Gay New Zealand legislator Tim Barnett got a heroes welcome in San Francisco, with a welcoming Proclamation from the SF Board of Supervisors and a State Proclamation as well. Above, Barnett (left) with his partner Ramon Maniapoto, and event coordinator Ro

The first openly gay New Zealand Member of Parliament, Tim Barnett, made a special appearance at the LGBT Community Center on Aug. 17, focusing on his political role impacting human rights and sexual freedom. MP Barnett discussed the need to decriminalize prostitution and safeguard the rights and dignity of sex workers, including those in the GLBT community. Barnett is noteworthy for having authored New Zealand’s Civil Union Act 2005, establishing the institution of civil union for same-sex and opposite-sex couples. Previously, he authored the Prostitution Reform Act 2003, decriminalizing prostitution and brothel-keeping for adults in New Zealand. Barnett was elected as a proud gay Member of Parliament in 1996 and was appointed as the Labor Spokesperson on Human Rights and Urban Affairs from 1996-1999. He was reelected to Parliament in 1999. In 2002, Barnett was appointed to the position of Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Justice on human rights issues. In 2005 he was appointed the Senior Government Whip.

Introducing Tim Barnett was San Francisco Supervisor Jake McGoldrick. “It is inspiring to introduce a legislator and leader who has accomplished in his country what we continue to fight for in our state,” said McGoldrick. Assemblyman Mark Leno stated, “I applaud MP Barnett’s work to build consensus on sensitive political issues in his home country. His successes are an inspiration to all of us who care deeply about human rights and personal freedom.”  

The event was co-sponsored by Sex Workers Outreach Project USA (SWOP USA), the Commonwealth Club, and the SF LGBT Center. Robyn Few, director of SWOP USA, who met Barnett while filming a video on the impact of decriminalization of prostitution in New Zealand, said, “Meeting Tim Barnett was a real pleasure, he treated me like a visiting dignitary. The trip was a life changing experience,” she said, adding, “In my country, I am a criminal. In New Zealand, I am not.” She said, “It gave me hope, because I saw that decriminalization is a real possibility in a place where human and women’s rights are top priority in the country.”

Thom Lynch, executive director of The Center, said, “We are pleased to host this event, which promises to be engaging, provocative, and informative. The Center is committed to creating an environment where frank communication can thrive, and our community and allies can plan our political future.” John E. Lazar, chair of the Commonwealth Club’s LGBT member-led forums, added, “This collaboration between the Commonwealth Club, the Center, and SWOP enriches the Bay Area residents who relish enlightened discourse.”

Barnett explained that in 2003 New Zealand became the first country in the world to decriminalize prostitution. He traced the reasons for and contents of that law reform, and its outcomes to date. He pointed out that about 6,000 people in New Zealand work regularly or occasionally as sex workers. Approximately 10% are street-based, in a total of eight locations in the three largest cities. Approximately 25% are home-based or work from rental properties in small groups. The rest work in brothels. About 90% are women and some of the remaining 10% are transgender. He said their clients seem to come disproportionately from people visiting from overseas or from elsewhere in New Zealand, from those with physical or mental disabilities and from those with relationship difficulties.

The introduction of the legal concept of massage parlors in the 1978 Massage Parlours Act enabled a state-endorsed sex industry to operate behind the façade of a superficially innocent activity. The burden of that criminalization fell on sex workers themselves, with arrests running at about 200 a year—mainly of transgender street workers.. The only significant contact between the state and the sex industry was through the police.

In the 1980s, he said a growing awareness and presence of HIV in New Zealand fortunately coincided with a labor government. Focused on male-to-male sexual contact; the sharing of needles by intravenous drug users; and the sex industry as being the three major vectors for the spread of the virus—in a period of four years the Parliament decriminalized gay sex; the government was the first in the world to introduce legal and nationwide needle exchanges; and the government funded the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective (NZPC) as part of its sexual health program.. From that NZPC funding grew international networking and a realization of the centrality of the legal context of prostitution. By 1996 a lobby coalition of women’s rights, human rights, and public health interests had emerged; by 1999 a bill was ready for introduction to Parliament. In 2000 it was drawn from the Members Bill ballot and received its first reading, passing by 87 to 21. Barnett said it took two and a half years to pass through a Select Committee, including many days of hearing dozens of public submissions. Opposition mainly came from fundamentalist Christian groups and some feminist organizations, whereas the police were generally neutral. The Prostitution Reform Act eventually passed on June 28th 2003, and largely came into effect three days after that.

The new law was based on the decriminalization of prostitution model first used in New South Wales in 1996. It was built around the principle of harm reduction-–identifying the genuine harms caused by prostitution and focusing appropriate interventions on them. Thus, for example, penalties for coercion or being the client of an under-age sex worker were increased significantly, but the registration of sex workers was ceased as serving no useful purpose. Barnett said decriminalization involves simple and straightforward law contained in one Act, supported by the active intervention of a range of state agencies, treating the sex industry in a similar way to many other sectors in society. In contrast, he said, legalization focuses on the unique nature of prostitution, and uses significant regulation in an attempt to control it. “The concept of ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ parts of the sex industry remains,” said Barnett.

He spoke about what has happened since. “Some things haven’t changed,” he said. For instance there is still undue media fascination with prostitution, and the numbers of sex workers and demand for them have pretty much stayed the same. “Some things have changed a lot,” he said, referring to the fact that arrests for soliciting have stopped, and brothels now have to factor employment rights and health/safety guidelines into their operation. “Some things should have changed more than they have, but give it time,” he said.

The event closed with Barnett’s spouse, Ramon Maniapoto, (who recently celebrated his fifth anniversary with Barnett) singing a song in the language of indigenous Maori people of New Zealand.

Barnett told Bay Times that his husband had been out shopping all day, adding with humor, “proving he was gay.” He said this, his fourth visit to San Francisco, has been “the most political, inspiring, and challenging of all the others. I see energetic people here, out campaigning, and I see a very mature queer community here, which is exciting.” He added, “I think there is tremendous hope here, and we as gay people share the same struggle for the betterment of everyone.”