Proper 8 / Ordinary 13 (June 26-July 2)
Texts: Genesis 22:1-14;
Rom 6:12-23; Matt 10:42-44
YouTube: https://youtu.be/HFH7dArlnSM
Sermon Take-Home Notes
GAY PRIDE: FROM NEW YORK CITY 1969
TO WATERTOWN, WI, 2026
On this Sunday, there is a need to point out that on this day 57 years ago on June 28, 1969, a significant, world-changing event happened that most of us know very little about. Before naming the event, there’s a need to provide some context.
The 1960s and earlier decades were not exactly welcoming times for gay, lesbian and transgender Americans. The event-in-question took place in New York but could just as easily happened anywhere else in the United States, to the extent that same-sex relationships were illegal everywhere. In many big cities like New York, though, gay and lesbian individuals flocked to gay bars and clubs, as places of refuge. Places where they could express themselves openly and socialize without worry. However, the New York State Liquor Authority penalized and shut down establishments that served alcohol to known or suspected gay patrons, arguing that their mere gathering was “disorderly.”
In 1966, an organization dedicated to gay rights, staged a “sip-in” where they openly declared their sexuality at New York City taverns, daring staff to turn them away and suing establishments who did. Their strategy worked. In 1967, a ruling from New York’s highest court affirmed gay individuals had the right to be served in bars. Police raids were temporarily reduced after the lawsuit. But engaging in gay behavior in public — such as holding hands, kissing or dancing with someone of the same sex — was still illegal, so police harassment of gay bars continued.
The Stonewall Inn was registered as a type of private “bottle bar,” which did not require a liquor license because patrons were supposed to bring their own liquor. Club attendees had to sign their names in a book upon entry to maintain the club’s false exclusivity. It quickly became an important Greenwich Village institution. It was large and relatively cheap to enter. It welcomed drag queens, who received a bitter reception at other gay bars and clubs. It was a nightly home for many runaways and homeless gay youths, who panhandled or shoplifted to afford the entry fee. And it was one of the few — if not the only — gay bar left that allowed dancing. Police raids were still a fact of life, but usually, corrupt police officers would tip off the bars before they occurred, allowing owners to stash any alcohol sold without a liquor license and hide other illegal activities. In fact, the New York Police Department had stormed Stonewall Inn just a few days before the riot-inducing raid without much reaction.
When police raided the Stonewall Inn on the morning of June 28, 1969, it came as a surprise — the bar hadn’t been tipped-off this time. Armed with a warrant, police officers entered the club, roughed up patrons and arrested 13 people after finding bootlegged alcohol. Among those detained were employees and people violating the state’s vagrancy disguise law. Although the 1845 statute didn’t mention gendered dressing, New York City police had long used this outdated code to penalize cross-dressing. At Stonewall, female officers took suspected cross-dressing patrons into the bathroom to check their sex.
Fed up with constant police harassment and social discrimination, angry patrons and neighborhood residents hung around outside of the bar instead of leaving. The crowd became increasingly agitated as the events unfolded and people were aggressively manhandled. At one point, an officer hit a woman over the head as he forced her into the police van. She shouted to onlookers to act, inciting the crowd to begin throwing pennies, bottles, cobblestones and other objects at the police. Within minutes, a full-blown riot involving hundreds of people began. The police, a few prisoners, and a writer with the Village Voice (a Greenwich Village newspaper) barricaded themselves in the bar. Fire was even set to the building. The fire department and a riot squad were eventually able to douse the flames, rescue the people inside Stonewall, and the crowd was dispersed. But the protests, sometimes involving thousands of people, continued in the area for five more days, flaring up at one point after the Village Voice published its account of the riots.
When it was done, 13 people had been arrested; 4 police officers had been injured. There were no deaths attributed directly to the rioting. The incident didn’t become significant due to its violence or lack of deadly violence. Stonewall Inn was an event that could be pointed to as the event that said, “Enough is enough!” It was a galvanizing force for modern LGBTQ+ political activism. Within a year, thousands of gay rights organizations formed. On the one-year anniversary of the riots on June 28, 1970, a couple thousand people marched in the streets of Manhattan from the Stonewall Inn to Central Park in what was then called the Christopher Street Liberation Day March. Now we know that event as the New York City Pride March. The parade’s official chant was: “Say it loud, gay is proud.”
Stonewall inspired similar marches in Chicago — which held the first gay pride parade in the United States on June 27, 1970 — San Francisco and Los Angeles that year. Activists in other cities across the nation and the world began organizing their own pride parades after that. Over time, other gay pride events were planned throughout the month of June. In 1999, President Bill Clinton declared the month of June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, formalizing a tradition that activists and community members had been honoring for decades.
Numerous songs and musical compositions were written about the 1969 Stonewall Riots. One notable example was a contemporary symphonic work entitled “A Mother of a Revolution,” composed by Omar Thomas. “A Mother of a Revolution” is a concert band piece with no lyrics. It was commissioned to honor the life and legacy of transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson, who had been present at the 1969 world-changing Stonewall Inn event. As a trans woman of color she was emboldened by Stonewall to be a leader in later protests.
Fifty years after the Stonewall Riots, NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill apologized for the raid. “What happened should not have happened,” O’Neill said in June 2019. “The actions taken by the NYPD were wrong, plain and simple. The actions and the laws were discriminatory and oppressive, and for that, I apologize.”
So that’s the saga of Stonewall Inn and its ongoing reach into the future. Back in 1969, a resistance led to a change in outlook and support for the LGBTQ+ community that continues today. That ends the history lesson. Let’s see what we’ve learned.
Fast forward to the year 2026 and Watertown, Wisconsin. Band Director Reid LaDew followed the school district’s “controversial issues policy,” sending a note home to parents in October 2025, letting them know months in advance that the class would be studying and preparing “A Mother of a Revolution!” (that band piece by Omar Thomas I mentioned earlier) for the Spring 2026 concert. The band director wrote to parents: “The purpose behind studying “A 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,” he continued, “helps foster empathy, cultural awareness, and respect for the stories and struggles that shape our shared history.” He was giving parents the opportunity that if they had issues with the piece, they could opt their child out of the concert. Three families did so. At the time, the school board didn’t object.
The Watertown High School Band practiced the music for five months. Just six days before the Spring concert, the Watertown School Board banned “A Mother of a Revolution!” from the high school spring concert, saying it violated the district’s controversial issues policy. In a statement, the school board later said its responsibility is to provide students with a “values-neutral” education. The decision was not unanimous, with a vote of 7-1. Board President Laurie Hoffmann voted against it, saying: “This is a perfect example of what everyone here ran on, which was ending indoctrination and radical curriculum.”
The day after the board decision, hundreds of students walked out of school protesting the Board’s decision. Many protest signs had been prepared to voice their objections. Such signs read: Let the Music Speak; Tells History Don’t Silence It; or Support Students Not Censorship. Despite the protests, the Spring Concert took place the following Tuesday with another piece of music taking the place of “A Mother of a Revolution!”
But the story doesn’t end there. Many Wisconsinites took action on news of the Watertown School Board decision. Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church Pastor Carina Schiltz told “Wisconsin Today” the congregation is openly welcoming and affirming of LGBTQ+ people. Immanuel Lutheran would fill its sanctuary with sound, celebration, and optimism the following Wednesday night, May 20, 2026, hosting current and former Watertown band students and community members playing “A Mother of a Revolution!” Composer Omar Thomas traveled to Wisconsin to be part of the event. He stood before the musicians to conduct his composition that inspired so much controversy in the Watertown community.
At the church on Wednesday, hundreds of people showed up for the performance, lining up around the block to get into the church. An overflow crowd listened outside under windows. And online, more than 3,000 people joined to watch the performance on a livestream. Before the performance, Thomas went outside to greet the people who couldn’t get inside. “It’s my honor to be here today,” Omar Thomas told the group. “Thank you for pulling up outside. It’s kind of chilly, but it means more than I can express. And you’re setting an example for people all over the country.”
“It’s in the common story-telling that we fill in the gaps of humanity,” Omar Thomas said before conducting the piece. “We start to learn about one another, we start to see all the ways in which we intersect. And then all of our differences become places of fascination, rather than points of fear. . . . Empathy is not a given. It’s a ‘muscle’ that we all have, but like any other muscle people have to choose to use it.”
Watertown clarinet player Kacie Tripp said she feels lucky to get to perform the music she has worked so hard on, and to have Thomas there to lead. “Honestly, I’m really happy to be a part of this,” Tripp said. “All of our hard work paid off in the end.” Kent Jacobson, a retired Watertown middle and elementary school principal, was one of the community members who attended the performance. He said he worked for more than 25 years to teach children to accept everyone and to be kind. “That is what we taught for all those years. And then to have this happen just didn’t make any sense to me,” Jacobson said. “I feel like a lot of hard work has taken a step back, and I’m hoping we can take a step forward tonight.”
“There’s been an outpouring of gratitude and excitement and joy,” Pastor Schiltz said. “And we hope that this evening is one of connection and community and appreciating the musicality of this piece and the hard work that the performers and musicians have done to prepare for this evening’s performance.”
One of the protest signs hit home with me. The sign was directed at the school board and read: How Heavy is your Hate? That is a question we all should be asking ourselves. How heavy is the hate we carry at times? It is the Golden Rule that frees us of this burden. All we have to do is follow it.
Jeff Alderson
Bethania Lutheran Church,
Racine, WI, June 28, 2026
YouTube: https://youtu.be/HFH7dArlnSM
Sermon Take-Home Notes
