'No to homosexuality' billboard attacks 'the very soul' of Chatham-Kent

Less than a week after celebrating a successful pride week, Chatham-Kent awoke to a large billboard with the message "God says no to homosexuality." 

The billboard appeared last Wednesday at the corner of Kent Bridge Road and Countryview Line, a rural intersection about 20 kilometres north of Chatham and about halfway between London and Windsor. 

About 10 metres high, the billboard has messages in four coloured rectangles set against a blue-sky background, including: "Bibles back in schools" and "marijuana or peace with God!" Another messages reads "A ship without a rudder is tossed to & fro."

The billboard's opposite side displays advertisements for local businesses.

Marianne Willson h​eads the Chatham-Kent Gay Pride group. She also lives a five-minute drive from where the billboard stands. 

Willson says she doesn't believe that the billboard's messages, in particular the "no to homosexuality" line, reflect the views of the area. 

"Everybody has expressed disgust at the message," she said. "People are concerned about the image it gives to outside communities."

Willson issued a statement saying the billboard "attacks the very soul of Chatham-Kent." While she accepts the right of the person who purchased the billboard space to express his opinion, she worries it conveys a false idea that the area is closed-minded and "not open to diversity." 

"Chatham-Kent is a diverse, inclusive, unified group of people that welcomes people to come and join us," she said. "We demonstrated that last week when everybody had been very positive and came out and celebrated our gay pride week."

On Friday, City of Chatham-Kent officials issued a statement on Twitter about concerns they've received regarding the billboard. 

"We acknowledge this sign may cast a negative light on the community and are looking into this matter further. We wish to reiterate that we are an open and welcoming community," the statement read.

The man behind the sign is Ralph Baker, an 81-year-old self-described evangelist from nearby Petrolia.

In an interview, he told CBC News he was prompted to buy the "costly" billboard space because he believes "homosexuality is a detriment to society." His cellphone number appears in the bottom-left corner under the words "For more info call."

Baker says his views are tied to his interpretation of the Bible: that homosexuality is immoral. In an interview with CBC News, he also spoke at length about what he sees as a link between homosexuality, the opioid crisis and suicides. 

Baker received between 50 and 100 calls since the sign went up. 

He admits most who call don't share his views. 

"The phone calls that I'm getting are more negative or in favour of homosexuality than the ones that are encouraging," he said. "That tells me that Satan is in command of the Chatham-Kent region." 

He said the billboard's other statements about marijuana and putting Bibles back in schools are not mentioned by the callers. 

The billboard is a hot topic of conversation at the Tim Horton's in nearby Dresden. 

Bev Moor said Baker has the right to express his views. 

"Everybody has their voice," he said. "It is one side." 

Zach Abbink is a lifelong resident of Dresden and says he'd like to see the billboard taken down. 

"There are a lot of angry people wondering why this is showing up out of the middle of nowhere," he said. "Dresden is the kind of community where everybody accepts everybody. That's how it's always been. Nowadays everybody needs to be accepted."

Willson says she's happy to challenge Baker's view, and hopes people outside the community understand that his is just one voice. 

"I think the Bible is very clear that God loves all people and that every single one of us are made in His image and that includes the LGBT population."