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Micah Louwagie: Trans North Dakota pastor compares Audrey Hale to Jesus Christ and Holocaust victims

Micah Louwagie then slammed 'allies' who 'betray' transgender people, comparing it to how Jesus Christ's disciples fled when he was arrested

FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA: A transgender North Dakota pastor compared the way Nashville shooter Audrey Hale was treated to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This comes less than a week after Hale murdered three students and three staffers at the Covenant School, before being shot dead by cops.

The pastor, Micah Louwagie, who goes by they/them pronouns, has been installed as the pastor of St Mark's Lutheran Church in Fargo. They delivered their first Easter-themed sermon on April 2, footage of which shows them reading the Biblical account of the crucifixion. This is immediately followed by the Nashville massacre.

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'Some folks have tried to focus on eradicating trans people'

"Instead of focusing on ways this could've been prevented, such as gun control, a significant number of people have turned their attention to the shooter's identity," the pastor said. "Instead of focusing on the number one cause of child death in this country is now gunshot wounds."

They added, "Some folks have tried to focus on eradicating trans people as a solution, because they have been waiting, just waiting for an opportunity such as this. They've been waiting for a reason, any reason to stoke their hatred." 

Micah Louwagie compares the treatment of trans people to the Holocaust

Louwagie then slammed "allies" who "betray" transgender people, comparing it to how Jesus' disciples fled when he was arrested. "Marginalized folks, those of us with the least amount of privilege and power, they need those who have more privilege and power than they do to physically place their bodies between them and the people, powers and institutions that are literally killing them," Louwagie said.

The pastor then compared the Pharisees' treatment of Jesus to politicians making laws against drag shows and transgender players in sports. "Those leaders were looking for any excuse, valid or not, to crucify Jesus and they found that reason," they said. 

Louwagie also compared the treatment of trans people in the US to the Holocaust and Japanese internment camps. "It's baffling to me that someone's existence can be so threatening, that people decide they need to be controlled that they need to have laws made against them or even worse that the people that they find to be so threatening, should die," they said. "There are a significant number of people who have deemed that the fact that the Nashville shooter happened to be a trans person, so it's been reported is just the excuse they need to call for the eradication of trans folks."

"Rather than focusing on the fact that we have a serious gun violence problem that continues to go unaddressed, rather than focusing on the fact that six people six more people are dead, rather than focusing on the fact that those staff and children should have been safe in that school or focusing on the fact that children do not feel safe in their own schools, rather than focusing on any of this they have decided they need to cause more harm," they continued. "This isn't a new phenomenon it's been happening in this country for many, many years: the Holocaust, the Japanese internment camps of the 1940s, segregation forcibly changing indigenous people to residential schools, migrants being held in cages, the list goes on."

Hale was wielding two assault-style rifles and a pistol at the scene of the crime, and was gunned down by responding officers who found him on the second floor of the school. He had no record of mental health problems, and did not have police records. Metropolitan Nashville Police Department released footage of Hale driving his car and breaking into the Covenant School, carrying his firearm. The victims of the shooting have been identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all nine years of age, Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.