After issuing a public statement about the horrific shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Minnesota Democratic Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan was slammed for a t-shirt she had previously worn emblazoned with the words “Protect Trans Kids” alongside a dagger graphic.
“My heart goes out to all those affected by the terrifying act of violence at Annunciation Catholic school this morning. I’m grateful to the law enforcement who responded. Please join me in praying for the victims and the families of the Annunciation community,” Flanagan wrote.
The shooter in the tragedy, identified as a 23-year-old transgender-identifying male, is the latest in a series of transgender-identifying people who have committed school shootings, including the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting in 2019 and the Covenant School Shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2023.
Flanagan was absolutely shredded online with comments like these:
Their blood is on your hands. You gave this death cult sanctuary.
Culpable. It’s on your watch with your encouragement.
You cannot escape responsibility for this no matter what platitudes you post. You own this.
“terrifying act of violence.” So carefully sterilized, as if it were just some random person attacking other random people. No mention of “hate”–one of your favorite words for every act of humanity you don’t like, even though we already know it was entirely about hate. Hate that people such as yourself–in a position of leadership for an entire state of Americans–have ENCOURAGED.
In April 2023, celebrating the state’s passage of the Trans Refuge Bill, Flanagan wrote, “We just signed the Conversion Therapy Ban, Reproductive Freedom Defense Act, and Trans Refuge Bill into law. In Minnesota, we’re building a state where everyone is safe to be who they are, love who they love, and live without fear of violence and discrimination.”
As the Daily Wire reported on Wednesday, the state government in Minnesota has been lax in providing funding for security at religious schools.
Two years before a shooter opened fire on students attending daily mass in Minneapolis, the leaders of independent and Catholic schools in Minnesota begged Democrat Governor Tim Walz for help securing their schools, according to a 2023 letter reviewed by The Daily Wire. The funding was never authorized.
In a letter dated April 14, 2023 that specifically addressed “school safety in nonpublic schools,” Tim Benz, the president of MINNDEPENDENT and Jason Adkins, the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, stressed an “urgent and critical need in Minnesota to make sure our schools are secure and safe” in light of “recent, and continuing attacks, on our schools in this country and in our state.”
The letter says there are about 72,000 students in Independent, Catholic, Jewish, Christian and Muslim nonpublic schools within the state of Minnesota. It came just weeks after the shooting at a Christian school in Tennessee, which was also carried out by a transgender-identifying individual in their twenties.
Adkins told The Daily Wire on Wednesday that no additional security was ever funded, even though the money existed. … Walz in 2023 was instead working to protect transgenders. In April 2023, the same month the letter was sent, Walz signed legislation establishing Minnesota as a “trans refuge,” promising to “protect those seeking gender-affirming care,” according to OutFront Minnesota.
Mary Margaret Olohan contributed to this article.
RELATED: Minnesota Catholic School Leader Warned Tim Walz Of ‘Critical’ School Safety Threats. He Did Nothing.
