A Wildrose party staffer said he received anti-gay messages after he sent out an email to invite party members to Saturday’s Pride Parade in Edmonton.

Openly gay Cody Johnston made a Facebook post that he has since deleted calling the Wildrose “homophobic” and attached five e-mail screenshots of other party members that called his lifestyle “sinful”  and “sexual perversion.”

 

“It’s incredibly disheartening to have received these messages from Wildrose members about attending an event that is supposed to promote love and acceptance,” Johnston said in a statement. “In the past few hours, I have received many messages of support from Wildrose members, MLAs, and Wildrose Leader Brian Jean, and I thank them. I am confident that these hateful comments will be seriously addressed by the party, and I would personally expect the resignation of these members for the integrity of the party and all the good things Wildrose stands for.”

Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo MLA Tony Yao was at the parade, and called the incident unfortunate.

“We don’t really stand for bullying or discrimination of any sort,” Yao said. “We just really believe that people need to be free to do what they want, and that the government should really stay out of a lot of that.”

 

Hundreds of Edmontonians attended the parade on Whyte Avenue to support the LGBTQ2S community.

 

 

 

With files from Jeremy Thompson