Between 2003 and 2006, the senior writer at GayNZ.com was
Christopher Banks. His feature articles focused mainly on social and political issues relevant to the
gay community, or debunking religious arguments against
homosexuality. Some articles were based around in-depth interviews with political or religious leaders. Banks' writings for GayNZ.com also included a number of film reviews, two of which caused some upset in the
conservative Christian community. His review of the controversial 2002 French film
Irréversible was cited by the
Society for the Promotion of Community Standards in their attempts to have the film banned by the
Office of Film and Literature Classification (New Zealand). His positive review of
Kinsey, the 2004 biopic of the American sex researcher, drew the ire of
Investigate magazine editor
Ian Wishart, prompting a further series of articles by Banks on
Alfred Kinsey.
Son of MP's homophobic internet page In September 2007, GayNZ.com published an article accusing the teenage son of
National Party deputy leader
Bill English of posting homophobic abuse on social networking site
Bebo. GayNZ.com had unsuccessfully sought comment from English before publishing the story. After the story's publication, National leader
John Key criticised the website for dragging a politician's son into public debate, and English sought legal advice about the article. A later complaint by English that
The Southland Times had named his son was upheld in 2008, whereas GayNZ.com had not directly identified him.
Brian McFadden's homophobic radio comments In August 2008, GayNZ.com drew attention to a number of disparaging remarks about gays and lesbians made by ex-boyband singer
Brian McFadden while he co-hosted the morning breakfast show on More FM in Auckland, New Zealand. He stated, "Saying pink is a form of red is the same as saying homosexual is a form of male... In the old days there was no such thing as gay. It was frowned upon. The church would burn you at the stake. Modern day, if you are not gay, a man should not be wearing pink. Unless of course you're in the Americas Cup and you're one of these pansies who walk around with Gant t-shirts with your collars up, and you wear pink and you wear white trousers with those dirty brown slip-on shoes. Then you're just an idiot." McFadden's comments were reported in news reports, gossip websites and weblogs worldwide, provoking considerable condemnation from the LGBT community. The singer later denied he was homophobic, saying through his publicist that his comments had been "taken out of context".
2009 HIV infection case In May 2009, GayNZ.com reported that a 40-year-old
HIV+ man living in
Auckland had allegedly been deliberately engaging in unsafe sex and had subsequently infected a number of other men. The story resulted in a formal police investigation and charges were laid when four of his male partners laid complaints with police investigators. The case may lead to a law change, after health officials revealed they were informed about the man several months before the police investigation commenced but had not informed the authorities due to "patient confidentiality". ==See also==