Catholic school trustee says divine intervention behind controversial social media post

Trustee says the Holy Spirit told her to ‘go for it’

Monique LaGrange, Alberta school trustee faced backlash for a social media post drawing a parallel between the LGBTQ+ community and Nazi Germany. Screengrab (CTV News /YouTube)

A Red Deer Catholic School trustee revealed that she was guided by the “Holy Spirit” to post a controversial meme in which she compared Pride to Nazis on her social media.

In August, Monique LaGrange shared a meme on her personal Facebook page featuring two juxtaposed images. One showed a historical photograph depicting young Nazi supporters, while the other showed young individuals holding a rainbow Pride flag. Beneath these images, she wrote the words “brainwashing is brainwashing”.

Ms LaGrange defended the post by asserting that it wasn’t aimed at the LGBTQ+ community but was instead a critique of indoctrination. She emphasised that her intention was not to draw a direct comparison between these two groups but rather to highlight concerns about a questionable ideology and the need to protect children.

“It is about the agenda of the United Nations and Planned Parenthood, which is an attempt to sabotage our youths’ identities and destinies and hijack the LGBTQ’s original mandate,” she wrote.

The trustee was sanctioned over the controversial post and was asked to apologise.

Now, the local Catholic school board released a 15-page document as was requested by Ms LaGrange’s attorney. The document provided insights into the closed-door discussions that occurred on 25 September and 26 September this year, during which the school board deliberated with her and her lawyer regarding how to address the public backlash against her actions.

The trustee told the board “the Holy Spirit had told her to post the meme”, according to the documents. Ms LaGrange added the Holy Spirit told her, “Go for it”.

Although she and her lawyer, James Kitchen, contended that her actions were consistent with Catholic beliefs and protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights, the Board rejected these assertions.

Mr Kitchen said: “We asked the Board to release the reasons, to which they agreed, as we felt it was in the public interest and would foster transparency and accountability and would permit public scrutiny, which is desirable.”

The Catholic school board also didn’t accept that the meme was unrelated to Nazism, stating “a reasonable person viewing the two photographs could reasonably conclude that a negative comparison was made”.

The board describes its mission as being “committed to supporting inclusive communities that foster care and compassion of students, families and staff.” The complaint to the board argued that Ms LaGrange’s meme undermined the board’s commitment to inclusion.