Last Updated on February 21, 2025
A Christian fundamentalist group clashed with police while protesting a Pride parade while performing a haka.
The group in Auckland, New Zealand donned T-shirts emblazed with the words, “Man Up” on Saturday, as they marched and danced in the streets alongside police officers.
A global revolution against perversion is rising up!
The conservative Maoris in New Zealand perform the HAKA in opposition to a city sanctioned Pride parade. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼#HoldTheLine pic.twitter.com/NMctpnj3z2
— Sean Feucht (@seanfeucht) February 15, 2025
The men are members of Brian Tamaki’s Destiny Church, Daily Mail reports. The protest came after violence erupted at an earlier children’s event at a community center featuring a drag queen.
Members of the Destiny Church group stormed the community center, “punching, pushing and shoving their way inside,” the publication notes.
Tamaki, who founded Destiny Church with his wife Hannah in 1998, blasted the LGBQT+ movement on social media following the parade.
“Our radical young people have had enough! Our Man Up men have had enough! Destiny Church has had enough,” Tamaki wrote. “The debauchery in the Rainbow Parade has gone on for too long! Auckland has been overrun with this woke, rainbow agenda.
“And no surprise, the boys in blue were there again… protecting their beloved rainbows,” he continued.
💥 Rainbow Parade Interrupted by ManUp Flash Haka 💥
Our Radical Young People have had enough!
Our ManUp Men have had enough!
Destiny Church has had enough!
The debauchery in the Rainbow Parade has gone on for too long!
Auckland has long been overrun with this Woke, Rainbow… pic.twitter.com/MIfmhYo2lc— Brian Tamaki (@BrianTamakiNZ) February 15, 2025
Tamaki warned the group’s spectacle against the Pride movement was “only the beginning.”
Organizers of Rainbow Pride Auckland issued a statement calling the Christian group’s opposition to its movement “deeply hurtful,” but assured their support will remain “resilient in the face of hate and violence.”
“While today has been a painful reminder of imported ideologies and the violence they bring, we remain confident in our community’s resilience,” the statement added.
Mayor of Auckland, Wayne Brown, issued a statement of support for the Pride movement warning, “The actions of Destiny Church today are totally unacceptable.”
“While I respect freedom of speech and the right to peaceful protest, to enter a council library facility that is there for all our communities to use and intimidate council staff, volunteers and community members going about their business, is completely out of line,” Brown said. “There is absolutely no place for thuggery. The kind of behavior that was on display today is disgraceful and unacceptable.”
