UniQ Otago are horrified at false allegations that they planned to organise a strip protest outside the Destiny Church in Dunedin using student funds. Student Choice, a group campaigning against compulsory membership of student unions, issued a press release Friday entitled Gays Picket Student Churches with Student Money? The group "condemned the planned picketing of Destiny Church by UniQ, a radical homosexual interest group funded by all students through compulsory student association membership". UniQ Otago co-ordinator Nathan Brown says Glenn Peoples of Student Choice had specifically asked Brown prior to the protest on Sunday about rumours of a strip protest, and was told they were untrue. The silent protest, which UniQ formally distanced themselves from in an email to members circulated on Friday, went peacefully and quietly. A member of Destiny Church Dunedin even wrote to GayNZ.com to say how "proud" he was of the protesters, complementing them as "well mannered and civil". Brown says Peoples was present at the protest, taking photos, along with fellow Student Choice and Christian Heritage Party member Matthew Flannagan. No student funds were used in the protest, and the Student Choice press release containing the allegations was re-published without corrections on Scoop the following day.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Friday, 3rd September 2004 - 12:00pm