Destiny NZ, a new political party that undoubtedly poses one of the greatest threats to the freedoms and human rights of the LGBT population in New Zealand, launches the first stages of its policies at a public Auckland conference today. "Destiny NZ's policies are very family friendly," says Richard Lewis, the Party Leader. "Whether we're talking about health, education, the economy, Treaty issues or even GE, we have designed our policies to empower NZ families and to uphold the institution of marriage." The party is the political arm of religious right organisation Destiny Church, and the organisation's senior minister Brian Tamaki will be giving an address at the launch this weekend. Tamaki recently spoke on national free-to-air television in a six-part series of “Destiny Television” dedicated to homosexuality, saying that it was a Satanic strategy to warp a whole generation, that legalising gay marriage would lead to the spreading of AIDS to heterosexuals, that all gays hated God and were anti-Christ, and that "sodomites" molested children. Tamaki added, to rapturous applause from his audience, that the homosexual spirit was right out in front leading the charge to reform society backwards, and that God was saying Destiny has to get into power. Destiny NZ plans to launch its policies in three stages leading up to the 2005 election, with their press release claiming that there will be 3,000 attendees at this weekend's conference, making it “the largest political party event of 2003”. The event is to be held at 10.30am this morning at Destiny Church's Mt Wellington headquarters in Auckland, and will feature a performance from the Destiny Choir singing the national anthem and the Destiny NZ theme song “One Nation”.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Saturday, 25th October 2003 - 12:00pm