Oh, dear. Judging by online media coverage of yesterday's pro/anti-Civil Unions Bill marches, don't hire Brian Tamaki on the basis of sartorial skills. His black t-shirted cohorts made a rather unpleasant impression on at least two media outlets. Television New Zealand beat the others to media coverage of the event, and quoted a concerned member of the Against Conservative Fundamentalism pro-CUB march about Destiny New Zealand's bad choice in sartorial design. I'm sorry, but mass black-shirted marchers and a charismatic ideologue were bound to touch some raw nerves in the nation's capital, given recent right-wing extremist defacement of Jewish cemetaries in our vicinity. It's interesting to note that the Coalition of Concerned Citizens made a similar bad choice back in 1986 when they issued their fabricated parliamentary petition before Parliament, later exposed as a massive fraud with multiple fake signatures. Destiny New Zealand appears to have learnt nothing at all from that precedent, and collected signatures for United Future New Zealand's crusade against the Prostitution Law Reform Act at their rally. Destiny Church/New Zealand chose to ignore the historical precedent and risk adverse mainstream media coverage. In the case of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens, it was sinister uniformed fundamentalists with sashes, insignia and martial music that encouraged many New Zealanders to reject antigay propaganda as alien to our society. In the case of Destiny Church/New Zealand, it's sinister uniformed black (t) shirted figures, and they're even wearing red blazons, with black insignia. It's a shame the Christian Right gets hysterical when one mentions post-structuralism, because I could've told them that their sartorial choice was baaaad semiotics. I mean, when you see black shirts and red insignia, what exactly comes to mind? Exactly. I popped onto the National Front's website, but the only illiterate homophobia that I encountered was related to an ugly forum barney about the merits or otherwise of certain forms of 'metal' music. Meanwhile, Campaign for Civil Unions Auckland published a copy of its submission, sans appendices, on Scoop's website, which later had photos of Brian's Black T Shirts and the Against Conservative Fundamentalism marches, in far more diverse colour too, let it be added. Craig Young - 24th August 2004