Chris Carter (politician)

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Christopher Joseph Carter (born 1952) is a New Zealand politician and a member of Cabinet. He currently serves as Minister of Education, Minister Responsible for the Education Review Office and Minister of Ethnic Affairs.[1] He is the Member of Parliament for the Te Atatu electorate, where he was first elected in 1993. He did not win re-election (to Waipareira) in 1996, but won a new and expanded Te Atatu seat in 1999.

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[edit] Early and personal life

He was born on 4 May 1952, and brought up in the Auckland suburb of Panmure. He was educated at St Peter's College, Auckland and at the University of Auckland where he received an MA(Hons) in history.

Before entering politics, Carter had served as a teacher and as a poultry farmer. His partner is Peter Kaiser, a headmaster, and they have been together for over 30 years. On February 10, 2007, Carter and Kaiser were wed[2] in the first civil union for a Cabinet Minister and/or Member of Parliament since civil unions in New Zealand were introduced after legislation was passed in December 2004.

[edit] Member of Parliament

Parl. Electorate List Pos. Party
44th Te Atatu n/a Labour
46th Te Atatu 34 Labour
47th Te Atatu 25 Labour
48th Te Atatu 19 Labour

He was notable for being the first openly gay man ever appointed as a New Zealand Cabinet minister. He has been a strong advocate of gay equality for some time, and has continued this role since entering Parliament. He also started one of the first branches of New Zealand Rainbow Labour for centre-left lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgendered people (LGBT) and others during the 1996-1999 term, during which he temporarily lost a seat during Mixed Member Proportional electoral system restructuring.

At the 2005 general election, Carter was re-elected with 59.2% of the vote, a majority of 9,165.

[edit] References

  1. ^ New Zealand Government (31 October 2007). "Ministerial List for Announcement on 31 October 2007" (DOC). Press release.
  2. ^ Minister to marry in gay union - 10 Feb 2007 - NZ Herald: New Zealand National news

1. Minister to marry in gay union New Zealand Herald, February 10, 2007. Accessed April 20, 2007.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

  • Allan, James (ed.) (1996), Growing up gay: New Zealand men tell their stories, Auckland, [N.Z.]: Godwit, ISBN 0-908-87784-6 
  • Downie, Ken (c.2005), Portraits: youth, Wellington, [N.Z.]: Office of Ethnic Affairs, Dept. of Internal Affairs, ISBN 0-478-18352-6 
  • Two editions were produced - the first with an introduction by Chris Carter, and the second without.

[edit] External links

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