Carter attended a meeting at the Ponsonby mosque on Wednesday night with Labour MP Ashraf Choudhary, Police Commissioner Rob Robinson and 50 leaders and members of Auckland's Muslim community. They discussed promoting better understanding of Islam after the July 10 attacks on Auckland mosques.

But Christchurch Muslim Abdullah Drury sent a message to Muslim email groups objecting to Carter's attendance because he was a "raging homosexual".

The email claimed Carter's visit was purely an attempt to secure ethnic minority votes for Labour.

"Do Muslims, as people who practise the religion of Islam, really want to help and assist homosexuals in their political careers?" he wrote. "This really does send mixed, confused and a rather garbled message about Islamic values to the wider general public."

Drury, social secretary of the Muslim Association of Canterbury, told the Star-Times a lot of Muslims agreed with his objections, "but they usually keep quiet about it". Many migrants realised New Zealand culture and laws were different to their own, but "tolerance does not mean acceptance".

He said Carter's attendance in the role of ethnic affairs minister was inappropriate. "We're a religious minority. Let's keep the issue of race out of it."

Drury said the email meant to advise other Muslims who objected to Carter's sexuality not to attend the meeting.

Carter's office said he made no secret of being gay, but the ethnic community had not raised it as an issue before. "Generally speaking, the ethnic community has been very favourable to him," said Carter's spokesman, Nick Maling.

He said Muslims invited the minister to Thursday's meeting, to discuss promoting better understanding and tolerance of Islam. "I think people who ask for tolerance generally have to give it in return," he said. Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand president Javed Khan criticised the email. "It's just the personal view of one or two people, and we just completely ignore that."

He said homosexuality was not condoned, but it was also Islamic law to accept the law of the country in which you live. "We respect (Carter) as a minister of the Crown.

"I think he has been very supportive of the Muslims in our community."

Waikato Muslim Association vice-president Anwar Ghani also rejected Drury's statements. He said Muslims viewed homosexuality as "unnatural", but most would ignore what others did in their personal lives as long as they carried out their responsibilities.

"I think it's the people's choice what they do in their own bedroom," he said. adding that Carter had visited the Hamilton mosque and no one had objected.