Comments made at anti-SOGI rally in Kelowna ‘alarming,’ ‘frightening’, advocate says
Global News
"It's alarming and frightening at the same time." said Wilbur Turner, chair of Advocacy Canada, which support the queer community.
At an anti-SOGI rally in downtown Kelowna, B.C., protesting against gender and sexual diversity education at schools, some of the words uttered by one of the speakers were shocking and appalling to some.
“It’s alarming and frightening at the same time.” said Wilbur Turner, chair of Advocacy Canada, which supports the LGTBQ2 community.
The speaker in question is David Lindsay, well-known in the city for organizing many anti-vaccine and anti-lockdown protests, which eventually got dubbed as so-called “freedom rallies”.
During his speech at the rally, Lindsay said, “It’s a pretty sad day when you get queers coming out. You know, every society that has let the queers take over has self-destructed from within and if it continues, Canada will self-destruct.”
Turner said the comment amounts to nothing more than hate.
“I think it’s hate speech and it’s definitely hate-motivated speech,” Turner said. “And it’s intended to incite fear against marginalized communities such as the queer community. It’s very strong language.”
Global News contacted David Lindsay to provide a clearer explanation of what exactly he meant with the comment.
Lindsay however, declined the request for an interview, saying he will leave the words as they were said for people to interpret as they wish.