‘Jesus does not behave in that way’

A Pacific academic and rainbow community members have criticised the lack of leadership within the Destiny Church and called for reflection on their role in fostering division.

Jemaima Tiatia-Siau, a professor in Pacific Studies at Auckland University, says that being part of the rainbow community has been a consistent struggle in her personal journey.

“Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and value systems, but it's when you project your own [beliefs] by force and on others or the judgment is so ill-informed and it's almost like void of love or you believe that you are demonstrating love when in actual fact it goes against everything that you have been taught and your principles and your beliefs,” she said.

Her comments followed recent events where members of a group connected to Destiny Church disrupted two Auckland Pride events.

Footage showed Destiny Church members pushed past staff at a stairwell after being advised not to enter a private event at the Te Atatū library.

Their actions protested a drag king reading event for children, which left families locked inside for safety.

Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki praised the disruptions on his X (formerly Twitter) page, saying, “Great work team! We’re not gunna take it anymore.”

The group later disrupted the Auckland Pride Parade on Ponsonby Road.

But Tiatia-Siau recalled her positive encounters with the church.

Jemaima Tiatia-Siau is of Sāmoan descent and specialises in the study, research, and teaching of suicide prevention and postvention, mental health and wellbeing, youth development, Pacific Studies, health inequities and climate change, and mental wellbeing. Photo/University of Auckland

“For me, personally, people say, ‘What do you know about Destiny's Church?’

“There was a women's group that was formed that supported women in lockdown.

“And I was very, very clear in that first engagement of who I am and I would only ever bring authenticity to this discussion.

“And it was totally comfortable, and I felt the love, and it was great. So that was a great side of it, and that's the side we expect to see as a society.

“But the side we're seeing is just filled with anger, and it just looks like a lot of it is also trauma responses.”

Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki. Photo/Destiny Church

For many, the incident serves as a painful reminder of the ongoing challenges faced by Pacific Rainbow communities, particularly when the source of the aggression comes from within their own community.

“If you knew love for what it is, if you knew God and Christ the way you know he is, you will know that he does not behave in that way.

“Jesus does not behave in that way. God doesn't ask you to go storming peoples in the privacy of their own gatherings to be violent and bully.

“That's not who we are as Pasifika, and I suspect that's not who we are as Māori. Yeah, it's a contradiction.”

Watch Benajmin Doyle's full interview below.

‘We are hurting right now’

Green Party MP and Rainbow community spokesperson Benjamin Doyle called out Destiny Church for terrorising members of the Rainbow community.

Speaking on Pacific Mornings, Doyle said their actions have gone unchecked for a long time.

“We are resilient, but we are hurting right now. This is a really, really exhausting and challenging thing to continuously be facing and worried about.

“We're being terrorised by groups like this. So it does get exhausting and when there are rangatahi involved, children involved, that's really scary.

“And when we put our tamariki at risk, everyone is really fearful for that.”

Prior to entering politics, Doyle was a Kirikiriroa-based high school teacher of classics, art history, education for sustainability, and te reo Māori. Photo/Green Party NZ

A call to church leaders

Pacific Rainbow advocate and clinical psychologist Penni Wolfgramm highlighted the emotional toll the weekend’s events had on Rainbow Pacific communities.

On Pacific Mornings, she said, “We look at the makeup of this church.

“We look at the makeup of the non-peaceful protesters on the weekend, and they are our Māori, Pacific whānaunga, our family.

“And so there's this double navigation that we have to do, this double-barrel burden, shall we say, when we look at the perpetrators of this harm and injustice, are members of our families and members of our communities.

“So our Pacific Rainbow community, many of us are fed up, but many of us are not surprised at all by these actions.”

Wolfgramm called for urgent talanoa between conservative Pacific communities and Rainbow advocates.

Watch Penni Wolfgramm's full interview on Pacific Mornings below.

“A key part of this progress towards greater acceptance in our community, greater celebration and support of our Pacific Rainbow Plus identities and expressions and communities at large is for us to sit down and have real talanoa.

“We talk about it a lot with my own peers and friends of the Pacific Rainbow community around having multiple truths, that this is how I feel and this is what I believe and at the same time, I can still hold respect. I can still accept you for who you are.

“So this talanoa needs to happen and it needs to happen urgently.

“I invite our church leaders, this is the perfect opportunity to stand up and look at your flock, look at who are in your church and who has been left behind, who you can no longer see and begin the process to be able to bring them back into the fold.

“Our church leaders have a big responsibility to do that.”