcraft.” It seems to be predominantly focused on a comparative cross-cultural perspective, dealing with its historical and social significance in ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Europe, pre-colonial Maori societies, and involves manufacturing spells, curses and poppets based on those historical precedents as course work. […]

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As with our own Chris Brickell’s Mates and Lovers this year, one can only sigh at the amount of LGBT social history that remains to be unearthed in the most unlikely of places. Thus it is with a forthcoming Canadian documentary short film about the trial of two Sikh labourers entrapped and threatened with deportation […]

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For some reason, the Australian and New Zealand Christian Rights appear to be stricken with winter cabin fever, and have taking to shrieking bizarre outbursts at all and sundry, particularly the grossly misnamed “family” groups.
In Auckland, “Family First” is upholding the Auckland City Council and Mayor John Banks, both of whom are trying to stop […]

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In Vancouver, the conservative federal Tories and British Columbia’s Liberal provincial government are still at loggerheads over the continued existence of Insite, Downtown Eastside’s supervised safe injecting room facility.
According to Canada’s Globe and Mail, federal Tory Health Minister Tony Clements has been unable to sell his hardline drug prohibitionist dogma to Canadian scientists, health professionals […]

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Let me surprise some of my more unfriendly conservative observers through an admission that I do not completely disagree with the recent New Zealand Conference of Catholic Bishops Voters Guide.
There is one particularly praiseworthy area of common ground that I want to draw attention to, which is a plea for increased support for refugees and […]

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As the next New Zealand General Election draws closer, it’s time to examine what positions various religious and political interests are entertaining insofar as LGBT communities and New Zealand society as a whole is concerned.
Let’s turn to our old ‘friends’ in the Maxim Institute first of all. It is now becoming increasingly obvious to frequent […]

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Loathsome US fundamentalists, the Westboro Baptist Church, have invaded Canada looking for cheap publicity, and have decided to exploit someone’s public tragedy to do so. Canadian bus passenger Tim MacLean (22) was the victim of a decapitation aboard a Greyhound bus and one would think that most normal, decent people would respect his family’s right to […]

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 Since the fall of the ghastly far right Bjelke Petersen regime in the late eighties after revelations of endemic police and government corruption, the state in question has begun to reluctantly modernise. Granted, not fast enough insofar as registered partnerships and inclusive adoption reform are concerned, much to my own displeasure. I have parents, a […]

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