By Evelyn Henare
Last week, myself and many others watched in horror as members of Destiny Church, a far-right, fundamentalist cult led by self-appointed Archbishop Brian Tamaki, attacked a Pride event in Auckland. This violent attack has left much of our community shaken and unsure what to do. It represented a clear escalation of Destiny Church’s hate campaign.
In this time of immense fear, while we are under attack, we must resist calls for carceral solutions. Police and prisons will not save us — we must do that ourselves. We must stand together as a community, be proud of our queerness, and show those who hate us that we have no intention of backing down.
The events of Saturday 15th February are merely the latest in a long history of Destiny’s attacks upon the queer community. In 2004, Tamaki led a crowd of 5,000 to march on Wellington to protest the passing of a bill legalising civil unions for queer couples. In 2016, the Destiny leader claimed that earthquakes, and in particular the earthquakes that ravaged Christchurch, were the fault of gay people.
In March 2023, far-right British activist Posie Parker and a small gaggle of trans-exclusionary radical feminists attempted to hold an anti-trans protest in Albert Park, but left in disgrace after being drowned out by thousands of trans people and our allies. Unbeknownst to us, however, Destiny had quietly organised their own rally and planned to confront us.
This confrontation came violently, first when Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson was struck by a motorcycle as a Destiny Church convoy hooned past Albert Park in an attempt to intimidate us counter-protesters. I was in the crowd which later rushed from Albert Park to Aotea Square, where Tamaki’s group congregated. I saw first-hand as they pushed their way through us to get onto Queen Street, throwing people to the ground and pushing people to the side. While the media decided to harp on about poor Posie Parker being saturated with tomato juice, it was Destiny members who engaged in actual violence that day.
In 2024, Destiny took responsibility for vandalising rainbow crossings in Gisborne and Auckland’s Karangahape Road with white paint.
Finally, we come to last week’s events. Members of Destiny-affiliated groups ‘Man Up’ and ‘Legacy,’ spurred on by Tamaki’s direction, attacked a Pride event being held at the Te Atatū Community Centre. This was an all-ages event hosted by Drag King, which was described as a ‘musical, magical adventure exploring the science of the skies.’ This entirely innocuous educational show came under siege by Brian Tamaki’s goons.
Man Up members punched and pushed their way inside, attacking library staff and event organisers. Youth from dodgeball teams present at the venue bravely attempted to assist the staff and Pride organisers, and came under attack as well. The victims of Destiny’s violence include a 16-year-old girl who was left concussed, and a 20-year-old who was left with bruises on her arms and ribs. Around 30 toddlers, young children and adults had to be barricaded inside for their safety and were left ‘incredibly shaken up’ by the event. A Destiny-affiliated Facebook page proudly live-streamed the attack.
Later that day, the same groups broke through police barricades and disrupted the Auckland Rainbow Parade.
In many ways, Destiny’s recent attacks are nothing new — merely the latest in a long line of hateful assaults on our community. But the attacks are getting more threatening. We’ve been targeted before, but what we saw last weekend was a violent attempt to shut down Pride events. They want to scare us away from public life and back into the closet.
Destiny Church has been an enemy of our community for years. The threat they pose only continues to rise as they become further emboldened. This is a threat we have no choice but to face head-on. But how?
In the wake of these attacks, some in our community have turned towards carceral solutions. Queer Labour MP Shanan Halbert has called for a tougher police response, and called on Police Minister Mark Mitchell to treat Destiny the same way he would the Mongrel Mob. Meanwhile, nearly 35 thousand people have signed a petition asking the government to utilise its controversial gang patch law against Destiny Church.
The petition’s creator recognises the law as “problematic.” This is an immense understatement. The gang patch law is a racist, ineffective piece of legislation which breaches human rights and disproportionately targets Māori. In no way should we be seeking to weaponise it against our opponents. It is one thing to point out that the right-wing Coalition government treats Destiny Church with much softer hands than they would a group like the Mongrel Mob; but our response to this hypocrisy should not be to call for the government to implement more ineffectual ‘tough on crime’ policies.
It is understandable why some are looking to the state to protect us. The queer community is under attack from a fascist mob. People are scared and desperately seeking solutions. However, it is crucial for us to understand that carceral approaches will not save us.
When push comes to shove, the police force has never been an ally to queer people. The modern queer rights movement started at Stonewall, with a series of riots in direct response to police repression of queer community spaces in 1969 New York. This adversarial relationship never disappeared. Police have continued to abuse and harass queer people in Aotearoa, while queer people continue to be mistreated in prisons. Māori continue to be disproportionately targeted, whilst trans women continue to face the horrific fate of being placed in men’s prisons.
Ten years ago this month, the organisation No Pride in Prisons protested the inclusion of police and corrections at the 2015 Pride Parade. Queer activists attempted to block the police flotilla. Police responded violently to this action, with one protester, a Māori trans woman, being thrown to the ground, breaking her arm.
No Pride in Prisons later became People Against Prisons Aotearoa and continued the good fight, arguing for police and prison abolition. Meanwhile, the Auckland queer community has continued to wrestle with its relationship to the state; in 2018, the Auckland Pride Festival board decided that police could not attend the Pride March in uniform. Queer activists have fought and continue to fight to keep police out of Pride — we cannot let this work be undone.
This does not mean that there is nothing the state can do to stand against Destiny Church. We should call on the government to remove the charitable status of Destiny-affiliated organisations, and to urgently ensure that government agencies are not referring vulnerable people to dangerous groups such as Man Up.
If we cannot rely on the police, what are we to do? The only answer is to build up queer resilience and queer power. We must show Brian Tamaki that as much as he wishes for us to do so, we have no intention of hiding away in the closet. In the face of fear and hatred, we need to stand tall, stand fierce and stand proud.
Tomorrow, we shall do just that. People Against Prisons Aotearoa, alongside others in the queer community, is organising a rally in Albert Park at 2pm titled ‘Defying Destiny: Day of Queer Power.’ This will be a chance for queer people and our allies to show that we are not weak, we are not scared, and significantly, that we vastly outnumber them.
Safety is in numbers at all protests, especially when the threat of violence from Destiny thugs is high. I urge everyone reading this to come along, bring friends, and to both arrive and leave in groups if possible. I will be attending alongside other members of System Change Aotearoa.
I will admit — last week’s events have left me filled with anxiety. But as I ready myself to march alongside my community, I am not scared. I am filled with pride. I’ll see you there.
Evelyn Henare (she/they) is a queer Māori (Ngāi Tai ki Tōrere) ecosocialist activist from Auckland. She is the Membership Secretary of System Change Aotearoa.
RSVP to the rally on Facebook.
Hey, I”m currently doing research in this area, the church’s side and the LGBT’s side. I am greatly confused as to why you wouldn’t want police, though? Yes, I have read about the abuse from police, but that abuse has come from all places, not just the police. Shouldn’t they be there to protect? I mean sure you guys want to show that you are not weak, or greatly outnumber the groups, but it is well known that size or numbers isn’t going to provide you with a win, and welcoming proper police will be a greater defense.