Bill Whatcott, the bus driver, was charged with a hate crime for distributing pamphlets during a Gay Pride Parade. The flyers said that Jesus can save gay people if they repent.
According to the authorities Whatcott “distributed anti-gay material which promoted hatred toward the gay community,” Toronto Police Service said in a statement, adding that he was arrested in Calgary and later returned to Toronto.
Whatcott, a fifty-one-year-old man, was formally charged with “willful promotion of hatred against an identifiable group, namely the gay community.”
The pamphlets included information about how homosexuality is associated with sexually transmitted diseases, including HPV of the rectum, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says is true.
In addition, the pamphlets also included negative comments about the Liberal party and stated accusations and facts about several left-wing politicians accused or convicted of various sexual crimes.
The pamphlets made note that the former deputy education minister who helped design the “perverted sex education curriculum,” pled guilty to creating and distributing child pornography in 2015.
The leaflet included statements about repentance and eternal life. Furthermore, they read that supporting homosexual acts without repentance could lead to “eternal peril,” and how repentance can lead to “the free gift of eternal life.”
Reports surrounding the matter indicate that nowhere did the material incite violence towards homosexuals or claim that all homosexuals are pedophiles.
Whatcott was arrested and fired from his job following the distribution of the material. While in jail he reportedly did not receive food for over twenty-four hours.
“It might have been on purpose because it didn’t happen, like — some inmates did go half a day without food — but they actually made me go a full 24 hours,” he was quoted as saying.
In addition, the Christian man was denied medical attention for an infection on his leg that was bad enough that he had to go to the hospital; “I had a leg infection, and it was bad enough that I was brought to the hospital, but they simply refused to fill the prescriptions. So for four days, I had no medications. The infection was actually going up my leg. I was a little concerned it was gonna go systemic.”
Previously Canadian authorities have indicated a sharp move against Christians with actions such as banning Bible Verses from Christian Schools and pushing Christians out of work because they do not support abortion.
