A second library has made the decision to cancel its widely popular Rainbow Storytime event amid a risk to public safety, including death threats being sent to performers.
The popular Rainbow Storytime events see Taranaki drag queens Erika and CoCo Flash visit libraries and other spaces across the country to read books to children.
The children's books, such as Giraffes Can't Dance and The Book with no Pictures, impart themes of positive self-image and diversity.
Hastings Library's Rainbow Storytime event was due to take place tomorrow but has since been cancelled after Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki called for planned protests.
A second event — Living Library, aimed at teenagers — was also scheduled to take place tomorrow but has been cancelled.
It follows the cancellation of Rotorua Library's Storytime event last week amid safety concerns.
In a statement, the Hastings District Council attributed the cancellation to "disinformation being spread about an upcoming library programme".
"There is no sexual content in these programmes, they are age appropriate, and designed to be entertaining and fun. It is the parents' choice whether their children attend, and the programme takes place at an upstairs section of the library away from the general public library area."
The council said while the programmes had run in 2020 and 2022 "with no issues", "this year Destiny Church has led a campaign of disinformation about the programmes, and council is concerned about public safety in light of planned protests".
It said Hastings councillors, council customer service staff, and library workers "have received a large number of messages falsely accusing the events of being a platform for sexual grooming of young people, and this misinformation has also spread to other members of the community".
"As time has gone on these messages have in some instances been intimidating and threatening, including death threats to the performers."
The council said while it was aware of the protests "and would like to think they would be peaceful, it was not possible to control who would attend and their potential behaviour, making it difficult to manage".
'Escalation of hateful and bigoted rhetoric'
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said she was deeply disappointed to be forced into the position of cancelling the event.
"We had every intention of standing up to this intimidation and going ahead, but unfortunately the potential for there to be possibly aggressive protests outside the library is something we can't subject our children and the rest of the community to," Hazlehurst said.
"We have a responsibility to keep people safe at our facilities, and the escalation of hateful and bigoted rhetoric around this event, coupled with the huge costs and the strain on resources to bring in security to ensure people's safety, means we are in a position this year that we can't guarantee attendees', staff and the performers' safety."
"We look forward to holding this event again in the future."
Councillor Wendy Schollum, who has attended Rainbow Storytime events in the past with her young children, said seeing a "small segment of our community twist the intention of this event to peddle another agenda and shut it down is very hard to stomach".
"I wish to express my sympathy to our Rainbow community and supporters, and the performers, that we have been forced into this position.
"Our libraries are places that cater for all views and values — not everyone will agree with all the programmes that are run but that's part of being in a society that embraces and reflects our people and all their differences. People have a choice to attend these programmes or not, and the actions of those protesting these events have taken that choice away from the rest of our community."
'No place for hate and discrimination'
Rainbow health organisation OutLine Aotearoa and research group The Disinformation Project have condemned the actions of Destiny Church members involved in the latest attacks on LGBTTQIA+ rights.
It comes after Destiny Church members painted over a rainbow street crossing in Gisborne last night.
OutLine Aotearoa chief executive Emmaline Pickering-Martin said they're "disgusted at the behaviour of Destiny Church members in Gisborne and we see no place for hate and discrimination in our society".
"As a nationwide rainbow mental health organisation, we too often see the hugely detrimental effects of this sort of behaviour first-hand. This kind of hateful rhetoric from the church is literally killing our community members and the severity of this cannot be understated," she said.
"We have seen the rise of violence towards rainbow communities not only overseas but in our own backyards in Aotearoa and we will continue to advocate for inclusion throughout the country."
Pickering-Martin also expressed support for the Rainbow community in Hawke's Bay following the cancellation of events at Hastings Library.
"OutLine Aotearoa stands by our communities in Te Matau a Māui the Hawke's Bay rohe. We utterly condemn all forms of discrimination against our community," she said.
Research group The Disinformation Project said the cancellation of the events shows the growing impact of disinformation in New Zealand.
Online hatred directed at the rainbow community, particularly transgender and nonbinary people, has grown in Aotearoa in the last two years, according to a snapshot report by the Disinformation Project last year.
"We have a serious issue when libraries don’t feel safe to showcase and celebrate local diversity because groups of people have come to believe false and harmful ideas about other members of their communities," director of communications Nicole Skews-Poole said.
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