‘Truth about homosexuality’ pamphleteer arrested, threatened with committal to psychiatric ward
CALGARY, Alberta, March 8, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bill Whatcott’s controversial campaign to expose the harms of homosexuality has most recently resulted in him being detained by police and threatened with committal to a psychiatric hospital if he didn’t stop distributing flyers at the university of Calgary and adjoining neighborhoods.
The activist had begun distributing 5000 pamphlets that criticize Alberta’s new Education Act, and also contained photos of sexually transmitted disease infections common to those who engage in homosexual sex, when he was apprehended by Calgary police and put in jail.
Bill Whatcott
“The police officer initially told me he was arresting me and detaining me under a Form 10 (Alberta Mental Health Act),” Whatcott wrote on his blog, “and he told me he was going to have me committed to a psychiatric hospital.”
Whatcott said that this was “reminiscent of how Christian dissidents were treated in the old USSR.” The activist claimed that while being arrested he stated his reasons for handing out the flyers, at which point one of the arresting officers became aggressive.
“He started grabbing me by my arm roughly, and started shaking me and pushing me as he would order me to stand here and there behind the van,” says Whatcott.
Whatcott’s criticisms of the Education Act were based on a statement by a spokeswoman for Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, who repeatedly told LifeSiteNews.com that homeschoolers and faith-based schools would not be permitted to teach that homosexual acts are sinful as part of their academic program.
Lukaszuk subsequently distanced himself from his spokeswoman’s statements and assured parents that they can indeed teach their children their beliefs about homosexuality and other controversial matters.
In an interview with LifeSiteNews Whatcott said that while he intends to distribute the remainder of the flyers, the opposition to the message in it “is amazing.”
“It is going to be tough to get out the rest of this flyer. It is one of the toughest flyers I have written and the opposition to it is amazing,” Whatcott said. “I am getting out more flyers today, tomorrow and perhaps this weekend, Lord willing and with His Grace.”
Asked if he intends to file a complaint about the arresting officers, Whatcott said, “I was not physically injured and the police did not actually lay a false charge. When CPS (Calgary Police Services) falsely charged me 3 years ago I did lay a formal complaint against the officers involved. When a Toronto cop lifted me by my handcuffs and threw me face down on the cruiser I laid a complaint that time too. These guys weren’t the best I ever dealt with but they weren’t so bad either.”
“In the end I was released after a few hours’ detention and given a $115 fine for failing to change my address on my driver’s license when I moved. The charge really has nothing to do with my flyers, but I guess it’s all the cops had, as committing me to a mental institution was not likely going to fly.”
Police Const. Brian Denison of Calgary’s hate crime division told the Calgary Herald that while Mr. Whatcott’s flyer was “graphic,” it had been judged by authorities not to be hate speech because it does not promote hatred or violence.
