A protest against the civil union bill was launched by up to a thousand demonstrators today.
The campaign against 'gay marriage', led by followers of the Destiny Church, began with a haka involving hundreds of men in Auckland's Aotea Square.
It culminates in a demonstration outside Parliament in Wellington on23 August.
A march down Queen Street was due to follow the haka and speeches today.
Protestors, most wearing T-shirts depicting the 'Enough is enough' slogan of the campaign, clapped and cheered the haka.
Speakers were also applauded loudly as they set out the aims of the campaign, one saying: 'Marriage is between one man and one woman."
Church leader Brian Tamaki adds on its website: "…marriage centred families are the universally tried and proven stable basis for raising children.
"Of course not all marriages are perfect, but one of the greatest rights of any child is to be raised and nurtured by their biological dad and mum."
The Civil Union Bill went through its first reading in Parliament on a 66-50 conscience vote in June after a passionate, polarising debate which split most of parties.
A civil union will give legal recognition to a partnership and is open to same-sex and heterosexual couples.
The Marriage Act is not changed by it, and remains only for men and women.
Meanwhile, nearly all gay and lesbian New Zealanders want some kind of government recognition of same-sex relationships, a new survey has found.
The survey also found 23 per cent of gay and lesbian people wanted to eliminate marriage for everybody.
Massey University's survey of 2276 gay and lesbian people across New Zealand, found 94 per cent of respondents wanted government recognition of same-sex relationships.
