1/ On Wednesday, the Croatian Cultural Centre is hosting Let Freedom Reign with Christian nationalist Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson. The event is a mess of bigotries and Convoys, but let's look at anti-LGBTQ2S+ "activist" and friend to neo-Nazis Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson! #vanpoli
2/ This story is a bit dark and depressing, so a warning that this thread features neo-Nazis, trans- and homophobia, racism, and a whole lot of hate. As a palate cleanser, here is the time Laura-Lynn was felled by, um, a single sign at @SportChek.
3/ In 2020, Laura-Lynn spoke with neo-Nazi Paul Fromm at one of his CAFE events in Vancouver. His introduction of Laura-Lynn includes homophobia and support for anti-LGBTQ2S+ "activist" Bill Whatcott, with bonus racism and white supremacy against @theJagmeetSingh.
4/ At the end of her presentation, Laura-Lynn offered a quick "Love you!" before leaving the event. The video of this event was posted by another local neo-Nazi, Brian Ruhe.
5/ Earlier iterations of Let Freedom Reign included Freedom Convoy personality and fellow former PPC candidate Mark Friesen, who just straight-up calls himself a nationalist. Laura-Lynn and Mark frequently appear together.
6/ Laura-Lynn has made multiple attempts at political office. She lost a run for the Burnaby school board in 2018. She lost as PPC candidate for Burnaby South in the riding's 2019 by-election & the PPC's parachute candidate for Red Deer-Lacombe in the 2019 federal election.
7/ A lot of people have covered Laura-Lynn, so here are some articles to check out:
pressprogress.ca/bc-school-boar…
straight.com/life/1137636/t…
burnabynow.com/local-news/ant…
cbc.ca/news/politics/…
pressprogress.ca/peoples-party-…
rdnewsnow.com/2019/07/15/ppc…
8/ Laura-Lynn was elected leader of the Christian Heritage Party of BC in 2020, though of course she didn't win her seat in the BC elections. She stepped down after a year and half to work on her tours. CHP-BC is just Christian Nationalism. (excerpt: CHP-BC's Dan Stuart).
9/ Laura-Lynn is also associated with the violently anti-LGBTQ2S+ organization Culture Guard, led by Kari Simpson, who coincidentally also now organizes in the antivaxx/Convoy movement. Culture Guard doesn't want LGBTQ2S+ people to be tolerated, much less supported in any way.
10/ In April 2018, Culture Guard organized a Stop SOGI 123 rally in Vancouver & Victoria. Soldiers of Odin attended in Vancouver to support Culture Guard, as did local neo-Nazi Brian Ruhe. Culture Guard also invited the Hell's Angels (photos: @pattibacchus)
11/ In October 2018, Culture Guard held a National Day of Blessings at Langley City Hall featuring Laura-Lynn as a speaker. Clearly not everyone was #blessed--the event was largely another anti-LGBTQ2S+ rally. Culture Guard hired Soliders of Odin for security. (photo: @BradDirks)
12/ Laura-Lynn claims she lost her job as host on The 700 Club over her views on SOGI, but she found a new grift in the Convoy movement. She has expanded into the usual Convoy conspiracies like the WEF, 5G and chemtrails in addition to spreading health & vaccine disinformation.
13/ Laura-Lynn also speaks at Convoy rallies. Here she is with Stand United leaders James Davison and Marcella Williams/Desjarlais at their October 2022 rally in front of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC, which also featured Kari Simpson's new tour and Maxime Bernier.
14/ People have asked why the Convoy movement keeps protesting events like Drag Queen Story Time and, well, this is why. The people who are screaming about freedom today are the same people that were hanging out with the Soldiers of Odin and screaming about SOGI in 2018.
15/ It should come as no surprise that Let Freedom Reign is a #Convoy event, meant to attract Convoy participants & be shared in Convoy channels. It's for people who have been marinating in this mess of far-right extremism, disinformation & hatred towards the LGBTQ2S+ community.
16/16 It's super frustrating to see that this sort of hate is being platformed by the Croatian Cultural Centre. Christofascism does not belong in Canada, and that includes a diverse and inclusive East Van neighbourhood that now finds itself playing host to extremists.
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