Conservative councillor Michelle Ferreri has praised Peterborough police for arresting a man accused of making homophobic rants and burning a Pride flag, but the move has angered some social media users, who have accused Ferreri of being a “fake” Conservative.
A 48-year-old man was arrested last week on two charges of criminal harassment after he allegedly stole and burned a Pride flag and, according to police, “yelled” homophobic slurs.
Ferreri, in a post on Twitter’s former name, X, on Friday said the arrest shows that “hate has no place in our community or country and will not be tolerated.”
“I’d like to thank Peterborough police for arresting this man,” she said, adding that one person’s actions do not speak for all voters in this mid-sized city about 120 kilometres northeast of Toronto.
At the time of his arrest, the defendants were on probation and under court orders not to use racist, anti-Semitic or homophobic language, wear clothing or display signs.
Peterborough police did not respond to CBC News inquiries about the suspect’s name and bail status.
Dozens of social media users reacted to Ferreri’s praise of the arrest with a barrage of homophobic slurs, while others said his arrest was unjustified and that he had gone too far as a member of a party that supports freedom of speech.
“They’re pedophiles,” social media user Sean Quenneville told Ferreri in an online post, apparently referring to members of the LGBTQ community.
The decades-old claim that gay men are far more likely to abuse children than heterosexuals Has been repeatedly disproven.
“The liberal policies in Bill C-16 are going too far. They want to walk around naked in front of kids and the police are allowing it. They want to dress up as women and go to school and do story time. Luckily I don’t have kids,” Quenneville said.
Mr Ferreri hit back at Mr Quenneville, saying: “Homosexuals are not pedophiles. Pedophiles are pedophiles and you should not lump them in with more radical people.”
“The movement supports them,” Quenneville responded, his tweet garnering more than 100 likes on X.
Quenneville did not respond to requests for further comment.
Bill C-16 is Liberal government legislation that would extend certain protections to transgender people and make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender identity or gender expression.
The lawmakers are called “fake conservatives.”
The bill came under fire during parliamentary debate. Some observers said: Allowing transgender women to infringe on “woman-born” spaces Or in some way punishing people who don’t use a transgender person’s preferred pronouns — something the bill doesn’t explicitly mention.
Other social media reactions to Ferreri called her “pathetic” and a “fake conservative,” with some calling her “TrimmerHe described him as a man of “liberal and conservative values” and suggested police were pursuing this “woke, vote-getting ‘crime'” while ignoring other crimes.
Another X user asked if Ferreri had ever considered “fighting for the straight white people who elected him to office.”
Christopher Wells, a professor at MacEwan University and Canada Research Chair in public attitudes toward LGBTQ youth, said moderate and progressive conservative politicians are “under attack” on a daily basis from individuals who have been “radicalized” by anti-LGBTQ content circulating online.
“There’s a far-right mob mentality where anyone who speaks out in support of the 2SLGBTQ community or expresses ideas in support of human rights is seen as part of a woke agenda. This is all part of a backlash against progress,” Wells told CBC News.
He said some people were determined to erase “centre values” within Conservative parties and drag them to the far right over sexuality.
“What politicians need to realize is that they are a huge minority in Canada and are allowed to have an outsized voice and influence through social media,” he said of anti-LGBTQ activists.
Wells said the backlash against Ferreri could discourage other leaders, particularly those with conservative views, from speaking out against hate.
“That can happen if you intimidate people into silence, but we must remember that silence comes at a cost,” he said. “Populism and fascism are creeping into Canada.”
Ferreri did not respond to a request for an interview.
Ferreri’s comments come after Conservative leader Pierre Poirierbre last month distanced himself from Arnold Feilsen, a socially conservative member of his party who said he would vote against same-sex marriage if given the chance.
“Same-sex marriage is legal and will remain legal if I become prime minister, that’s all,” Poirierbre said.
He also promised to lead a smaller government that “thinks for itself and lets people make their own decisions about their relationships.” He has also condemned homophobia abroad.
Surveys show Canadians are among the most supportive of LGBTQ rights among Western countries, Recent Ipsos Poll It turns out there was some regression in some areas.
The polling company, which has tracked support for LGBTQ issues over time, found that the number of people in Canada who support openly LGBTQ players on sports teams has fallen by 11 percent over three years.
Some 54 per cent of Canadians surveyed said they want laws banning discrimination against LGBTQ people in employment, education, housing and social services, according to the Ipsos poll, down nine per cent from the numbers reported in 2021.
Ipsos surveyed 1,000 people in Canada in an online survey of more than 18,000 people in 26 countries. The findings are accurate to within plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Wells blamed the drop in support on a rise in misinformation and dehumanizing rhetoric online.
“When you keep chipping away at something for so long, you start to see the damage, and that’s exactly what’s happening here,” he said.
Online abuse can have real-world consequences.
according to Statistics Canada dataThe number of hate crimes related to sexual orientation reported to police more than doubled from 186 in 2018 to 491 in 2022.
“People are caught in this loop of misinformation, politicians are stoking polarization, and the result is a steady increase in hate crimes,” Wells said.
