A Catholic school board trustee tried to ban the Pride flag after comparing it to the Nazi swastika a second time and got kicked off the board in the process.
The Niagara Catholic District School Board in Ontario censured Natalia Benoit in January after an independent investigator agreed she breached the board’s code of conduct by making the hateful comparison. She was relieved of her duties and barred from attending board meetings for six months. Catholic schools in Ontario get public funds.
Just weeks after returning, Benoit again introduced a “proposal to amend the flag-flying protocol to exclude the Pride flag,” which would bar schools and offices from displaying the inclusive standard.
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In an explanation caught on tape last year, Benoit claimed she didn’t support flying “any flag at all… Like the Nazi flag, we don’t want that up either, right?”
The Nazis killed six million Jews during World War II and started their reign of terror by singling out transgender people in a campaign of violence and book burning. More than 15,000 LGBTQ+ individuals were interred in concentration camps, according to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
The report investigating Benoit’s actions described the Nazi flag as “a distinctly recognizable symbol of Nazi propaganda,” and the Nazi regime “was characterized by its pursuit of racial ‘purity’ pursued through policies designed to exterminate Jews and other minorities – including homosexuals – by mass murder, among other means.”
The Pride flag, by contrast, is one “which always reflects in essence a rainbow” and “is born out of an intention to include persons historically marginalized in society.”
Benoit was unrepentant after the report was issued.
“There is no comparison of flags,” she wrote. “It is a statement that no flags should be flown which would cause conflict and controversy in our schools. Alleging the comparison was only spreading lies provoking a hostile environment.”
The board began flying the Pride flag at its high schools in 2021 and at elementary schools in 2022.
Board chair Danny Di Lorenzo said that despite Benoit’s provocation, he hadn’t received many complaints about flying the flag. “I got some negative, some positive” comments, he explained, adding it’s generally accepted within Ontario’s Catholic schools.
“The New Testament has many stories of Christ himself reaching out to those who are marginalized,” Director of Education Camillo Cipriano told CBClast week. After discussions with several priests and the local diocese, he said, “I will continue to fly it as long as it remains my decision.”
“I think that it’s a sign of inclusion, a sign of acceptance — not a sign of promotion,” board chair Di Lorenzo said. “The Bible also says acceptance of others and that Jesus accepts everyone. I think that’s where we have to stop and reflect on the Bible… We do have a loving God and we do have an accepting God.”
Benoit’s resurrected proposal goes to a vote before the board on Tuesday.
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