The owner of a Surrey gardening business is facing social media backlash after making a number of anti-gay comments during Pride Month.
Geena Gill, the 28-year-old behind GeoPond EcoGardens, has been labelled a homophobe and a bigot for several videos and comments posted this week on her business’s Facebook page.
“I always found it sickening how the homosexuals love to paint themselves as the eternal victims,” one reads. “It’s hypocritical how they persecute those who don’t embrace their degeneracy, while claiming to be persecuted worldwide.”
A different post calls it “a slap in the face” to compare the adversity faced by homosexuals to that of women or racial minorities, and another suggests a connection between the gay community and the North American Man-Boy Love Association, an advocacy group for pedophiles.
Speaking to CTV News over the phone Friday, Gill insisted she is not promoting hatred – only religion.
“I’m not the only person who thinks and feels like I do. Most believers who read their Bible and practice their Bible feel that sin is sin,” she said.
Asked about the Bible passage urging followers to “love thy neighbour as thyself,” Gill said it doesn’t apply to her views on gay people.
“Who is my neighbour? People need to stop taking the Bible out of context.”
Gill said she had never expressed her views about homosexuality on the GeoPond EcoGardens Facebook page before Wednesday, when a member of the public posted a comment claiming that someone who works there is a bigot.
Things escalated over the following days, resulting in a flood of one-star reviews and passionate, sometimes angry criticism on the page. Gill claims she has also received a bomb threat.
Dara Parker of Qmunity, an LGBTQ resource centre in Vancouver’s West End, said it’s disappointing to see comments like Gill's, which she said can be very damaging for gay youths to hear, but she prefers to see supporters take the high road.
“We don’t typically respond,” she said. “I’m not interested in arguing or debating with people whose views are entrenched in hate. My message is for all the beautiful queer people out there in the world that we love you, there are safe spaces, and it’s this kind of attitude that you just need to disregard.”
Parker said it’s important for the public to understand that even though most Canadians accept gay people as equals, there’s plenty of intolerance left.
“This is why youth are still terrified to come out in their homes,” she said. “This kind of attitude prevents people from being themselves.”
With a report from CTV Vancouver's Mi-Jung Lee
