The date on the calendar reads May 12, 2026. Though, one would not be surprised to find it reading 1960 in mostly conservative, republican Watertown, Wisconsin. Where the issue at hand has nothing to do with the subject being taught at the high school but rather who the composer of the piece has dedicated the music to.
After several months of preparation, the band at Watertown High School wait with baited breath to see if the piece that they’ve spent months practicing will be performed at a concert set for next Monday, May 18.
The piece, entitled “A Mother of a Revolution,” was composed by Omar Thomas, an openly gay man, in 2019.
“This piece is a celebration of the bravery of trans women, and, in particular, Marsha ‘“‘Pay It No Mind‘ Johnson.” Thomas states on his website. Any school teacher or administrator can find this page with a simple Google search. An all-black page greets the viewer featuring white text and a picture of Johnson herself.
The piece is not the problem for the Watertown United School District. The subject is.
A sometimes-controversial figure in history, Marsha P. Johnson was a prominent advocate for LGBTQ+ rights during the 1960s and 1970s. Johnson was born male and raised by a hard-working, highly devout family. She enjoyed wearing women’s clothing but felt pressure to conform due to severe bullying from other children.
After high school, she left home with only one bag of clothes and $15.
Johnson’s life changed forever on June 28, 1969, when she found herself among the members of the resistance movement at The Stonewall Inn. The police force came in full force arresting the patrons, most of whom were gay men.
Enraged by this disregard of basic human dignity, Johnson became a vocal advocate of gay rights. However, she soon became disenchanted with the movement—believing that it did too little to support the Black and transgender communities.
In the years since Johnson’s death in 1992, the lore around her participation in The Stonewall Riots has been twisted by many to simply say that she threw a brick at a police officer.
This myth is cited as to why she is a problematic individual in history, and her deeds should not be celebrated in any way, shape or form by Board Vice President Sam Ouweneel.
“My concern with this piece, in particular, is that it’s described specifically as a celebration of Marsha Johnson, who was a cross-dressing prostitute who threw a brick at a police officer,” Ouweneel tells WPR.
Band director Reid LaDew submitted this piece to the district several months ago, doing everything possible to follow the district’s newly adopted “controversial issues policy.”
The policy, though adopted in 2025, reads as though current issues and history are to be discouraged from discussion. After reading the document, I got the gist—the Boston Tea Party would be deemed an acceptable topic, while the recent women’s march would most certainly not.
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this issue is the timing. LaDew followed all district guidelines—informing all students, parents and other important figures of this and giving parents the option to opt their students out of performing—seven months ago. The district begs to differ, claiming that the issue has only recently been brought to their attention.
Perhaps another glaring issue within the issue is that the piece is dedicated to a transgender individual.
Watertown Unified School District recently made waves by tightening its regulations on transgender policy. In a 2024 ruling that stated all students must use restrooms, locker rooms and so on that are in line with only their biological gender. Also, that teacher’s may choose to refer to a student by their new identity but zero action will be taken to correct any teacher who mis-genders a student.
Many students and parents oppose the potential (and unfortunately seemingly very likely) decision to pull the piece. This has even sparked a Change.org petition that has gathered 900 signatures (and counting), As well as an open letter to the board of education with more than 170 signatures.
With a special meeting scheduled for today, one can only hope that sanity prevails rather than the close-mindedness exhibited by the members of the board.
“When it comes to music, it should be uplifting and celebratory,” Christina DeGrave told WPR and then further commented that such subjects should only be taught in History class. With the restrictions imposed by the Controversial Issues Policy, this author highly doubts that even this will be deemed an impossibility to be taught at Watertown High School within the next years.
Only time will tell if the students will be permitted to perform the piece that they’ve worked so hard to perfect. Though at this time, the outcome appears bleak.
Photo courtesy of social media
