New Zealand now has the gayest Parliament in the world

Authored by newshub.co.nz and submitted by Zanerkin
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In the UK there are currently 45 openly gay members in the 650-member House of Commons, or 7 percent. New Zealand is now at 9.16 percent.

Labour now has seven LGBTQ+ representatives and the Greens have four - both parties increasing by two since the last election.

National now has 35 members in Parliament, none of which are openly gay.

In June, former National Party leader Todd Muller said ensuring an LGBTQI+ representative was not a particular focus.

"It is not something I'm particularly focused on, ensuring that we find someone who may or may not represent the LGBTI community," Muller told AAP.

Labour's LGBTQ+ members include Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Manurewa MP Louisa Wall, who submitted the Bill to legalise same-sex marriage in 2012.

Openly gay Labour MPs include newly-elected Wellington list MP Ayesha Verrall and Northcote MP Shanan Halbert.

Vita-Malz on October 18th, 2020 at 07:15 UTC »

That's not a headline I thought I'd read today. Or ever.

whowilleverknow on October 18th, 2020 at 06:43 UTC »

This article actually undercounts the number by 2, our parliament is more than 10% queer now.

Saerithrael on October 18th, 2020 at 05:32 UTC »

Man, that headline tho