Luxon allowed caucus members to vote on their conscience. The Bill passed its third and final reading on 15 February 2022, becoming law. Blood donation The New Zealand Blood Service (NZBS), like many countries, controversially defers any man who has had oral or anal intercourse with another man, with or without protection, in the past three months from donating blood. (Before 14 December 2020, the deferral period was 12 months). The restriction is on the basis that men who have sex with men in New Zealand are 44 times more likely to be infected with HIV/AIDS than the general population, and the HIV testing used is not specific enough (up to 1 in 1000 failure rate) to guarantee a 100 percent HIV-free blood supply. Politics Gay rights were a major political issue during the Homosexual Law Reform debates, but have subsequently become much less so. The Civil Union Act 2004 was opposed by nearly half of Parliament, but in tones much more restrained than that of the Homosexual Law Reform era. There has never been a specifically LGBT political party in New Zealand. There has been a succession of unsuccessful fundamentalist Christian political parties in New Zealand or socially conservative political parties less sympathetic to LGBT rights since the introduction of electoral reform in 1993 made proportional representation possible. The Destiny political party, founded to bring "Christian morality" into politics, received only 0.62% of the party vote in the 2005 general election. Christian Heritage New Zealand polled 4.4% as part of the Christian Coalition in 1996 but closed down in 2005 after its former leader Graham Capill was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment after multiple cases of sexual assault against three female children. Future New Zealand, the Kiwi Party, the aforementioned Destiny New Zealand and the Family Party all succeeded it, but none lasted long. Currently, the officially secular Conservative Party of New Zealand, which has yet to gain parliamentary representation, appeals to voters in this area. A number of openly gay or lesbian politicians have served in New Zealand's Parliament. The first to be elected was Chris Carter, who became the first openly gay MP when he came out shortly after the 1993 election. He lost his seat in the 1996 election, but won it again in the 1999 election and became New Zealand's first openly gay cabinet minister in 2002. Carter united in civil union to his long-time