Picketing in front of the Roddick Gates since June 2004, Lloyd Davidson is avoided by most walking past one of the main entrances to campus. Standing tall for over 2 years — and back for a sizeable portion of our first month of this semester — he holds aloft his anti-Semitic signs that rarely make even grammatical sense. The signs always sling proverbial mud at Jews as a whole. In some, he warns passersby not to go to the Jewish General Hospital, of which he claims he was once an employee who was wrongfully terminated.
Owing to freedom of speech laws, there’s not much that can be done about him while he stands in public property, and since he doesn’t cross over onto McGill property, campus security isn’t allowed to do anything about him.
So, Davidson stands, often alone, proudly holding his sign, walking from one side of the gates to the other. Other than the odd student who sparks up a discussion with him, he is without companions. A Facebook group at McGill hosts students’ venting about his posters and the similar comments he makes to students who confront him. Some of those who’ve talked to him share their experiences in detailed postings.
Last year, the McGill Tribune interviewed Davidson, wherein he provided the insight that “the Jews are the anti-Semites because Christ is the King of the Semites.”