**Warning – this story contains language that some people may find offensive**

Prior to this week, few New Zealanders – outside of Green Party voters and left-wing activists – may have heard of Benjamin Doyle.

But the name of the Green Party List MP, who is non-binary and uses the pronouns “they/them”, has featured in numerous headlines this week due to Doyle’s use of language on social media.

The issue of Doyle’s online posts has been raised by people including Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, who this week questioned Doyle’s use of a social media account named ‘BibleBeltBussy’.

The term “bussy” is used by some members of the Rainbow community as a reference to a male’s anus, while some people have suggested it’s a combination of “boy” and “pussy”.

Peters has called on the Green Party and Doyle to explain what “bussy” means.

News media reported the ‘BibleBeltBussy’ account posted a photo of Doyle with a child and the caption “bussy galore”.

“We are not accusing him of anything,” Peters says of Doyle.

“If the police want to investigate they can. The public can decide their judgement.

“But the public have a right to know who and what they are voting for.

“It highlights without doubt the type of dubious standards the Green Party has when selecting their MPs.”

Green Party co-leaders Chlöe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson say Doyle has received death threats following criticism of Doyle’s social media posts.

“These are driven by dangerous conspiracy thinking amplified by Destiny Church and the Deputy Prime Minister,” the co-leaders say.

“Members of any minority community, like our rainbow community, are accustomed to using and co-opting terms that may not be well understood by external groups, oftentimes with irreverence and absurdity.

“The central conspiracy here is that the use of such a word on a private account by an MP, before they were an MP, is inherently suspicious.”

Doyle’s use of social media has been defended this week by Labour Party MPs including leader Chris Hipkins, Shanan Halbert and Ayesha Verrall, among others.

But Prime Minister and Botany MP Christopher Luxon has labelled Doyle’s language on social media as “inappropriate”.

Doyle was sworn in as a Member of Parliament in October last year, replacing Green Party MP Darleen Tana.

Doyle serves on Parliament’s Māori Affairs select committee and is the Green Party’s spokesperson for ACC, Internal Affairs and Takatāpui and Rainbow Communities, and associate spokesperson for Education (Māori and Early Childhood) and Health (Sexual and Reproductive Health).

Their biography on the Green Party website states they are “takatāpui, tangata whaikaha, a parent, and a teacher, who brings all of their communities with them to Parliament”.

Prior to entering Parliament, Doyle worked in Hamilton as a high school teacher.

Their most recent previous job was as the ‘Pou Whakahaere Māori’ at the Burnett Foundation Aotearoa, which was previously known as the New Zealand Aids Foundation.

Coincidentally, a section on the Burnett Foundation website, under the heading ‘Popular queer slang and their origins’, states the term “bussy” means “boy pussy”.

Doyle’s master’s thesis is entitled Mana Takatāpui: Self-determination for queer rangatahi Māori.

It seeks to “generate understanding of the factors that enable LGBTQI+ Māori youth to embody and enact tino rangatiratanga”.

In Doyle’s maiden speech in Parliament, they described themselves as a father, lover and comrade who is gender diverse and disabled.

They said: “Trans lives are taonga” (treasured).

“I am proud to be takatāpui – queer; non-binary, which means that my gender is expansive and fluid, not muzzled by the strict confines of a suffocating binary.

“If my pronouns confuse you, here’s a tip: just use my name.

“If the way I dress causes you concern, I say to you: be more concerned by the contents of my mind than that of my wardrobe.”

The Green Party says Doyle will not be at Parliament this week and the party is working with the Parliamentary Service to manage the security threat.