A Fort Frances law firm has been the target of online hate.
It has come after Judson-Howie decided to help ship “Pride Lives Here” signs for Borderland Pride to Westlock, Alberta, north of Edmonton.
It is a response to the community recently voting in a municipal plebiscite to ban Pride flags on municipal property, remove a Rainbow crosswalk and insist on all future crosswalks be painted in traditional white.
Judson Howie LLP will be covering the cost to ship all of Borderland Pride’s remaining “Pride Lives Here” campaign signs…
Posted by Douglas W. Judson on Friday, February 23, 2024
Shortly after announcing its decision, the firm was swarmed with online hatred.
“Some of those vile, homophobic, transphobic, even anti-semitic comments that we’ve received, including by email and Google reviews and other forms that people can use to harass our office and the people who work here,” says lawyer Doug Judson.
Judson is also co-chair of Borderland Pride.
Some of the correspondence has been passed on to police to investigate as hate speech, criminal harassment, and intimidation of justice participants.
Judson says he is not surprised by the response received.
“We’re seeing a lot of this hatred. I think it’s very clear that it’s being given legitimacy by policy choices that are being made by the political right, particularly out of Alberta, particularly out of the federal Conservative Party,” says Judson.
The comments have not prevented the firm from sending out the signs.
About 200 were shipped out on Monday.
This morning we shipped all of our remaining “#Pride Lives Here!” campaign signs to our friends in #Westlock, Alberta….
Posted by Borderland Pride on Monday, February 26, 2024
