CORRECTION: A previous version of the article incorrectly identified Shannon Lawrence flipping the finger when it was another person in the audience in the same vicinity. We apologize for this mistake and have made the necessary changes.
“Feels like I’m about to open up a can of worms here but here it goes.”
Those were the words from Quinte West resident Scott Hamilton during public input at the June 28 meeting of Quinte West City Council before criticizing the use of Pride flags in the community and ranting against the transgender community.
After asking council about kids in his area not being able to take the school bus to Trenton High School, Hamilton then began to talk about the use of Pride flags.
“These flags are everywhere and thrust into our faces everywhere we go, even on crosswalks,” Hamilton told council.
Hamilton then told a story of explaining to his granddaughter what the pride flag meant and insisting he was not a homophobe before launching into a derogatory rant about the transgender community saying that “there is no such thing as transsexual people.”
After continuing on about the transgender community, including the use of pronouns and transgender athletes in sports, Councillor Karen Sharpe interrupted the public input to inform Quinte West Mayor Jim Harrison that the allotted three minutes allowed to comment during public input had expired.
Most of the presentations during delegations and public input had gone over their allotted time during the council meeting.
Mayor Harrison said he would allow two more minutes.
At that point, a member of the public, who was not identified, criticized Hamilton for the content of his speech and criticized council for allowing Hamilton to continue speaking.
Hamilton told the man to walk out while another member of the audience could be seen showing the middle finger to the man and also telling him to leave.
After continuing his speech, Mayor Harrison cut off Hamilton saying that he had made his point.
Hamilton stated that he wanted to make a third point but was told by council that that would not be happening and that if he wanted to make that point, he could give public input at the next council meeting scheduled in July.
Quinte West City Council had previously faced backlash in January after it had initially approved bringing the idea of changing the rainbow crosswalks to the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
Later that month at its next council meeting, members reaffirmed its commitment to keeping the rainbow crosswalks across the area.
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CORRECTION: A previous version of the article incorrectly identified Shannon Lawrence flipping the finger when it was another person in the audience in the same vicinity. We apologize for this mistake and have made the necessary changes.
