Peter Davis, the husband of New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark responded in a Radio New Zealand interview to allegations that he is gay following a television channel’s broadcast of an election night kiss from his openly gay friend and Labour party supporter Ian Scott.
Said Davis: “I couldn’t even remember the incident until (television channel) Prime then started showing it in a semi-pornographic way — slowing it down, repeating it…Frankly, if I was doing anything like what was said of me, then that would have been of public interest. My wife would have been subject to blackmail — it wouldn’t have looked good for the nation.”
Davis expressed shock that some media outlets, who also reported that a right-wing church group had hired a private detective to find out more about his private life, were making such a big deal of the celebratory embrace:
“Frankly I’m really quite alarmed that somebody like myself who goes about their business, gets on with their work, can be dragged blinking into limelight and diced and sliced by people who should know better in the media and then spat out.”
However, political displays of affection can be dangerous things. Just ask Joe Lieberman.
