Stephen Rainbow

Dr Stephen Laurence Rainbow (born 26 January 1961) is a New Zealand politician and activist.

Doctor Stephen Rainbow
Wellington City Councillor for Lambton Ward
In office 1989–1995 Serving with Terry McDavitt, Russell Armitage, Rex Nicholls, Liz Thomas
Preceded by	Margaret Bonner
Succeeded by	Ward abolished
Wellington City Councillor for Southern Ward
In office 1995–1998 Serving with Celia Wade-Brown, Sue Piper, John Gilberthorpe
Preceded by	Peter Parussini
Succeeded by	Alick Shaw
Personal details
Born	26 January 1961 Christchurch, New Zealand
Political party	Labour Party (1977–84) Green Party (1989–95) Progressive Green (1995–99) National (1999)
Alma mater	Victoria University of Wellington

Biography

Early life

Stephen Rainbow was born in Christchurch in 1961. He grew up on a tobacco farm south of Nelson and was educated in Richmond at Waimea College.[1] Later he attended Victoria University of Wellington from 1982 and graduated in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts, and in 1991 with a PhD in Political Science.[2]

Rainbow and his partner Anna Frusin (who was born in the Soviet Union) had three children together; Alexandra, Larissa and Solomon.[2]

Political career

Rainbow became politically active in the 1970s joining the Labour Party and served on Labour's New Zealand Council.[2] In 1983 he contested the Labour nomination to replace retiring party leader Bill Rowling in the Tasman seat, but lost to Ken Shirley.[1][3] He did not renew his membership in 1984 and later joined the newly formed Green Party and stood for election in 1989 for the Wellington City Council on a Green ticket. He was successful and became the country's first Green councillor.[4] The next year he contested the seat of Wellington Central for the Greens at the 1990 general election, finishing third out of seven candidates.[5]

Rainbow was re-elected to the Wellington City Council in 1992 and 1995. On both occasions he also stood for Mayor without success, finishing fourth in 1992 and seventh in 1995.[6][7]

By 1994 Rainbow was leading the opposition to the Green Party's membership of the Alliance, a broad left-wing coalition, thinking the Alliance's emphasis on social justice type issues detracted focus from environmental issues.[8][9] In 1995 Rainbow co-founded the Progressive Green Party, a "Bluegreen" environmentalist party with a more right-wing emphasis.

In 1998 Rainbow decided not to seek re-election. By that time the Progressive Greens had disbanded and most members had joined the "Bluegreen" wing of the National Party, including Rainbow. At the 1999 general election he stood as a list only candidate for National, ranked 51 he was not allocated a seat.[10]

Other activities

Rainbow is also a gay rights activist. He served as Chairman of Auckland-based phone support and LGBT advocacy service OUTLine and also a board member of the New Zealand AIDS Foundation.[11]

Notes

1. Naylor, Shani (8 January 1990). "Green's a Good Colour for Steve Rainbow". The Evening Post.
2. Taylor 1998, pp. 613. sfn error: no target: CITEREFTaylor1998 (help)
3. "Labour contender for Tasman". The Press. 15 August 1983. p. 2.
4. Zatorski, Lidia (7 April 1999). "Green Rainbow could be on Blues party list". The Evening Post. p. 3.
5. Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1990.
6. Bly, Ross (1992). City of Wellington: Local Body Elections, 1992 (Report). Wellington City Council.
7. "How You Voted". The Evening Post. 9 October 1995. p. 14.
8. Scherer, Karyn (3 May 1994). "Dissident Greens may form new party". The Evening Post.
9. Edwards, Brent (16 May 1994). "Breakaway party no threat, says Alliance leader". The Evening Post.
10. "Party Lists of Successful Registered Parties". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
11. "Stephen Rainbow becomes new OUTLine Chair". GayNZ.com. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2017.

References

• Taylor, Alister, ed. (1998). New Zealand Who's Who, 1998 edition. Auckland. ISSN 1172-9813.