Dear Bill, the hate you so desperately want to share isn’t welcome here.

Dear Bill,

I was relieved to read that you have left the Yukon. I feel for the communities who are currently being assaulted by your hate speech, or maybe like me, they’re breathing a sigh of relief at your departure.

I’m writing to you because I don’t want you to equate silence as support. No one deserved to find your hate speech in their mailbox or have it handed to them on street. You aren’t saving anybody.

I’ve read your flyer. I’ve read your blog and I’ve read your social media.

What I don’t understand – and I’m sure I’m not the only one – is how someone who says that they are doing the Lord’s work can be so hateful? Who are you to judge others Bill? And who are you to make such hateful pronouncements against the LGBTQ2S+ community?

You see Bill, the Yukon has come a long way from when I was a kid. We work hard at making sure our communities are inclusive, and the queer community is part of OUR community.

We’ve changed laws to make sure that gender identity is protected under Human Rights Legislation. You don’t need surgery to be able to change the gender identification of your driver’s license, and in 2020, with the help of Gender and Sexuality Alliances, we even banned conversion therapy.

Bill 304 makes changes to the Education Act, and it’s important. Because kids need to be protected from people like you; people who view the queer and trans community as something that needs to be fixed.

Bill, it seems to me that you don’t fully understand free speech, it seems like you think that you can say whatever you want and be protected, but here’s the thing. Free speech is not hate speech. When you say the hateful things you say about queer and trans people, what you’re doing is a hate crime.

I’m not surprised to know that you ran in to opposition while spewing your hate in our community, because guess what, hate doesn’t belong here, it actually doesn’t belong anywhere.

So next time you think about coming back to the Yukon to share your hateful stance on the LGBTQ2S+ community, or on anything else, don’t come.

The hate you so desperately want to share isn’t welcome here.

Kate White

Leader of the Yukon NDP