Green Party co-leader, Russel Norman, is standing by his comments about Conservative Party leader Colin Craig, and will defend them in court if need be.
Dr Norman said at the Big Gay Out in Auckland earlier this month that Craig thought a woman's place was in the kitchen and a gay man's place was in the closet.
Craig's lawyers have given Dr Norman a deadline of Friday to apologise and issue a retraction, or be sued for defamation.
Dr Norman said if Craig wanted to enter Parliament, he needed to accept the criticism that will come his way, because that was just part of robust political debate in a democracy.