Conservative MP attacked online after praising police for arrest of suspected homophobic crime

Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri is praising Peterborough police for arresting a man accused of uttering homophobic slurs and burning a Pride flag – a move that drew the ire of some social media users who condemned them as “fake” Conservatives.

A 48-year-old man was arrested last week on two counts of criminal harassment after being accused of stealing and burning a Pride flag and – according to police – “shouting” anti-gay epithets.

The arrest shows that “hate has no place and will not be tolerated in our community and our country,” Ferreri said Friday in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“I thank the Peterborough police for arresting this man,” she said, adding that the actions of one person do not speak for her constituents in this mid-sized city about 120 kilometres northeast of Toronto.

At the time of his arrest, the defendant was on probation and had submitted to a court order prohibiting him from uttering racist, anti-Semitic or homophobic words and from holding up clothing or signs.

Peterborough police did not respond to CBC News’ request for the person’s name or bail status.

Dozens of social media users responded to Ferreri’s praise of the arrest with a barrage of homophobic insults. Others said the man’s arrest was unjustified and that Ferreri had gone too far as a member of a party that supports free speech.

One social media user, Shawn Quenneville, told Ferreri in an online post that “they are pedophiles” – an obvious reference to members of the LGBTQ community.

The decades-old claim that gay men abuse children far more often than heterosexuals has been repeatedly exposed.

“The Liberal agenda with Bill C-16 has gone too far. They want to walk around naked in front of children. And the police let them. They want to go to school in costumes and read stories there. Fortunately, I have never had children,” said Quenneville.

Ferreri shot back at Quenneville, saying that homosexuals “are not pedophiles. Pedophiles are pedophiles, and you shouldn’t lump the radical woke together with them.”

“The movement supports them,” replied Quenneville, whose tweet on X received over 100 likes.

Quenneville did not respond to a request for further comment.

Bill C-16 is a Liberal government law that extends certain protections to transgender people and makes discrimination based on gender identity or gender expression illegal.

MP described as “fake conservative”

The bill was a lightning rod during the debate in Parliament. Some observers claimed that it would Allowing trans women to invade the space of “women born” people or punishing people who do not use a trans person’s preferred pronoun – something that was not explicitly mentioned in the legislation.

Other social media reactions called Ferreri “pathetic” and a “fake conservative,” with some accusing her of being a “groomer” who represented “liberal, red Tory values” and suggesting that police were ignoring other crimes to pursue this “woke, vote-saving ‘crime’.”

Another X-user asked if Ferreri ever considered “standing up for the straight white people who voted him in office.”

Kristopher Wells, a MacEwan University professor and Canada Research Chair who studies public attitudes toward sexual and gender minority youth, said moderate and progressive conservative politicians regularly come “under fire” from people who have been “radicalized” by anti-LGBTQ content circulating online.

“There’s this kind of far-right mob mentality that anyone who speaks out in support of the 2SLGBTQ community or even expresses the thought of supporting human rights is seen as part of a woke agenda. It’s all part of a backlash against progress,” Wells told CBC News.

He said some people were determined to erase the “centre values” in the conservative parties and push them to the far right on the issue of sexuality.

“Politicians need to recognize that this is a very small minority in Canada – and that they are given an outsized voice and influence through social media,” he said of opponents of the LGBTQ movement.

Wells said the backlash against Ferreri could discourage other politicians, especially conservative-leaning ones, from speaking out against hate.

“That can happen – you force people to be silent. But we have to remember that silence has a price,” he said. “Populism and fascism are creeping into Canada.”

Ferreri did not respond to an interview request.

Ferreri’s comments come after conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre last month distanced himself from social conservative MP Arnold Viersen, who said he would vote against same-sex marriage if given the chance.

Poilievre said gay marriage was “legal and will remain legal when I am prime minister, period.”

He also promised to lead a small government that “minds its own business and lets people make their own decisions about their love lives.” He also condemned discrimination against homosexuals abroad.

While polls suggest that Canadians are among the strongest supporters of LGBTQ rights in the Western world, a recent Ipsos poll found that there is some backsliding in some areas.

The polling firm, which has tracked support for some LGBTQ causes over time, found that there has been a significant decline in Canada — an 11 percent drop in three years — in the number of people who support including openly LGBTQ athletes on sports teams.

About 54 per cent of Canadians surveyed said there should be laws prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ people in employment, education, housing and social services – a nine per cent decrease from the number in 2021, Ipsos found.

Ipsos surveyed 1,000 people in Canada for an online poll of more than 18,000 people in 26 different countries. The results are accurate to plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Wells said the decline in support was due to the disinformation and dehumanizing rhetoric that can flourish online.

“If you nag about something long enough, you start to see the damage … and that’s exactly what’s happening here,” he said.

Online abuse can have real consequences.

According to Statistics Canada, the number of hate crimes involving sexual orientation reported by police has more than doubled, from 186 in 2018 to 491 in 2022.

“People get caught up in these disinformation loops, politicians stoke polarization, and the result is a steady rise in hate crimes,” Wells said.