The Watertown Wind Symphony has spent months preparing for their May 18 spring concert. These students — some of whom have been in band for years — have worked hard to master one of the most challenging pieces in their set: "A Mother of a Revolution," a 2019 instrumental work by composer Omar Thomas. They deserve to perform it.

The Watertown Unified School District Board of Education is now considering pulling the piece — not because anything went wrong, but because of the history behind it. The piece was dedicated to Marsha Johnson, a transgender activist who played a key role in the 1969 Stonewall uprising. It has no lyrics. It is routinely featured on state and national music festival lists, including the Wisconsin School Music Association Festival. And yet, the board's Educational Services Committee has signaled it wants to pull the song from the upcoming performance.

What makes this especially troubling is that band director Reid LaDew did everything right. He followed the district's own controversial issues policy — created in September 2025 — which requires teachers to notify parents in advance. He sent a letter home in October. Of the families who received it, only one student ultimately chose not to perform the piece. The process worked exactly as intended.

As LaDew explained to parents: "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. Engaging with this piece helps foster empathy, cultural awareness, and respect for the stories and struggles that shape our shared history."

When a teacher follows every rule and still gets overruled — six days before the concert — it sends a clear message: the rules don't actually matter. What matters is whether the subject has any connection to LGBTQ+ history. That is not a neutral educational standard. It is censorship.

This decision sets a dangerous precedent for arts programs across Wisconsin and beyond. If school boards can pull a piece of music because of who a composer chose to honor, no teacher can plan a curriculum with confidence. No student can trust that the work they put in will be respected. Pulling this piece sends a clear message to LGBTQ+ students and educators in Watertown: that their history, their stories, and their presence in the school community are unwelcome.

DeWayne Roberson, the district's band director for decades before LaDew, put it plainly: "I believe in a lot of cases, the people who are most concerned about this are concerned out of ignorance and they're using the rhetoric of today's politics to make their decisions."

We are calling on the Watertown Unified School District Board of Education — including Board Vice President Sam Ouweneel and the full board voting on May 12 — to reject this censorship and allow the Watertown Wind Symphony to perform "A Mother of a Revolution" at their spring concert on May 18.