Nice to see stories like this:

A former All Black is lending high-profile support to a fresh campaign for civil unions.

The son of a presbyterian minister, Mark Ranby said he was also concerned that much of the opposition to civil unions was wrapped in religious beliefs.

And the Chiefs midfielder said he was only too aware that as a rugby player, his speaking out in support of same-sex relationships might be considered unusual.

"Especially in rugby circles, you don't necessarily express that point of view. And I've always shied away from expressing a point of view that's different from the majority. But you have to voice up, or in a silent way, you're condoning it."

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That's very impressive. And now let's hear from his American counterparts from the world of athletics.

(sounds of crickets chirping)

New Zealander’s consider themselves conservative and not very worldly. But our conservatism and reticence is not related to trying to convert others to our politics, religion, or personal viewpoints. So Mark Randby is more common here than the per-capita person in the U.S. Though the U.S. forever debates personal choices with a frenzied effort to convert others to one’s own viewpoint, New Zealand is more comfortable with differences. We have openly gay member of parliament (one transvestite), sports stars, tv persons, writers, etc. Most guys-who-like-guys don’t broadcast it, in part because it isn’t the threatening and big defining issue it is in the U.S. We have similar rights to guys-who-like-women and we have role models and you can’t get elected to office if you slag off gays.

I have watched Mark play, seen him at after game functions, and met other rugby greats through my mate who is a pro rugby ref here (I photograph some games). My mate likes women and I like men but our personal interests don’t sideline a greater good of enjoying one another. And though Mark is rare here for his prominence supporting the gay-union bill, nice blokes like Mark are a lot more common here than apparently in the U.S. I think the difference is that we aren’t evangelical, and therefore we get along well enough.

By the way, the rare evangelism we do encounter is from intruding Americans like Bernice King who came all the way to New Zealand to preach that her father never took a bullet for the civil unions bill, as I noted in a previous politics and religion thread. Bernice King or Mark Randby, who would you rather sit next to?

[ November 19, 2004, 05:12 PM: Message edited by: Tom Brooks ]

Hey Tom:
Great, informative post.

I was in NZ after Gay Games in '02 and really loved it!

The Civil Unions Bill (All Black Ranby and other supported) passed the second of 3 steps to become law. Besides more than half our members of parliament supporting this, half New Zealanders want it. Even a Muslim legislator supported it, saying people needed to support equality before personal bias.

Your kidding us, right?