The current BTW reported on an anti-gay group calling itself the “Gay Zombies Cannabis Consumer’s [sic]Association” infiltrating Toronto’s annual Pride parade wearing ridiculous outfits that they thought would bring discredit to the GLBT community; and we laughed at their naïve stunt. What we didn’t know was that the Zombies were handing out pamphlets filled with truly vicious messages; and now they’re being sued by the march organizers for $104 million for hate speech. If that figure sounds overblown, the plaintiffs point out that the material, which was being distributed by the notorious Bill Whatcott and his band of deplorables, was filled with graphic photos of emaciated AIDS patients and fake medical claims about the dangers of gay sex. Commented Whatcott after the parade: “If you try to give out a Gospel pamphlet, they swear at you, 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 twenty minutes.” Which is pretty much the textbook definition of demagoguery, assuming the recipients were at all swayed by what they saw. But probably not, as these were people at a gay Pride parade on a hot summer day. In all probability, all 3,000 promptly found their way (this being Canada) into the nearest recycling bin.
