Survey of gay rights

Press, 8 November 1978, Page 7

Survey of gay rights

More than 60 per cent of respondents in a survey of I the Papanui electorate in! August thought the Human Rights Commission Act,; 19/7, should be extended to! protect homosexuals from; discrimination in employ-j ment, housing, and the pro-! visions of services. Another 24 per cent supported the extension of the act with the proviso that; there should be some ex ' ceptions. Only 5 per cent of respondents supported the act as it stands, without any reference to discrimination against homosexuals. The rest were unsure.

The results of the survey were released by the co-ordinator of the Nat-: ional Gay Rights Coalition (Mr R. Duff).

The survey, supervised by Ms Penny Fenwick of the sociology department of the! University of Canterbury, > showed that the majority of the nearly 300 Papanui residents who agreed to be! interviewed (75 others declined to be interviewed) supported some form of homosexual law reform. Twenty-seven per cent thought homosexual acts between males should be legal for those over 20, 12 per cent for those over 18, and 21 per cent for those over! 16. I

Twenty-five per cent thought that homosexual' acts between males should not be made legal in any! way, and 15 per cent were! uncertain.

Mr Duff said the survey supported the findings of a recent survey in Wellington.