Rainbow flags flew, karaoke was sung, sausages were sizzled along words of encouragement and love for those in the rainbow communities in Civic Square Hastings today in retaliation to the Hastings District Council cancelling a drag story time event last minute yesterday afternoon due to safety concerns.

Organised by Nevertheless Charitable Trust, the Love And Peace Action Event was assembled to oppose the Destiny Church protest that was due to start at the same time. But with the drag queen story time event at the Hastings Library being cancelled, only a small number of Destiny Church members and other opposers were there, to observe rather than disrupt. When approached for comment by Hawke's Bay App, those there to oppose did not wish to speak.

"We want to show our community, our wider community - Hawke's Bay, Ngāti Kahungunu, the country - that you can cancel events, but you can't cancel community, and we're here to show love and peace," Nevertheless Trust Co-Founder Shaqaila Uelese told Hawke's Bay App.

"Our message is always love us the same, hold us the same, and you can take that how you wish. We just want to be treated the same. We love who we are. I'm Takatāpui - part of the rainbow communities, and we believe that we all deserve to be heard and to be seen." said Uelese.

Uelese believes that the drag story time event should not have been cancelled and that the council should have been able to control the protests.

"If we look at Gisborne yesterday, Tairāwhiti, the councils supported the event, the event went ahead. Our rainbow communities showed up, they had an opportunity to stand for their rights and they did and the event was a success. Today we could've had that same opportunity, but the council decided to take that from us. I know they have their reasons of safety, but that's why we pay taxes, to fortify the area, bring in the security."

Uelese also felt that the rainbow communities were not consulted properly and were left out of planning until the last minute.

"We could've been consulted earlier on this, but we were not. We were bought in last minute and we came to the table, nobody reached out to our Rainbow organisations here in Hawke's Bay. So I'm extremely disappointed that the Hastings City Council came to the decision that they did without any input from our rainbow communities, and the damage initially is very, very harmful."

Looking to the future, Uelese has some simple advice for Hastings District Council.

"Come and have a sausage sizzle, come down. We can still korero. There's nothing that can't be undone, we can move forward. We hope you will show your support for us."

When approached for comment, Hastings District Council told Hawke's Bay App that they had spent a lot of time in the days leading up to the event working through security concerns and seeing what support may be available to enable the event to go ahead. Emails the council had received in the lead-up highlighted to them the importance of the event to the rainbow community.

Until yesterday, Hastings District Council were hopeful that they would be able to go ahead. However, the council has a responsibility to keep people safe that come to their facilities.

A spokesperson said that through discussions with police and their own risk assessments, and given the audience was children and teens, the risk to their safety was deemed too high.

Before the council told the public of their decision to cancel, they informed the performers and reached out to the local rainbow community.

The council acknowledge the importance of this event to the rainbow community and their desire to stand up against intolerance and bullying. They also acknowledge the anger and disappointment created over this event's cancellation.

The council claim that at the heart of this decision was their responsibility to keep children, teens and the wider public safe in a public facility they run and own.

The council say they are saddened that the actions of others in our community created that safety risk and that they do want to continue to work with the rainbow communities to understand we the Hastings District Council can support them through their public facilities.

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