Trustee compares Pride flag to Nazi symbol
Transgender Niagara facilitator calls comparison particularly ‘heinous’
Niagara’s gay and lesbian community is reacting after a Niagara Catholic school board trustee likened the Pride flag to that of the Nazis, calling the comments “straight up hate.”
Last week, Niagara Catholic District School Board announced it would fly the Pride flag outside its schools and other sites throughout June as a symbol of acceptance and safety for its LGBTQ students, families and allies.
As an operational matter, the decision rests solely with education director Camillo Cipriano.
But at a board meeting last week, St. Catharines/Niagara-on-theLake trustee Natalia Benoit brought forth a notice of motion to reverse the director’s decision — backed by Niagara Falls trustee Joe Bruzzese — calling the Pride flag “ideological.”
Following the meeting, in a video posted on YouTube, Benoit spoke about her desire to not fly the Pride flag, saying it was about any flag, “like a Nazi flag, we don’t want that either.”
Board chair Danny Di Lorenzo said any trustee is free to bring forward a motion, and if compelling enough to institute an immediate discussion, that would take place. However, in this case, trustees voted to discuss it at the next board meeting, June 20.
Pride Niagara chair Enzo De Divitiis said Benoit’s comments show a lack of education, which he said is a deliberate choice on her part. It is not homophobia or transphobia, which would imply misunderstanding or fear — this is “straight up hate.”
“They are using (the Nazi flag) as an alibi for an instrument of their hate,” said De Divitiis.
“It makes me think if you use these comments and say these words and are trying to create hate toward a group of people without justification, without any reason other than hatred and lack of education, I think you may raise the Nazi flag.”
Colleen McTigue, facilitator with Transgender Niagara, said any comparison to Nazi Germany — which she added is being throwing around “very freely these days” without any understanding of who the Nazis were and what they did — is particularly “heinous.”
“They waged a campaign of terror and destruction and extermination. They killed six million Jews during the Second World War just for being Jewish,” she said, adding LGBTQ people were singled out in concentration camps and forced to wear an inverted pink triangle, now used as a safe space marker.
“We’re not trying to exterminate anybody. We’re trying to spread hope, we’re trying to spread understanding and compassion and love.”
With board policy permitting only the chair and education director to speak to media, Di Lorenzo said it is “very tough to understand” Benoit’s comments, particularly in relation to the Nazi flag.
“It’s very fair to say that we, and I’m speaking for all my trustee groups and all my trustee colleagues, do not agree with equating the Pride flag, (which) is about love and inclusion with a flag that for the past 80 years has been known about hate and division,” he said.
“I do not see how that even equates or comes close.”
Niagara Catholic raised the Pride flag for the first time last year as a visible symbol of security and support. While the decision may rest with the director, Di Lorenzo said trustees must “foster inclusive, equitable and safe space communities where all are welcomed and called by name.”
“As a board we have to keep focused on supporting all students and anyone in our building and for us, the flag is a symbol that our schools and sites are accepting places,” he said.
“Data shows that individuals who identify as LGBTQ2S-plus that they experience more bullying and, therefore, they need our compassion and understanding that is called for by our faith. We are a Catholic school board and we do exist on the premise of faith and we have to show that compassion and that understanding … we have to show that they are accepted in our schools.”
The raising of the flag kicks off Pride Month, a celebration honouring the movement for LGBTQ rights and celebration of culture.
McTigue said Pride month — and even a small step such as raising the flag — remind people “this is who we are and we just want to be accepted and be a part of the community.”
“I was bullied and made to feel less than and I wasn’t even out. Somehow the other kids picked up on the fact that there was something different about me and they treated me very badly for it,” she said. “To have the kind of environment where the LGBTQ students can feel very much supported is extremely important.”
De Divitiis said the flag is more than just about LGBTQ rights, but a “symbol of hope for everyone” and as a public institution, raising the flag is something Niagara Catholic “needs to do.” As a young child going through the Catholic school system, seeing a rainbow flag would have “made the world of difference,” especially in a smaller community like Niagara with a lack of representation, he said.
“It’s the ally ship that really the communities need. They need to know that if they’re confused about themselves, it’s OK. There’s someone there waiting,” said De Divitiis. “But to know that that someone is waiting for you with hate? Just that whole narrative — how could that be healthy for … anyone?”
De Divitiis said education, especially for young people, is crucial.