Emmanuel's organizational role in the rally drew attention to controversial statements he had made in previous years. The New Democratic Party of Ontario (NDP) issued a press release with excerpts from several of Emmanuel's writings, asserting that he had described gay men as "sexual deviants" and Islam as "as far from peace, as hell is from heaven" in separate articles written in 2002. NDP legislator Rosario Marchese called on Hudak and Flaherty to dissociate themselves from the rally in light of these statements. A spokesperson for Hudak responded that the minister had not known about Emmanuel's articles before seeing the press release, and that the pro-American rally should not be "sidetracked" over the matter.