Same Sex Couple In Pictou Nova Scotia Routinely Targeted By Homophobia

The Halifax Chronicle Herald profiles Tom Wright and Todd Sweet, who left Ontario two years ago, purchased the W.H. Davies House Bed and Breakfast in Pictou, Nova Scotia, and who have endured abuse and harassment since. After reading in the newspaper last week about a cross-burning in the Hants County front yard of a biracial couple a year ago, Wright and Sweet say they decided to speak out about homophobia in the province. The couple bought the bed and breakfast on March 31, 2009, and it opened it that June. Business was good, and the couple pictured Pictou as a place they could grow old together. However, on August 29, 2009, Sweet was in the front yard gardening when a group of teenagers yelled obscenities about his and Wright’s relationship. Wright called the RCMP and says “The officer’s response was ‘sticks and stones.’” That fall, a rock was thrown through their dining room window. The RCMP later caught the minor responsible, and Wright says that the father offered a sincere apology and replaced the damaged window. The couple says that the young men who play a neighbouring ball field routinely yell anti-gay abuse and last summer, someone tried to break in through the front door. “The police come, but it’s like they’re blaming us,” said Wright. “They are reactive but they don’t seem to doing anything proactive.” The RCMP has suggested the couple take photographs of the young people responsible for the attacks, but that brought accusations from parents that the two men are pedophiles, and a visit from police. The RCMP insists that they are trying to combat homophobia at the school level through an anti-bullying province-wide program, Corporal Andrew Joyce of the Pictou County RCMP saying “Sexual orientation is a part of that discussion. We’re in all the schools of Pictou County.” However, a rock thrown through their window two weeks ago is a reminder to Wright and Sweet that whatever is being done is far from successful. Hugo Dann, the executive director of the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project, says that harassment, vandalism, and violence directed towards homosexuals is likely more common in rural Nova Scotia than thought, since Dann says “When you go to the RCMP, you are essentially outing yourself – a step many are not prepared to take.” Dann referenced ordinances passed in 2008 by municipal governments in Antigonish, Cumberland County, Pictou, and Truro that declared they would only fly government flags, Dann calling the political manoeuver “state-sponsored homophobia,” adding that “The policy only started to prevent local gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups from requesting that the rainbow flag be flown.” There have some victories for Wright and Sweet, among them the mother of one boy who yelled obscenities brought her son to apologize, while a teenager visited them on his own and apologized for his comments, and an older couple in the community went to the RCMP on their behalf. We’re not the only gay couple in town," Sweet said. "We don’t hide it and we don’t need to, but we’re not in your face about it, either. We never experienced in Ontario what we have here." Wright adds “We’re trying to run a business and our fear is that one of our customers will be subject to this harassment. We just want to be left alone, and we don’t think that is too much to ask."