Outcry over an anti-LGBTQ+ billboard in Canada brings her down

An anti-LGBTQ+ billboard paid for by GetAwake Canada, a far-right organization working to “roll back awake narratives,” was removed this week after protests by residents in the small town of West Kelowna, British Columbia.

The billboard showed a teacher wearing a COVID mask and purple hair standing in front of a Progress Pride flag and asking, “What are your kids REALLY learning at school?”

The sign was destroyed a day before it was taken down after a week of calls for its removal.

GetAwake Canada claims to raise funds to set up provocative billboards across Canada. School teacher signage was the third billboard GetAwake has sponsored after two anti-vaccine messages claimed the COVID vaccines kill.

The organization’s mission statement includes: “Educate parents about the triad of race, gender, and political indoctrination of our children”; “Standing Up Against the Gender Bullies”; and “Starting the discussion parents want to have about BC schools.”

The news broke on February 6 and quickly sparked backlash from local residents before being removed on Wednesday.

The billboard is located on First Nation-owned land in the area.

The region’s indigenous community, Westbank First Nation, said in a statement: “Although the billboard is located on private land and WFN cannot confirm any landowner involvement in the removal of this advertisement, WFN has received a large number of letters of complaint and has come forward the signage company that ultimately made the decision to remove it.”

Adding to the controversy, BC Billboards, the company that leases the site, claims it was bullied in its decision to remove the message.

“There is an enormous amount of harassment against freedom of expression in all media right now,” he said.

“We use the Canadian Charter of Freedoms and Rights as our guide, and this person was good at it,” an unnamed spokesman for the company told iNFOnews.ca.

“Fortunately, we have leased space to members of the gay community for their businesses. That’s not what this is about,” he said. “But the problem is what’s happening in the schools.”

LGBTQ+ organization Advocacy Canada thanked local residents for calling GetAwake Canada.

“We are incredibly fortunate that people in Kelowna, West Kelowna and the surrounding area have spoken out to raise awareness of the anti-queer propaganda agenda designed to make us invisible,” said Chairman and Co-Founder Wilbur Turner .

The Westbank First Nation clearly sided with LGBTQ+ Canadians.

“WFN is an inclusive community and encourages people to speak up when they see something they think is wrong,” they wrote in a statement. “We applaud the power of the LGBTQ+ community who have joined forces to ensure this ad is removed.”

For its part, GetAwake considers the campaign a success despite the removal of the billboard.

“In the 10 days that this billboard was live, the campaign had over 250,000 views on social media, 10,000 visits to our website and generated media coverage across Canada showing overwhelming public support,” GetAwake claimed on its website.

“We firmly believe in the right to free speech and the right of parents to raise their children in the way they see fit, without interference from governments and activist organizations,” GetAwake said after the destroyed sign came down.

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