Despite what you might have heard, the folks at FreeD booted me off their forum last year for writing about "Wild" Bill Whatcott, whose anti-abortion activism has earned him several arrests over the years and a brief stint in an Ontario prison. In 2002, Bill protested outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Saskatchewan. As a result The Saskatchewan Association of Licensed Practical Nurses found him guilty of professional misconduct, suspended him as a nurse, and ordered him to pay $15,000 in legal costs.
Bill fought back, and his case has been wending its way through the court system ever since. Well, yesterday Bill tasted of sweet vindication. The Supreme Court of Canada chose not to hear an appeal of a lower court decision that found that Bill not guilty of these charges:
Mr. Whatcott argued that he had been demonstrating in his free time and that his protest was simply a case of free speech. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association had also weighed in on the debate, saying that while it favored abortion rights it was concerned over attempts to squelch debate.
Congratulations, Bill!
And a very important point: do this kind of stuff outside of office hours, and you are usually in the clear ;)
You know, FreeD turfed Bill from the forum around the same time they turfed me, blaming him for bringing the HRCs down on their head. Wonder if they'll let them start posting again.
PS. My darling CF, I have received your secret missive. Paris sounds lovely, but what will we do about him?
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ReplyDeleteI had a private dinner with Bill Whatcott once, in Toronto, Easter, 2003 or 2004. He was a guest of my in laws, and was introduced to me as a catholic apologist.
ReplyDeleteI sat across from him. By the end of the meal, I was ready to strangle him in the name of sanity.
Bill was just in the middle of converting to Catholicism at the time. He was looking forward to raining Toronto Centre with flyers claiming that MP Bill Graham was a pedophile. When I later raised my concerns with persons close to him who should know better, they described Whatcott as being on a special mission from God. "We believe God speaks through some people, Mark," they said.
Yes, and they also believe that Satan does as well. How do they tell the difference?
Bill truly had a horrible upbringing, and was completely immersed in the worst of street culture as he grew up. Crude jail-style tattoos can be seen on his knuckles: L-O-V-E H-A-T-E
He freely equates homosexuality with pedophilia. Note that when he lived on the street, he engaged in homosexual activities for cash.
He was rescued by Lutheran fundies, and did manage to straighten his life out, as evidenced by his profession. Unfortunately, he seemsto have a pathological form of political belief bred of his horrible past, and is sadly damaged. I can understand why The Saskatchewan Association of Licensed Practical Nurses tried to get rid of him, but truly can't -- and never did -- support their legal reasoning.
Bill later left Ontario and moved out West, taking in a mail-order bride (or similar) from the Philippines. He took with him an anti-abortionist activist (who also took a Filipino bride) and they worked together for a while in some cleaning business before having some kind of falling out, I believe.
[Many people of their irk expressed to me that Filipino women make great wives due to their 'pure' devotion to God.]
Last I heard, Whatcott was associating with racists, though disavowing those views.