Drag queens’ lawsuit funding campaign exceeds target
A New Plymouth drag queen who hosts storytime events for young people has crowdfunded more than $24,000 in the hope of taking Destiny Church and its leader, Brian Tamaki, to court.
Sunita Torrance, whose stage name is Coco Flash, said false information had been spread about the events, and the LGBTQI+ community faced threats from members of the church.
She described members’ behaviour in protesting planned storytime events, including the recent vandalism of a rainbow pedestrian crossing in Gisborne, as childish and thuggish and said it was disappointing when the events had to be cancelled because of safety concerns.
Torrance is one half of a duo alongside Daniel Lockett, aka Erika Flash, and together they organise Rainbow Storytime sessions at libraries around the country.
During the sessions, the duo read stories with the aim of teaching values such as kindness, diversity and inclusivity through the art of drag, music and comedy.
Tamaki has described the events as a tool of a “woke rainbow movement”, saying they “sexualised” children through “transgender ideology”.
At the end of March, Torrance started a Givealittle crowdfunding campaign seeking to cover the legal fees of a potential defamation claim against Destiny Church and Tamaki.
By yesterday, the campaign had reached more than $24,500, well over its stated target of $15,000.
A post on the Rainbow Storytime Facebook page said the legal costs were expected to amount to $10,000, and extra funds would provide a buffer.
Torrance, who identifies as a straight, cisgender woman but is a proud activist for the LGBTQI+ community, said she attended Destiny Church in the early 2000s but decided to leave when it started promoting ticketed events.
“It was when Brian started his TV project – I noticed changes,” she said.
“I actually stopped going to church altogether, because it was morphing into something I personally didn’t like and found church life to be very fake and toxic.”
‘Abhorrent’ threats
On March 25, Gisborne’s rainbow crossing was covered in white paint by Destiny Church members as a protest against the drag queen storytime event for over-16s planned at the city’s HB Williams Memorial Library the day after.
Three people have since been charged with graffiti vandalism.
The Gisborne event organised by Erika and Coco Flash took place under the watch of police, but a similar event planned for Hastings on March 26 was cancelled.
Torrance said that cancellation was disappointing but understandable.
“The threats we had personally received were bad enough, but for the libraries and council and its staff to receive them was abhorrent.
“The safety of the kids and their families who chose to came to the event was at the top [of priorities].”
Then on March 27, the rainbow crossing on Karangahape Rd in central Auckland was covered with white paint. Police said they were investigating the incident and treating it as a hate crime.
On the same day, a second attempt to paint over Gisborne’s rainbow crossing was stopped by police.
‘We have gone backwards’
Torrance said the threats she and Lockett had received from different sources included personal attacks.
“We have been told that if we turn up for our events, we will be attacked on sight. We’ve had threats of ‘exposing’ us and fabricated stories to be made public.”
She said homophobia and transphobia existed in Aotearoa. “If you open your eyes, you can see that we have gone backwards.
“Protests, threats, vandalism, hate speech, people still being physically attacked, verbal abuse, made-up accusations and allegations are still rampant, with the LGBTQI+ community being targeted.”
The decision to contact a lawyer and collect evidence for a potential lawsuit was a tough but important one, a post on the duo’s Facebook page said.
Lawyer Chris Patterson, who is not involved with the case, said a defamation case would require evidence of a defamatory statement. He said the damage done by a defamatory statement was usually when “the opinion held by ordinary people about the plaintiff” was lowered.
He said the plaintiff would need to prove that with evidence coming from recorded statements.
Tamaki declined to comment for this story.