Last month a group of anti-LGBT activists infiltrated a Canadian pride parade by dressing as “gay pothead zombies” and distributed homophobic pamphlets disguised as condoms. The group registered under the fake name “Gay Zombies Cannabis Consumer’s Association.”
But the activists may soon need to catch a buzz to fend off a massive case of the blues. Former Deputy Premier George Smitherman and local business owner Christopher Hudspeth have filed a class-action lawsuit seeking $104 million in damages.
“As a long time gay activist I am outraged that a notorious homophobe infiltrated our pride parade in order to spread his lies and distribute his pamphlets,” Hudspeth told reporters at a news conference in Ottawa according to CP24-TV. “Pride needs to be a safe place for everyone. We put up with enough homophobic messaging every day. We deserve a homophobic free zone at our pride parade.”
Led by the notorious anti-LGBT activist Bill Whatcott, the group handed out literature filled with graphic photos of emaciated AIDS patients and fake medical claims about the dangers of gay sex.
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“If you try to give out a Gospel pamphlet, they swear at you and throw slushies on your forehead,” Whatcott said after the publicity stunt. “But, give them some whackadoodle thing that looks like a condom and they really can’t grab it fast enough. I had 3,000 out in 20 minutes.”
Whatcott pulled a similar stunt in 2014 at the Vancouver Pride parade with the alias of Matthew Davidson with the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. He also organized a Heterosexual Pride Day parade in Regina in 2001, which was not renewed for subsequent years due to its focus on anti-gay sentiment.
Hudspeth says the lawsuit will allow lawyers to find out who is actually supporting the activists anti-LGBT attacks. “There is no doubt in my mind that some fundamentalist group, either here or in the United States, is backing these activities. We need to smoke them out,” he said.
“We need to get right to the heart of the matter, which is the financial resources that allow for this disgraceful person to continue his act, which is hurtful to the thousands and thousands that it has impacted,” Smitherman added.
Whatcott can’t understand why he’s being sued instead of Black Lives Matters activists who protested at the parade.
“I just read the statement of claim. It seems to me the poor homosexuals are angry at God and the Gospel,” Whatcott said in a statement to Daily Xtra. They should have welcomed me in their parade as a much needed truth teller and indeed I was far less disruptive than BLM [Black Lives Matter]. Not sure why the homosexual activists aren’t suing them.”
