Parliament's rainbow select committee room has been refurbished a decade after it was first opened.
Mana Takatapui 2012 by Elizabeth Kerekere hangs in the center of the wall in the newly refurbished Rainbow Room at Parliament. Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
There are 12 subject committees at Parliament covering things like justice, health, and foreign affairs. The members are a mix of MPs from various parties and their job is to examine bills, petitions, and hear from the public.
On the ground floor of Parliament house are several rooms dedicated to these hearings and over the years some of the rooms have been decorated to reflect different communities including Maori, Pacific, women and the rainbow room.
Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
It’s origins go back to 2008 when former Labour MP Tim Barnett decided to ask then Speaker Margaret Wilson for it.
"I'd thought how can we have a corridor that celebrates Maori members of Parlaiment, women members, Pasifika and from the Asian communities but nothing for Rainbow? So I said to here there's a rationale here, there's a logic and she accepted that."
A celebration took place in 2008 designating the room for Rainbow MPs.
"I left that year and I wrote to all the incomoing Rainbow MPs and said look after this place if you can and they have done," he said.
The room was a "little drab" said Mr Barnett and needed some nurturing.
"Eleven years ago we didn't feel able to have pictures of MPs to identify who was and who wasn't... and now eleven years on we've got 16 pictures up to celebrate the 16 of us who've been out, transgender, lesbian, gay members of Parliament here which I think is a big step forward."
Labour MP Louisa Wall said feeling represented is important.
"It is about being unaccepted, it is about being invalidated and when you internalise that and you don't know how to cope, you cut, you might self medicate through alcohol and drugs, and ultimately you might suicide so that's what we're actually trying to combat."
Photos of LGBTQ Parliamentarians on the wall of the rainbow room. Labour MP Louisa Wall's portrait is on the right. Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
Ms Wall said the room helps reinforce support for LGBTQI+ people because it's visible.
"It's incredibly vibrant. If you know those flags it speaks to a lot of the specific identities today," she said.
"The reality is I'm hoping when they see the room and when they see the symbols they'll say 'that's me. I'm represented, I am valid, I do have a place and nothing is impossible, I can achieve anything I set my mind to'."
The Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard cut the rainbow ribbon to the room and said it's a special part of Parliament.
"We've always been pretty much world leading in this area right back to the mid 1980s when we reformed our law around homosexual activity right up until in recent years with marriage equality where again we were one of the world leaders in that area," he said.
Ms Wall was the sponsor of the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Bill which is commonly referred to as marriage equality.
It passed in 2013 and a framed copy of it now hangs in the Rainbow Room with five other bills of significance to LGBTQI+ rights.
"I couldn't have done it without the people like Tau Henare, the people like Kevin Hague. We very constructively put together this cross party group. It was the first time anyone had ever done it."
A framed copy of Governor General's signature on Louisa Wall's marriage equality bill on the wall of the Rainbow Room. Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
The group was formal and able to communicate within each party about what the bill was trying to achieve said Ms Wall.
"We had 80 votes and the first reading, we had 77 votes at the third reading and I think the cohesiveness that that collective group was able to maintain is something I'm incredibly proud of."
The framed copy of the bill is a reminder of all the change that's been made so far said Ms Wall.
"To make it easier and possible for young people today to accept themselves and to love themselves and to embrace their identity and to proudly walk in the world. That's what we should want for every single young person."
Mr Mallard said it's taken some brave MPs to lead these societal changes and the room is an affirmation that the Parliament thinks these issues are important.
Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox
"They should be recognised as individuals and also the progress that we've made is something to celebrate and having a Parliament think that is a bit different from having the individuals involved thinking it."
The room will be used as a select committee room where committees will work on legislation, consider petitions and hear from the public but Ms Wall hopes it might have another function.
"I'm hoping Rainbow communities come and use it actually. It'll be a wonderful space particularly for our young people to host events," she said.
"I also think now it'll become a highlight of this parliament. I think that our celebration of our LGBT community, the 16 of us that have graced these hallowed halls and been out and proud is something for our Parliament to be incredibly proud of the fact that we want to acknowledge and celebrate that."
