Hundreds Turn Out for Wisconsin High Schoolers' Performance of Banned LGBTQ Song

High school students in Watertown, Wisconsin performed “A Mother of a Revolution” at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church after the city’s conservative school board previously banned the piece. The wind symphony rehearsed the instrumental work for months, and the director notified parents in the fall because LGBTQ-related lessons were listed as “controversial topics.” Parents were offered the option to withdraw students, and only a few families did so. Days before the spring concert, the school board announced it would vote on whether the song could be performed. Hundreds of community members attended the concert to support the students and the music.

"For several months, more than 30 students in the band rehearsed the piece. Because lessons on LGBTQ subject matter are included on the list of "controversial topics" outlined by the school board, the band's director, Reid LaDew, sent a letter to parents in the fall about the plan to play the song."

""The purpose behind studying Mother of a Revolution is not to provoke controversy, but to deepen students' understanding of how music reflects the diverse experiences of humanity," LaDew's letter stated. Parents were given the choice to withdraw their children from playing the song, with only a few families deciding to do so."

"Nevertheless, just days before the spring concert was set to commence, the school board announced that it would hold a vote on whether to allow the piece to be performed. The micropolitan city of over 23,000 people, which resides almost exactly between the two largest cities in the state, has made national headlines over the past several weeks due to the board's decision to forbid the Watertown High School Wind Symphony from playing "A Mother of a Revolution,""

"On Wednesday evening, high school students from Watertown, Wisconsin, performed a song that had been banned by the city's conservative school board before an audience of hundreds of supportive community members. People begin to enter Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church to hear a concert of high school students in Watertown, Wisconsin, on May 20, 2026."

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