An Alberta man has been charged after allegedly handing out “anti-gay material” at Toronto’s annual Pride Parade two years ago.Toronto police say they received complaints about the alleged incident in 2016. They say a man was arrested in Calgary on Friday — two days before this year’s Pride parade in Toronto.
Calgary police said the man contacted the Calgary Police Service’s hate crimes co-ordinator and asked if he could turn himself in. Investigators say the man from Leduc, Alta., was brought to Toronto, where he was charged with wilful promotion of hatred against an identifiable group.
Toronto police said in a release that William Whatcott, 51, is accused of distributing “anti-gay material which promoted hatred towards the gay community.” Whatcott was the subject of a 2013 ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada that upheld Canada’s provisions against hate speech.
He was scheduled to appear in court Monday.
Considering the fact that Whatcott’s arrest came mere days after the Canadian Supreme Court’s decision in the Trinity Western case, this should make Canadian Christians very, very nervous, despite the fact that many might be tempted to dismiss the case due to Whatcott’s unorthodox—and even downright weird—methods of attempting to get his message across. As LifeSiteNews described it:
Whatcott registered in the 2016 Pride parade under the pseudonym Robert Clinton on behalf of the Gay Zombies Cannabis Consumers Association.
Dressed in skin-tight green bodysuits with face masks, Whatcott and five others marched in the parade and handed out 3,000 packages on “Zombie Safe Sex” that included a flyer entitled: “We want you to practice safe sex.”
The two-page pamphlet featured graphic images of anal warts, a mottled corpse described as an “AIDS fatality,” and one of “genital warts in the mouth,” beside a headshot of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It excoriated the “homosexual activism” of Trudeau, former Liberal defence minister Bill Graham, and now-outgoing Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, and blasted Wynne’s sex-ed curriculum and its connection to former deputy minister of education Ben Levin, convicted in 2015 of three child pornography charges.
“Canada has embarked on a destructive journey toward sexual anarchy and homosexual inspired oppression,” the pamphlet declared.
“The clear evidence contained in this package shows Canada’s new sexual ethic is contrary to natural law and no good will come of it.”
A month after 2016 Toronto Pride Parade, activist lawyer Douglas Elliott launched a $104 million class action suit against Whatcott and the five unnamed “zombies,” and anyone who aided and abetted them.
“We are going to go after everyone who helped him,” Elliott said at a press conference. “Every person, every church, every non-profit organization, everyone who helped this wicked man promote his hatred is going to be held accountable.”
A few things to note here. First of all, Whatcott’s activism is bizarre in the extreme. When I saw the story come out a couple of years ago that weird green zombie figures were passing out tracts condemning the gay lifestyle at Toronto Pride, I shrugged it off—Whatcott is known for coming up with this sort of thing, and he is unique in doing so. But the reaction of LGBT activists to Whatcott’s little stunt is almost crazed in the level of rage—as graphic and ugly as Whatcott’s leaflet was, Pride attendees are not known for being particularly squeamish. And a 100 million dollar lawsuit? Their intent is to break Whatcott, bankrupt him, and destroy anyone who supports him. Their rage does not come from Whatcott’s strange methods of activism. It comes from the fact that someone dared to show up in their territory and tell them that they were wrong.
It reminds me of the prominent American LGBT activist who was asked by a journalist what was next for his movement, since gay marriage had just been legalized. His response was blunt: “Punish the wicked.” The wicked, of course, are a wide-ranging group. Florists and bakers and others who decline to use their talents to beautify gay wedding celebrations would qualify. Religious figures and politicians who have stood up for the traditional definition of marriage in the past would be on the list. And of course, eccentric street-preacher types like Bill Whatcott, who dare to tell them that they are wicked—they must be punished the most savagely.
And so a Canadian man has been arrested and charged with hate crimes for leafleting a Pride parade—and LGBT activists intend to see him get a thrashing and learn his place.
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For anyone interested, my book on The Culture War, which analyzes the journey our culture has taken from the way it was to the way it is and examines the Sexual Revolution, hook-up culture, the rise of the porn plague, abortion, commodity culture, euthanasia, and the gay rights movement, is available for sale here.
One thought on “Canadian man arrested and charged with “hate crimes” against the LGBT community after leafleting at Pride parade”
David Baines says:
Whatcott’s bizarre behavior often borders on the bizarre, and should be treated with some sympathy for this rather odd, predictable little man. A nation-wide arrest warrant for Whatcott over some flyers? Really? However, i noticed that there has been no similar outrage aimed at the Black Lives Matter group that stopped the Toronto Pride parade in 2016, and refused to budge until the parade organizers agreed to sign off on BLM’s list of demands, including the banning of uniformed police officers at all future Pride events, etc. Where was the arrest warrant and the lawsuit aimed at the BLM leadership? Indeed, Whatcott’s treatment by members of the “impartial” Toronto police since his arrest (if all true), was shocking. Regardless of the crime he has been accused of, no-one should be treated in such a callous and shameful way, What happened to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty?
Perhaps most troubling, is the angry threat issued by a GBLTQ leader in Toronto, who promised to go after every church, non-profit organization and individual who assisted Whatcott. One wonders where his threat and lawsuit is against returning ISIS fighters to Canada after committing atrocities against gays in the Middle East.
Whatcott’s bizarre behavior often borders on the bizarre, and should be treated with some sympathy for this rather odd, predictable little man. A nation-wide arrest warrant for Whatcott over some flyers? Really? However, i noticed that there has been no similar outrage aimed at the Black Lives Matter group that stopped the Toronto Pride parade in 2016, and refused to budge until the parade organizers agreed to sign off on BLM’s list of demands, including the banning of uniformed police officers at all future Pride events, etc. Where was the arrest warrant and the lawsuit aimed at the BLM leadership? Indeed, Whatcott’s treatment by members of the “impartial” Toronto police since his arrest (if all true), was shocking. Regardless of the crime he has been accused of, no-one should be treated in such a callous and shameful way, What happened to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty?
http://massresistance.org/docs/gen3/18b/Bill-Whatcott-arrest-warrant/in-custody.html
Perhaps most troubling, is the angry threat issued by a GBLTQ leader in Toronto, who promised to go after every church, non-profit organization and individual who assisted Whatcott. One wonders where his threat and lawsuit is against returning ISIS fighters to Canada after committing atrocities against gays in the Middle East.
The madness never ends.