Canada residents receive anti-gay letters

SUMMARY: Five thousand homes in the prairie city of Saskatoon received hand-delivered letters this weekend condemning gays and lesbians.

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan -- Five thousand homes in this prairie city received hand-delivered letters this weekend condemning gays and lesbians.

Christian Truth Activists (CTA) attacked a report that recommends training on gay and lesbian issues for employees in Saskatoon schools. The report also calls for inclusion in the curriculum of information about sexual orientation and the addition of books about gay and lesbian people and issues.

"Now the homosexuals want to share their filth and propaganda with Saskatchewan's children," CTA's Bill Whatcott wrote in the letter.

Whatcott is a longtime anti-gay campaigner in Western Canada. This summer he demanded and got a proclamation for "Family Pride Day" in Regina. The event turned into an anti-gay march. Following a speech by Whatcott, police began an investigation into whether his speech contravened Canada's hate laws. No charges were filed.

Gens Hellquist, the executive director of Saskatoon's gay and lesbian center, called it "hateful material distributed by a Â… hateful man."

"He has no sense of boundaries and what is decent and what isn't," Hellquist said.

Hellquist compared Whatcott to Afghanistan's governing Taliban, saying, "He thinks he can do whatever he wants to do in the name of God."

Whatcott laughed at the comparison. "We view homosexuality as an abomination and make no secrets about it and won't be quiet about it," he said. "Let them come and get me. They're going to have to lock me up in a jail cell and take away all my pencils and phone privileges to try to shut me up. And then I'll just scream out the window."