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Homophobic posters plastered in public places in Richmond

Posters, in English and Chinese, warning people about so-called “pedosexual right” have been plastered in public places around Richmond.

 Anti-LGBTQ posters were taken down by the City of Richmond and TransLink. Photo by Nono Shen/Richmond NewsAnti-LGBTQ posters were taken down by the City of Richmond and TransLink. Photo by Nono Shen/Richmond News

Posters, in English and Chinese, warning people about so-called “pedosexual right” – sex between adults and minors – have been plastered in public places around Richmond, including the rainbow crosswalk on Minoru Boulevard.

The posters include a screenshot of a social media post as well as a rainbow and icons of adults and a child; at the bottom, the message reads: “A different kind of ‘love’? Resist these criminal child predators, their child abuse, and their anti-human agenda.”

The poster also includes several website urls, including mainstream political parties but also a pro-life group and the Soldiers of Odin.

The posters were noticed on Friday around the entrance to the public library and along the recently installed rainbow crosswalk. Staff began removing them immediately, according to city spokesperson Clay Adams.

“The posters have been glued on, which makes them difficult, time consuming and costly to remove,” Adams said, adding the city is “disappointed” on the public vandalism.

On Monday morning, there were posters still up on the Canada Line support pillars at the Lansdowne Station.

According to a TransLink spokesperson, they were being removed by the afternoon as the transit authority doesn’t permit any unauthorized posters on any of their property.

A Twitter post also claimed the posters had been glued onto the doors of an elementary school in Richmond and at Save-On Foods near Terra Nova.

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie called the posters “the height of ignorance” and a distortion of the issues brought out during the consultation of the painting of the rainbow crosswalk.

“That crosswalk is an effort to show a community that has not been included oftentimes, and has been the object of discrimination over the years, to show them that we include everybody,” Brodie said.

Brodie wants the crosswalk to show that Richmond is an “inclusive, engaged and understanding community.”

“With one exception,” he added “city council was steadfast in saying this is something we wanted to do, to show support and send a message of inclusivity.”

With files from Kirsten Clarke