Fran Wilde was a Cabinet minister in the Labour government of the 1980s, and is perhaps best known for her private members bill for homosexual law reform. She left Parliament to become the first female Mayor of Wellington.
Fran Wilde
Personal details
Full Name:
Frances Helen Wilde
Biography
Events In History
9 July 1986
Wellington Central MP Fran Wilde’s private member’s bill, which removed criminal sanctions against consensual male homosexual practices, was passed by 49 votes to 44.
Articles
Homosexual law reform
The homosexual law reform campaign moved beyond the gay community to wider issues of human rights and discrimination. Extreme viewpoints ensured a lengthy and passionate debate before the Homosexual Law Reform Act was passed in July 1986. Read the full article
Page 4 - Reforming the law
To bring about change in the law, the gay movement needed a parliamentary champion. It found one in Labour MP Fran
Main image: Homosexual law reform supporters
Many public figures were drawn into groups supporting or opposing law reform. Here reform supporters Sonja Davies (left) and Lloyd Geering (right) talk with the bill's sponsor, MP Fran Wilde, and Bill Logan of the Gay Task Force.