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'It’s disappointing, but not surprising': St. “I’ll remove it Saturday by noon, and maybe find another place to put it,” Koller said. The placement of the sign violates the town’s bylaw, and Koller has been told it must be removed by Saturday, July 10. He said whoever stole it must have “needed it more.” He had multiple copies printed in anticipation of it being stolen and put out a replacement. Koller put the sign on his lawn Saturday afternoon and it was gone the next day. “(Koller’s) been able to get married for, I don’t know, how many thousands of years? We’ve only been able to get married for 16 years in Canada,” he said. “Once one starts it, if it’s not taken care of, it’s just going to carry on,” he said.įarkas married his husband 16 years ago, once same-sex marriage was legalized in Canada.
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If we let these things happen and say ‘OK, they have the right to do that’, where’s it going to stop? Where will we be in 20 more years?”įarkas said there’s a negative ripple effect to comments like these. “Throughout the years I thought it was getting better, and now suddenly in Hungary with their new laws, it’s turning back around. “I don’t believe there is room for that any more in this day and age,” he said, adding this type of messaging is why he left his home country two decades ago.
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Seeing the sign celebrating ‘traditional’ marriage felt targeted and intentional to Farkas. This is who I am, this was how I was made.” “When your own family, your own parents, tell you you’re nothing. “The experience I had, I wouldn’t wish it on anybody,” he said. I put the sign up to promote my lifestyle because I don’t have the town’s support.”īarney Farkas, who lives near the Henry Street home, saw the sign on Monday, snapped a photo and shared it on his personal Facebook page, as well as a few groups.įarkas moved to Canada from Hungary 20 years ago because here he could be himself and live openly as a gay man. “Why is the town supporting their actions? It’s because they say they’re minorities. “I don’t hate them or anything, but then there’s this whole thing with painting the sidewalk - we have to do this for them, we have to do that for them,” said Koller. Koller said he feels like the town is only promoting one type of lifestyle. “And when June 1 came, they raised the Pride flag. “The town started a diversity program,” he said. When Rudi Koller placed a sign reading “Celebrating Our Traditional Marriage” in front of his Virgil house Saturday afternoon, he said he had been feeling “left out” following Pride month.