Today marks 40 years since New Zealand’s Parliament passed the Homosexual Law Reform Act, which, after a long and difficult debate, decriminalised consensual homosexual conduct between males aged 16 and over.

We support the intent of the Bill but recommend it be strengthened with a clear sex-first structure.

Our submission starts from the Human Rights Act 1993, which protects sex and separately recognises sexual orientation, which means a heterosexual, homosexual, lesbian, and bisexual orientation.

We are writing to ask what the Ministry understands the “+” in “LGBTQIA+” to represent.

Who are the “+” ākonga, staff and whānau the Ministry is referring to? What are their characteristics, and on what basis are they grouped with lesbians, gay men and bisexual people in Ministry communications and school-facing material?

LGB Alliance NZ has been looking with interest at the Public Service Commission’s material on Rainbow public servants and the 2025 Public Service Census.

The 2025 Census questionnaire asks whether staff identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, takatāpui, gender diverse, intersex, queer, questioning, asexual, or as part of any other community captured under the umbrella terms “Rainbow, LGBTQIA+, MVPFAFF+ or SOGIESC”.

We are writing to ask what the Commission understands the “+” in those terms to represent.