Alberta activist convicted of promoting hatred at Toronto’s Pride Parade

An Albertan who, along with six of his followers, donned skin-tight, lime-green spandex body suits with matching green hooded masks and handed out anti-gay pamphlets disguised as condoms at Toronto’s Pride Parade a decade back has been convicted of wilfully promoting hatred.

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William Whatcott, who accessorized his parade outfit with a tutu and a rainbow-striped cape, was originally acquitted of the charge, but the Crown appealed because the trial judge refused to hear from an expert on the history of anti-gay discrimination. Ontario’s top court saw that as an error and ordered a new trial. The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear Whatcott’s appeal.

His new trial in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice heard that, on July 3, 2016, Whatcott marched with his followers in the parade after obtaining a permit by “falsely representing” the group as the “Gay Zombies Cannabis Consumers Association” using a fake name.

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In his parade application, Whatcott “falsely told the organizers that his contingent consisted of ‘zombies who are gay and who smoke pot’ and that their message was ‘to have fun’ but to do so ‘responsibly and safely,’” said the recent decision. “He said they would provide ‘zombie safesex packets’ to ‘encourage zombies to be safe when having sex or when playing with blood sports.’”

Although Whatcott was “required to get advance approval for any handouts,” he didn’t provide a sample to parade organizers.

“Based on the evidence in the trial before me, I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the flyer distributed by Mr. Whatcott and his fellow Zombies promoted hatred of gay men, as defined in the case law, and also that Mr. Whatcott willfully distributed the flyer knowing this to be the case,” Justice Anne Molloy wrote in her Sept. 16 verdict.

Each of the people in Whatcott’s group “carried a large shoulder bag containing packages of what appeared to be condoms, but which instead contained a folded-up flyer printed on both sides with what is alleged in this case to be anti-gay messaging,” said the judge.

“As they continued along the parade route, the Gay Zombies handed out 3,000 of these packages.”

One recipient complained to the Toronto Police Service. Whatcott, whose name and contact information were on the flyer, was charged with inciting hatred against gay men.

“The content of the flyers is partly about the health risks associated with gay men, partly about their sinful ways and criminal conduct, and partly about government figures said to have been associated with the gay agenda in a negative way,” Molloy said.

“Gay men are portrayed as immoral and a danger to children. It is thinly disguised scare-mongering and loaded with toxic imagery. However, it also includes calls for sinners to repent and messages that God loves them.”

An expert on the history of anti-gay discrimination — Nick Mulé, a practising psychotherapist and an associate professor at York University — testified that Whatcott’s pamphlets include demeaning tropes that identify “gay men as carriers of disease,” and “references to the gay lifestyle as being sordid; the use of pejorative terms like sodomy and homosexual; references to pedophilia, recruiting children to become gay, and feeding false information to children who then change their genders; and repeated strong religiosity and references to sinful conduct.”

Whatcott, 58, who once worked as a registered nurse but now drives a school bus and cleans carpets part-time in Calgary, self-identified on the stand as a “‘conservative evangelical’ who believes the Bible to be the word of God and authoritative.” He said he believes that sex is “sinful unless between one man and one woman within a lifelong marriage.”

Whatcott “acknowledged he told lies in the course of getting permission for the Gay Zombies to participate in the 2016 Gay Pride parade,” said the decision.

When confronted with the statement “that there is a Christian duty not to engage in trickery and not to lie,” Whatcott responded: “It’s not an absolute prohibition, for a tactical purpose one can do it. Certainly in wartime, it’s used and I viewed this as a spiritual war and an act of activism.”

These were ‘commandos’ on the attack against gay culture, with hatred and mockery.

After the parade, Whatcott “gleefully posted photos of his group, with messaging to his followers that he conceded constituted gloating,” the judge said.

“Looking at the whole picture, Mr. Whatcott, by his actions, has demonstrated a deep animus towards members of the gay community, notwithstanding his testimony that he wants only to save their souls by having them repent their sins. He is far from a simple Christian missionary seeking to convert sinners. He is an activist and an attention-seeker. He loves the spectacle of what he did, he enjoyed the attention, and he continues to do so.”

Many of the “things included in his flyer, standing alone, are merely offensive and would not amount to hate,” said the judge.

“However, the combined effect of the whole flyer, the lengths to which Mr. Whatcott went to deliver his ‘message,’ the range of people he gave it to, and his gloating after the fact all support my ultimate finding that his intention in handing out the flyers at the parade was to vilify gay men. He knew that would be the effect of his actions.”

On top of that, “the carnival-like costumes he and his ‘commandos’ wore to conduct this ‘truth assault’ were a mockery rather than a genuine attempt to persuade sinners to repent,” Molloy said.

“These were not respectful Christians come to help guide people away from unhealthy sexual practices or to convince gay men to repent their sins and find God. These were ‘commandos’ on the attack against gay culture, with hatred and mockery.”

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