In an idle moment and out of curiousity, I decided to have a look at Focus on the Family NZ's anti-CUB website. It wasn't operative. Moreover, the Maxim Institute has centralised control over its discussion forums. What gives? I suspect that the Maxim Institute is trying to exert centralised control over the anti-CUB campaign, which may be why Focus on the Family NZ has quietly disappeared from the scene. As I've noted before, FOFNZ is a liability, given its links to the overt and shrill homophobic junk science that its US parent organisation relies upon. As for the Credo Society, etc., Barbara Faithfull is also obviously regarded as a liability, given her conspiratorial orientation, which is a relic of the unsuccessful pro-discrimination campaign against the Human Rights Act 1993 and the Christian Coalition (1996). To prevent her from haunting their website, the Institute exerted centralised control over their discussion forums, which means she's not allowed in to play with her strange pick ‘n' mix theories about co-ordinated subversion of New Zealand culture. So, how does one explain the survival of the Society for Promotion of Community Standards and Destiny Church in these shenanigans? SPCS has a limited independent existence as a pro-censorship nuisance that chases film festival content, while it has been reduced to the Wellington area Maxim Institute liaison for all intents and purposes. As for Destiny Church, it's a little more complicated. Brian Tamaki controls the church and its political party and has entrepreneurial flare. While pakeha fundamentalists don't mobilise Maori social conservatives, the same may not be said about this growing Maori Pentecostal church. However, it's also vulnerable to opposition from takatapui, so it should be interesting to see what might happen at Parliament on August 23, 2004. The Maxim Institute wants it to all look buttoned down and mainstream, with no homophobic old biddies who embarass them at anti-CUB rallies through railing against already-lost battles. In which case, it should really try to do something about its presentation content, and keep idiots like Paul Adams (United Future) off the podium, as he's politically clueless. There are differences between their anti-Prostitution Law Reform Act campaign and this one. In this case, the Maxim Institute is trying to exert its centralised strategic control over antigay groups, but isn't succeeding in its task. It may have cleaned up its website, but there are still outlying organisations that may resist its assimilation efforts. Brian Tamaki is clearly a fundamentalist 'top' in his own right, and won't bow to requests for moderation in his rhetoric and focus. His rally may end up a profound embarrassment to his allegedly more sophisticated pakeha associates, with his talk of ancestral curses, fundamentalist rap and cult of personality. One remembers that another ill-advised antigay rally did similar damage when the Coalition of Concerned Citizens delivered its largely fabricated petition against homosexual law reform to Parliament, eighteen years ago. History never repeats? Recommended Reading: http://www.destinychurch.org.nz http://www.destinynz.org.nz Destiny Church New Zealand and its offshoot political party, Destiny New Zealand. http://www.enough.org.nz "Enough is Enough" (Destiny Church/New Zealand front organisation). It's scheduled for Wellington, August 23rd, outside Parliament. There is apparently a silent counter-protest planned. And if Richard Lewis is Destiny NZ leader, what's Tamaki doing as the lead act? http://www.maxim.org.nz Maxim Institute http://www.spcs.org.nz Society for Promotion of Community Standards Rebuttal: http://www.civilunions.org.nz http://www.civilunions.co.nz Civil Union Bill Campaign website Craig Young - 12th July 2004