Green Party MP Benjamin Doyle is taking aim at the “poisonous transphobic hate” they faced over social media posts and admits they were politically naive in not deleting them when told to do so by the party.

However, it appears questions over Doyle’s future have been answered as the MP says they “refuse to be disappeared by hate”.

Doyle, who goes by they/them pronouns, has today revealed the Green Party advised them to delete their private Instagram page before they came to office, but they “chose not to”.
”I can admit that I was politically naive, and we have paid a huge price for this naivety. None of this means I deserved the barrage of abuse and vitriol I have experienced.”

The MP says they expected “prejudice and homophobia” when they entered Parliament, as well as scrutiny as is appropriate towards those with the “privilege of this position”.

”But I could never imagine or prepare myself to be attacked in such a baseless, personal, and violent way. That my life and that of my child would be threatened.

”That poisonous transphobic hate and imported culture wars would be levelled against me and my community - not just by extremists online, but by individuals who hold the highest level of authority in this institution.”

Green MP Benjamin Doyle entered Parliament from the list last year. Photo / Supplied.

Doyle said they had been advised not to leave their house or appear in public due to concerns about security.

As for the terms used in the posts, Doyle said “context is key” and something they believed had “been deliberately ignored and twisted by some incredibly bad faith actors looking for an excuse to punch down on someone who represents something they don’t agree with”.

”The post at the centre of these baseless attacks includes 10 images from a range of activities and moments in my life, with a pop culture pun in the caption. ‘Bussy galore’ is an in-joke and a nickname. The translation here is “me at large living my best life”.

They said that referring to them like that on Instagram was an “expression of my queer identity, and it acts as a persona, much like a drag performer or comedian might use”.

”The caption – which references me – is an example of the way marginalised communities often reclaim or subvert language in order to exist apologetically. I recognise that Bussy is not a term all rainbow people use or like, but it is one that is commonly understood and appreciated by my friends and community.

”For me, this term is wordplay, and represents the combination of my masculine and feminine qualities as a non-binary person – someone whose gender doesn’t fit into a strict category.

“It’s also a satirical in-joke with references to pop music, drag culture, Bond novels and 1960s cinema, made about myself with people who know me in mind.”

Doyle stands by comments, says they did nothing wrong

Taking questions from journalists, Doyle said they didn’t think they had done anything wrong. “No I don’t.”

Doyle said their personal social media account were made in reference to themself, and shouldn’t have been taken out of context.

Among several posts of Doyle’s that received attention was an image of them and their child which was contained within an Instagram carousel of various images of a family event - that carousel was captioned with the phrase “bussy galore”. Bussy is a portmanteau of “boy” and “pussy” and is slang used by some to refer to a male’s anus.

The appropriateness of the posts has been questioned by some, including Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, who has said they need investigating. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the term used was “inappropriate”, but believed it was a matter for the Greens to deal with.

Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick responded to criticisms by saying members of minority communities, like the rainbow community, were “accustomed to using and co-opting terms that may not be well understood by external groups, often times with irreverence and absurdity”.

She said that “context is critical” and when asked by reporters what that context was, said: “Benjamin had a title of a private account which was related to terminology that is used within the queer community”.

“There are a number of far-right conspiratorial actors who are imputing meaning to that and the long bow that they seem to be drawing is that by virtue of use of that terminology that the rainbow community poses a real-world threat to children.”

As the Herald has reported, one source who knows Doyle said “bussy galore” was not a caption for a single image, but for a selection of family photos posted to Instagram. The source said “bussy” refers to Doyle themself and that the caption therefore referred to multiple photos of Doyle.

Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office.