The Gay Blade

Something strange is happening in Manurewa. Labour MP Louisa Wall is being challenged for selection to the seat she currently holds there, and she’s being challenged by some in  her own party. This is the sort of thing that usually only happens when there’s been a scandal of some sort, but in this case there isn’t even the tiniest whiff of one.  It seems that some group in the Labour Party organisation has taken against her, but it’s hard to see why. Looking at the Spinoff’s 2019 list of MPs who are flops she doesn’t get a mention, but a couple of Labour Cabinet Ministers get rated as under-performers by a range of different commentators. No mention of Louisa. Some say that there is discontent in her electorate, that she’s not seen as doing enough for it, but from her social media she seems to be a busy and engaged local MP. It's hard to believe, but there are also some young Queer activists who think she's not radical enough and are hoping she's...

I’ve already lived through one plague that killed so many friends and pretty much upended the world we’d built and taken for granted. I didn’t think I’d have to do this twice in my life. But here we are. There are some parallels  and differences that strike me as an HIV+ gay man from the wealthy developed world. One thing is how the public health message around Covid has been handed down here in New Zealand, calmly, kindly even, but firmly handed down from authority. With HIV/AIDS, the response,(condom use, safe sex) was driven by the community.  It was gay doctors in the USA, watching what was unfolding in their communities, in the face of offical indifference or hostility,  who led the charge on this, and it was a huge piece of behavioural change to push. We gay men had created a culture that celebrated sexual freedom, to put it mildly, so to try and get gay men to change our behaviour in such a fundamental way was an amazing feat. Because the voices urging...