School official refuses to back down after comparing ‘evil’ gender protections to bestiality, cannibalism and vampirism
Michael Del Grande speaking at the Toronto Catholic District School Board meeting (tcdsb.org)
A Canadian school official has come under fire after refusing to apologise for comparing “evil” gender protections to paedophilia, bestiality, cannibalism and vampirism.
Last month school trustee Michael Del Grande voted against adding gender identity and gender expression to the Toronto Catholic District School Board’s code of conduct.
He said that doing so would see the board heading down a “slippery slope”, and facetiously put forward a bizarre amendment suggesting the inclusion of other categories like bestiality, paedophilia, cannibalism, auto-asphyxiation and vampirism.
“I’d like all these terms to be considered — after all, everybody’s concerned [that] the right terms are used, it’s important to have the terms,” Del Grande said at the meeting. He was ruled out of order and the board voted 8-4 to include the new gender protections.
Del Grande later said that his comments were “hyperbole,” but refused to apologise even as he received dozens of complaints and was condemned by Ontario’s education minister, Stephen Lecce.
“I find the comments made by the trustee to be quite unacceptable and quite disturbing, actually,” Lecce said, adding that gender identity protections are “not an item that is for discussion”.
Lecce confirmed the board’s own internal processes will continue, but he made clear “that the government finds those comments unacceptable in this province, for any child who already feels victimised or stigmatised in the classroom.”
Del Grande claims he’s been called a “hero”
Incredibly, in the face of all this criticism Del Grande actually doubled down on his position, writing on Christian news outlet LifeSite that he won’t back down from “evil”.
“I have been called a ‘hero’ by supporters,” he claimed. “I am not a hero. I am a faithful Catholic with an informed conscience standing up for Catholic education and Church teachings.”
He said he’d been “harassed, hated, and repudiated” for taking a stand against “a gender ideology which is incompatible with the Christian anthropology of the human person – a stand that was twisted by the media and believed by those who needed someone on which to focus their hate.”
Speaking of hate, Del Grande ended his article with a quote from Catholic priest Dwight Longenecker, a man who believes the “gay lifestyle is repugnant” and that feminism and homosexuality are “killing” the concept of family.
“First we overlook evil. Then we permit evil. Then we legalise evil. Then we promote evil. Then we celebrate evil. Then we persecute those who still call it evil.”
Teen “harassment” claims also investigated
Del Grande is also under a separate investigation over accusations that he “harangued and harassed” a 16-year-old female student over her views on abortion, eventually bringing her to tears.
Del Grande is said to have approached the teen and questioned her in “an extremely unfriendly and accusatory tone” as she attempted to leave the room multiple times.
Toronto mayor John Tory called Del Grande’s alleged behaviour “dinosaur-like,” insensitive and beneath elected officials.
