Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986

Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986
New Zealand Parliament
Long title An Act to amend the Crimes Act 1961 by removing criminal sanctions against consensual sexual conduct between males, and consensual heterosexual anal intercourse, while protecting minors.
Citation	1986 No 33
Passed by	House of Representatives
Passed	9 July 1986[1]
Royal assent	11 July 1986[2]
Commenced	8 August 1986[2]
Administered by	Ministry of Justice
Legislative history
Bill title	Homosexual Law Reform Bill
Introduced by	Fran Wilde
Introduced	7 March 1985[1]
First reading	8 March 1985[1]
Second reading	13 November 1985[1]
Third reading	9 July 1986[1]
Committee report	8 October 1985[1]
Related legislation
Human Rights Act 1993 (New Zealand)
Status: Current legislation

The Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 is a New Zealand Act of Parliament that broadly legalised consensual sexual practices between men as well as consensual anal sex regardless of partners' gender. It removed the provisions of the Crimes Act 1961 that criminalised this behaviour. The legislation established a uniform age of consent, setting it at 16 for both same-sex and opposite-sex partners.

Before Homosexual Law Reform, male homosexual acts had faced severe legal penalties in New Zealand, evolving from capital punishment to life imprisonment and hard labour. Despite initial attempts at decriminalisation in the 1970s, it was not until the landmark 1986 Act that consensual same-sex activities were decriminalised, marking a significant progressive shift in the country's approach to LGBT rights.