Rainbow crossing destroyed by NZ church protesting drag storytime event

A church group protesting a drag storytime event at the local library has painted over the rainbow street crossing in Gisborne, New Zealand.

Pastor for evangelical Destiny church, Brian Tamaki, had recently been protesting the community events across NZ.

On Tuesday, he made demands to Gisborne mayor Rehette Stoltz to cancel  by 5pm. When the event was not cancelled, church members blocked off the rainbow section of the road with protest signs and used paint rollers to cover up the rainbow design with white paint.

The rainbow street crossing has been in place on the major Gladstone Road since 2021.

Church members posted photos and videos of themselves painting over the rainbow crossing to social media. The video has since been removed from Facebook.

“We have had enough of the sexualisation of our children,” said church member Leighton Packer.

“We are not tolerating this. We have these sex workers coming in tomorrow, adult entertainers.”

“We are going to be outside the library. We will make a big song and a big noise.”

In Gizzy, they have had enough and they are painting over the rainbow crossing…

Watch here:https://t.co/jZf7DJTuIk pic.twitter.com/WpLSF7g4QI

— Brian Tamaki (@BrianTamakiNZ) March 25, 2024

The ‘Rainbow Storytime’ events feature drag queens reading books to audiences of young people, with the Gisborne event being advertised to people over the age of 16.

Drag performers Erika and Coco Flash (Sunita Torrance and Daniel Lockett) went ahead with the storytime performance, despite the church’s protest outside.

Mayor Rehette Stoltz “strongly condemned” the act of vandalism, and said that Destiny Church members would be held accountable.

“We accept that people hold different views however there is no place for hate or bigotry in Tairāwhiti,” she said.

“We will be reinstating the rainbow crossing as quickly as we can.”