A wave of anti-LGBT comments aimed at Borderland Pride has sparked a request for Emo council to denounce hate.
Borderland Pride recently won a Human Rights Tribunal Hearing against the Township of Emo and Mayor Harold McQuaker, which found that the Townships’ refusal to pass a proclamation ackonowledging June as pride Month, and to publicly display a Pride flag to be discriminatory. McQuaker’s further commentary that there was no flag for straight people, singled him out for further sanctions. The Township has been ordered to pay Borderland pride $10,000 in damages, with McQuaker being ordered to pay an additional $5,000 personally, and to undergo an online course on discrimination.
The findings have made international headlines, sparking commentary from around the world online, and hateful messages being targeted towards Borderland Pride. In an effort to stem the tide, Borderland Pride has sent a letter to the Township of Emo to illustrate the hateful comments they have received, and request that the Township publicly denounce it.
“We think if we have to see this, they should have to see it,” said Doug Judson, Director and co-chair of Borderland Pride. “I’ve never seen quite this much. We’ve had incidents of this in the past, but never quite this widespread or depraved.”
The comments cannot legally be published in print media, but the letter to council can be seen on Borderland Pride’s Facebook page.
“I think it’s important for the municipality to take stock and see like, ‘Is this really our position? Is this really the type of support we’re trying to garner for our community right now?’ And I would hope that it isn’t.”
Judson says he pursues topics like this so people know it’s not acceptable behaviour.
“We’ve done defamation proceedings, we’ve done the human rights case, we’ve done other types of civic accountability efforts. We pursue these things because until people are made examples of, it continues until people know you can’t get away with this type of behaviour,” said Judson.
McQuaker and the Township did not provide commentary on the request as of press time. The next Emo council meeting will be December 10.
