Questions to State body possible over ‘gay bias’

Press, 22 June 1985, Page 7

Questions to State body possible over ‘gay bias’

NZPA Wellington The State Services Commission may also appear before Parliament’s Statutes Revision Committee if it investigates allegations of discrimination against homosexuals by the Security Intelligence Service and the Broadcasting Corporation. The allegations concern S.I.S. vetting procedures used for security clearance of public servants and a case where a man who appeared in a newspaper photograph of a homosexual rights march was told to resign from the Broadcasting Corporation. The committee is check-

ing the incidents initially with the Public Service Association, which raised them in its submission on the Homosexual Law Reform Bill. The P.S.A. said the S.I.S. put “disproportionate emphasis” on investigating the sexual orientation of workers who could be deemed to constitute a security risk from blackmail. If the incidents are confirmed, the committee will ask the S.I.S. and the Broadcasting Corporation to justify their actions. They were given as examples of workplace discrimination against homosexuals.

The committee’s acting chairman, Mr Bill Dillon (Lab, Hamilton East), said yesterday that because the commission was a State employer it should also be heard by the committee. Mr Dillon said that while not pre-judging the matter, he believed the commission could have recommendations that sexual orientation should not be taken into account in the hiring or posting of public servants. The committee has been hearing submissions on the bill, which aims to decriminalise sexual activity between consenting male adults over the age of 16.