New Zealand lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights are some of the most extensive in the world. The protection of LGBTQ rights is advanced, relative to other countries in Oceania, and among the most liberal in the world, with the country being the first in the region to legalise same-sex marriage.

Throughout the late 20th century, the rights of the LGBTQ community received more awareness and male same-sex sexual activity was decriminalised in 1986, with an age of consent of 16, equal to heterosexual intercourse. After recognising gender-neutral civil union since 2004, New Zealand legalised both same-sex marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples in 2013. Discrimination regarding sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression has been banned since 1993. Gay, lesbian, and bisexual people have been allowed to serve openly in the military since 1993. Opinion polls have found that a majority of New Zealanders support same-sex marriage.

Legality of same-sex sexual activity

Same-sex relationships and activities () were largely accepted amongst pre-colonial Māori society. There were no legal or social punishments for engaging in same-sex sexual activity. Male homosexual intercourse was first criminalised when New Zealand adopted England's law with the English Law Act 1858 and adopted British law making "buggery" a crime with a maximum sentence of death. (In practice, New Zealand used the death penalty only for offences of murder and once for treason before abolishment in 1961). In 1861, Britain replaced the death penalty for buggery with life imprisonment. New Zealand enacted similar legislation six years later. In 1893, the law in New Zealand was broadened to outlaw any sexual activity between men. Penalties included life imprisonment, hard labour and flogging. Sex between women has never been criminalised in New Zealand.

The Dorian Society (1962–88) was the first New Zealand organisation for homosexual men. The British Homosexual Law Reform Society provided legal assistance to the society. It drafted a petition calling for the decriminalisation of homosexual acts. Signed by 75 prominent citizens, a petition was presented to (and rejected by) Parliament in 1968.

In 1972, academic Ngahuia Te Awekotuku was denied a permit to visit the United States on the grounds that she was a homosexual. Publicity around the incident was a catalyst in the formation of gay liberation groups in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland. The 1970s saw the growth of the modern feminist and gay movements in New Zealand.

MP Venn Young introduced a bill, entitled the Crimes Amendment Bill, in July 1974, which was the first bill to propose decriminalising homosexual acts between consenting adults. It was unsuccessful and was criticised by gay rights organisations for setting the age of consent at 21, as opposed to the age of 16 for heterosexual acts. Gay rights organisations refused to support bills which did not present an equal age of consent. A similar bill, introduced by MP Warren Freer in 1979, failed in its parliamentary reading in 1980, due to lack of support for the same reasons over the age disparity.

In 1985, Labour MP Fran Wilde consulted with gay rights groups to develop the Homosexual Law Reform Bill, which she introduced to Parliament on 8 March. It proposed removing the offence of consensual sex between males over the age of sixteen. Over the course of 14 months, the bill attracted organised opposition outside Parliament, including an anti-reform petition (which was rejected by Parliament). Inside Parliament, multiple attempts to set a higher age of consent at 20 or 18 were rejected; ironically, some opponents of decriminalisation of homosexuality joined supporters of full equality in voting against those proposals, as they believed that a higher age of consent for gay sex would have made the Bill more palatable to those on the fences. The bill passed its final reading on 9 July 1986, 49 votes in favour to 44 opposed. It achieved royal assent (becoming the Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986) on 11 July 1986, and it came into effect on 8 August that year.

Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was outlawed several years later by the Human Rights Act 1993. The Human Rights Act 1993 defines sexual orientation as "heterosexual, homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual orientations" in section 21(1)(m).

Discrimination on the basis of gender identity is impliedly outlawed, but this has not been tested by a court, resulting in uncertainty. The Law Commission is currently doing a review of the Human Rights Act 1993 for protection for transgender, non-binary and intersex people.

Expungement of convictions Individuals convicted and imprisoned for homosexual offences prior to August 1986 were not automatically eligible to hide the offences under the Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004, since the Act applies retrospectively to current and abolished offences equally. However, individuals with an otherwise clean criminal record could apply to a District Court to have the conviction disregarded. However, this process only concealed these convictions – it did not erase them altogether.

On 28 June 2017, the Government introduced a bill which would allow men convicted for homosexual offences to apply to wipe out their convictions from the records. On 6 July, the bill had its first reading. Justice Minister Amy Adams moved a motion to apologise for convictions the same day, to which Parliament agreed unanimously. The bill was passed by Parliament on 3 April 2018 and received royal assent on 9 April 2018, becoming the Criminal Records (Expungement of Convictions for Historical Homosexual Offences) Act 2018, and going into effect the following day.

Recognition of same-sex relationships

The Property (Relationships) Amendment Act 2001 gives de facto couples, whether opposite or same sex, the same property rights as existed since 1976 for married couples on the break-up of a relationship.

The Civil Union Act 2004 established the institution of civil union for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples. The Act is very similar to the Marriage Act 1955 with "marriage" replaced by "civil union". The following year, the Relationships (Statutory References) Act 2005 was passed to remove discriminatory provisions from most legislation.

Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage in New Zealand was refused judicial approval by the Court of Appeal after Quilter v Attorney-General in 1994. However, unlike Australia and much of the United States, New Zealand refused to pre-emptively ban same-sex marriage in case a future parliament decided to approve it with an amended marriage act. In December 2005, an abortive member's bill failed at its first reading to do so. Until a marriage bill was passed in April 2013, same-sex marriage and adoption were the final barrier before full LGBT formal and substantive equality in New Zealand.

In July 2012, a member's bill by Labour MP Louisa Wall which proposed defining marriage to be inclusive regardless of gender was drawn from the ballot. The Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill passed its first reading on 29 August 2012, 80 votes in favour to 40 opposed (with one abstention). Preliminary reports evidenced widespread support for same-sex marriage both within Parliament (notably from Prime Minister John Key) and amongst the general public, with polls conducted in May 2012 indicating 63% support. In December 2012, former Governor-General Dame Catherine Tizard starred in an online video campaign supporting same-sex marriage, alongside New Zealand singers Anika Moa, Boh Runga and Hollie Smith, as well as Olympian Danyon Loader. In a conscience vote, the bill passed its second and third readings by 77–44, and became law on 19 April 2013. However, same-sex marriages were not conducted until August, when the law went into effect.

Adoption and parenting There are no specific barriers preventing an LGBT individual from adopting children, except that a male individual cannot adopt a female child. The same-sex marriage law became effective from 19 August 2013, and since then married same-sex couples have been able to adopt children jointly. Unmarried couples of any sex and couples in a civil union can jointly adopt children following a New Zealand High Court ruling in December 2015. The court ruled that the ban breached the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. The minimum age to adopt in New Zealand is 20 years for a related child and 25 years or the child's age plus 20 years (whichever is greater) for an unrelated child.

On 21 May 2006, Green List MP Metiria Turei raised the issue of same-sex adoption, arguing that New Zealand's Adoption Act 1955 did not meet the complexities of contemporary New Zealand society. She argued following the enactment of civil unions in particular that eligible lesbian and gay prospective parents should be enabled to legally adopt.

Many lesbian couples are now raising children in New Zealand. Where these children are conceived through donor (sperm) insemination, both partners are recognised on the children's birth certificates (the birth mother as "mother", the other mother as "other parent"). This is following the Care of Children Act 2004, which repealed and replaced the Status of Children Act 1969. Fostering and guardianship are also recognised under New Zealand law and regulation, and reproductive technology has been accessible since 1994.

The donor is not recognised as a legal parent in New Zealand law. However, parents and donors can make formal agreements as to how things will work but the courts do have flexibility as to whether they recognise these agreements or not, under section 41 of the Care of Children Act 2004.

Lesbian women who have trouble conceiving using private donor insemination may be eligible, as other New Zealand women are, to help through publicly funded fertility treatment. However, there are conditions on this and every woman needing fertility treatment is scored as to her eligibility.

Now passed, the current Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013 enables eligible married same-sex parents to adopt children as there is a clause to that effect contained therein. However, known-relative adoptions in New Zealand have outnumbered stranger adoptions since the mid-1970s; between 2007 and 2013, there were 18 known-relative and stepchild adoptions for every 10 stranger adoptions.

Only men who do not have sperm are eligible for public funding to assisted reproduction, which means that most male same-sex couples must get private treatment.

Discrimination protections The Human Rights Act 1993 () outlaws discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and, implicitly, gender identity/expression. Initially, this law temporarily exempted government activities until 1999. In 1998, an amendment bill was introduced making this exemption permanent; this was abandoned following a change of government in 1999. The new Labour Government instead passed another amendment to apply the Act to government activities, and also to create a new ability for the courts to "declare" legislation inconsistent with the Act. Article 27(2) of the Act reads as follows:

Some examples of discrimination sometimes still occur. In January 2006, news headlines were made by a sperm bank's policy of refusing donations from gay men. In March 2006, the policy was amended. Reportedly, some heterosexual male sperm donors had vetoed the use of their gametes for lesbian couples who seek artificial insemination.

Military service