Quebec lawmaker bombarded with hate messages after marking Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

Liberal MNA Jennifer Maccarone says she received hundreds of hateful and violent messages after speaking out against anti-LGBTQ attitudes in Quebec schools.

A Liberal MNA has been bombarded with hate messages following her speech on Tuesday to mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia at the National Assembly.

The shaken MNA for Westmount-Saint-Louis, Jennifer Maccarone, broke her silence for the first time on Friday on the torrent of malice that her publications have attracted for several years.

She expressed the hope that the party leaders, both the premier and the opposition leaders, would issue a joint statement to go beyond mere tolerance and call for inclusion and respect for rights.

“I get so much hate every time I publish that I do it backwards, I wonder if I’m going to do it because I don’t know if I can take it,” she said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“It doesn’t just affect me, it affects my family, my children, my colleagues, there’s a ripple effect, it’s not just one person who’s attacked, it’s everyone around you who’s also affected,” she continued before breaking off, sobs in her voice.

The video of Maccarone’s speech on Tuesday prompted a disturbing number of aggressive and inappropriate messages.

Her speech in the Salon rouge was posted on social networks, and since then internet users have been calling her “trash,” “crazy” among other things, according to screenshots seen by The Canadian Press.

There are also all sorts of comments: “she makes me puke,” “why do you want to normalize homosexuality?” “LGBT people wanted to go too far, they are paying the price,” “why should a majority bow to the folly of a minority?” “stop trying to make everyone like and accept you,” and so on.

The Liberal MNA sees this as a reason to continue raising awareness and encouraging dialogue.

“I’m very sorry, because we want society to evolve, but on the other hand, it confirms the need for this type of discourse” against homophobia and transphobia, she argued.

A spokeswoman for the Liberal parliamentary wing said that at least 100 hateful comments had been removed on both Facebook and Instagram. Messages accused Maccarone of being a trans woman and even attacked her two children, who have autism spectrum disorder.

“Should I forward comments to the Sûreté du Québec (for investigation)?” asks the MNA. “There are limits.”

What does she attribute this outpouring of hostility on social networks and these attacks on the LGBTQ+ community to?

“It’s the rise of the right across the planet: it gives people permission to act badly,” she said, adding that it is easy to rant virtually about someone who is not right in front of you.

She reiterated that everyone has rights and cannot be denied them because of their sexuality, orientation and identity, which are private matters.

Incidentally, Maccarone’s speech on Tuesday reiterated these principles and was aimed precisely at denouncing the hateful comments made by secondary school pupils against members of the LGBTQ+ community.

“The person you love, the person you share your life with, or the way you identify yourself concerns only one person: yourself,” she said.

“Let’s commit ourselves collectively, as members of the National Assembly, to building a Quebec where justice does not depend on who you love, your gender or your courage to be yourself,” she concluded.

This is not the first time that elected women have denounced hate aimed at them.

In November 2019, as part of the international cyberbullying awareness campaign 12 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, Québec solidaire MNA Christine Labrie read out loud in the Salon bleu the insults she and her colleagues on the QS bench were receiving.

Also, during the pandemic, many people took their anger out on health measures by insulting the premier, elected government officials and members of the opposition on social networks.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on May 23, 2025.

By Patrice Bergeron, The Canadian Press