Why Watertown Heard ‘A Mother of a Revolution’ at a Church Instead of a School—Free Speech in the Crosshairs

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Written By Bill Lubing

Click the image to watch the video of the performance. Why Watertown Heard ‘A Mother of a Revolution’ at a Church Instead of a School—Free Speech in the Crosshairs

What was originally supposed to be one piece in the Watertown High School Wind Symphony’s spring concert became something much bigger: A community statement about art, inclusion, and the refusal to let fear-driven politics silence students’ work.

On May 20, 2026, A Mother of a Revolution, a composition by Omar Thomas, was performed not in conjunction with the Watertown School District, as first planned, but at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Watertown. The central reason was the work’s trans and LGBTQ+ subject matter. Just days before the school concert, the Watertown School Board voted to remove the piece from the program, arguing that its connection to Marsha P. Johnson, transgender history, and LGBTQ liberation made it a violation of the district’s controversial issues policy. That decision forced students, families, and supporters to find another way for the music to be heard.

The composition itself had already been in rehearsal for months. Reports indicate the students had worked on it for much of the school year, and band director Reid LaDew had earlier notified parents in keeping with district policy. A Mother of a Revolution is an instrumental work Thomas wrote in 2019 to honor Marsha P. Johnson and the legacy of the Stonewall uprising, a defining moment in LGBTQ liberation history. Even though the piece has no lyrics, some school board members framed its subject matter as ideological or as an endorsement of violence. Supporters of the performance rejected that interpretation and emphasized that students were studying a challenging contemporary work of music, not participating in indoctrination.

That is why the performance moved to Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church. The church was not simply a backup room with good acoustics. It was a community institution willing to provide space when the public school system would not. Church leaders made clear that they were hosting the concert because they saw it as part of their mission of welcome, healing, and belonging. Pastor Carina Schiltz said the event was an opportunity for the community to gather around the joy and connection that music can bring. Organizers also stressed that the event was not intended to be a rally or protest. Their stated goal was to let the musicians’ work stand on its own and to allow the music to tell its own story.

Organizing the church performance required a rapid community effort because it was explicitly separate from the school district. News coverage before the concert reported that roughly 20 Watertown High School band students, along with alumni, volunteer musicians, and players from neighboring communities, came together to make the event possible. Because the concert was not school-sponsored, organizers had to assemble musicians, instruments, logistics, and audience arrangements outside district channels. Immanuel opened its doors, advertised free public admission, and provided a livestream so that people who could not attend in person could still participate. In only a matter of days, what might have been a disappointing cancellation was transformed into a carefully organized community arts event.

Most strikingly, the performance was directed by the composer himself. Omar Thomas traveled to Watertown to conduct A Mother of a Revolution and to speak with the audience afterward. That gave the evening unusual emotional and artistic weight. Instead of hearing secondhand arguments about what the work supposedly meant, the community heard directly from the artist who wrote it. Thomas explained that he composed the piece to honor strength, joy, and the courage of trans people, and he described the music as intentionally vibrant rather than mournful. His presence also underscored that this local dispute had become part of a much larger conversation about who gets represented in public culture and whose stories are treated as worthy of study.

The response showed just how deeply the controversy had resonated. Hundreds of people came to Immanuel on May 20, packing the sanctuary and filling overflow space outside the church. Some listeners reportedly stood outdoors under windows or followed the event by livestream when the building reached capacity. Wisconsin Public Radio reported that thousands more watched online. Students who had spent months preparing the piece finally got the chance to perform it before a large, supportive audience. In that sense, the school board’s attempt to suppress the piece had the opposite effect: It elevated the concert into a regional and national news story, drawing far more attention than the original spring program likely would have received.

For Democrats and others concerned about public education, the Watertown episode is about more than a single concert. It raises basic questions about whether school boards should be censoring art because it touches LGBTQ+ history, and whether students’ educational experiences should be narrowed by ideological pressure. The musicians had not created this controversy; they had simply committed themselves to learning a difficult contemporary composition. When the district stepped back, civil society stepped forward. A church congregation, local families, volunteer musicians, and supporters built an alternative venue where students could finish what they started. That cooperative response is a reminder that inclusive community institutions still matter, especially when official systems fail to protect openness and fairness.

In the end, A Mother of a Revolution was performed at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church because the Watertown School District would not allow it to be performed in the school concert as planned. But that change of venue also changed the meaning of the evening. What could have been remembered only as a last-minute act of censorship instead became a vivid example of community organizing, moral clarity, and artistic solidarity.

The church provided sanctuary in the fullest sense of the word: A place where students, neighbors, and allies could gather to hear music that some people wanted silenced. For anyone who believes democracy depends on pluralism, public courage, and the freedom to encounter different histories, Watertown offered a powerful lesson on May 20. 2026.

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Sources and Further Reading‍ ‍

Bill Lubing
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