GEORGETOWN — A recent public mural in the historic suburb of Austin not only promotes hazardous sexual behaviors, but it has reportedly sparked discrimination against a local church.
Celebrating LGBT Ideology
Every year, Georgetown Independent School District partners with the City of Georgetown’s Arts and Culture Board to give students the chance to pitch ideas for a mural on the side of a building in the historic town square. This year’s winner, entitled “Be Your Own Person,” was affixed alongside last year’s winner of “Everyone Deserves Kindness” and features poppy flowers painted in traditional red as well as various versions of LGBT+ flags, which celebrate various deviant sex acts.
“This mural is really an ode to the diversity and unique individuals that make up Forbes [Middle School],” said fine arts teacher Cynthia Urban. “It’s something that embraces everyone in the community.”
The mural also features the “transgender” flag—an ideology now in Texas public schools that teaches children they can pretend to be whatever biological sex or creature they feel like.
The April 26 Meeting
Not everyone in the community was thrilled with the school district’s and city’s decision.
“To me, this is a political statement,” said Georgetown City Councilman Kevin Pitts at last month’s meeting. “We should not be putting up art like this in our city; this is divisive.”
“The [poppies] represent all colors of the rainbow, and it was never intended to advocate for a certain group,” said Amanda Still, the city’s Arts and Culture coordinator.
Still claims she did not know that the striped poppies were all the exact color schemes for the various flags of the LGBT ideology, saying “the beauty of art is that it’s open to interpretation.”
Pitts dismissed the claim and said the city needed to amend the mural selection policy.
“We need to add to the policy that there’ll be no politics, and we need to work with the school district to get this corrected and stop having any political statements in our city art,” he said.
Councilman Tommy Gonzalez echoed the need.
“Well, that [interpretation] can be a problem because one person can interpret it as a benign lovely feature, and someone else can interpret it as racial or political, so we must have strict definitions as to what that means to the city of Georgetown,” Gonzalez said.
In the public comments portion of the meeting, Pastor Brad Helgerson of Georgetown’s Church on the Square spoke to the board on the hazards of promoting the sexual behaviors and gender confusion ideology.
“Deny gravity by jumping off a high-rise building, and the consequences are immediate,” said Helgerson. “But if you deny biological gender, the consequent consequences may be delayed, but they will be no less tragic.”
Many have been fooled into thinking that such a rebellion against reality is an act of liberation, that when we tear down every norm, we will be left with a freer society. That true freedom comes when the shackles of the sacred are removed. But the work of the LGBTQ movement is not the work of liberation, but of liberationists, whose desires to destroy the societal order itself, precisely because of its demand for conformity. In other words, it’s not a matter of open-mindedness, but of closed-heartedness to right judgment, that is the problem.
I know this seems extreme in the context of one mural, but it’s not just a mural. It’s a piece of propaganda for an ideology that seeks to destroy western civilization and to use our children as its foot soldiers. And so, it’s not culture that we’re talking about, but it’s anti-culture. And the refusal to push back against it now will mean the substantial loss of real liberty for our children in the future.
Additionally, two mothers spoke to the council on the issue, echoing the concerns of Helgerson and the impact of such ideology on children.
“We can pretend like it’s not representing anything, but I think we all know that’s a lie,” said Leah Mathison.
“I don’t want my children desensitized to evil,” affirmed Kate Pamplin.
Discrimination?
Following this meeting, Helgerson said, “[We] received notice … that our rental lease with the Palace Theater has been terminated, effective immediately (two days before our Mother’s Day service).”
“No doubt this is in retaliation for my remarks at the city council meeting last week,” Helgerson added.
Texas Scorecard reviewed the termination notice of the lease, which states, “The Georgetown Palace theatre is no longer able to make our spaces available for rent to the Church on the Square due to resource management issues. This letter serves as notice that we are terminating the rental agreement, effective May 6th, 2022.”
The Church on the Square held its Mother’s Day service on the Georgetown Courthouse lawn alongside two other local congregations.
Helgerson told Texas Scorecard, “The actual service was wonderful. I mean, it really was; it was a wonderful time. So we, everyone in the congregation, feel good. We feel like we’re doing God’s work. And … no one has any anxiety, and we feel good about what we’ve done, and what we’ve said, and what the future holds. So, it’s just a matter of the logistics of finding a space that will work.”
In the meantime, the Church on the Square intends to continue meeting on the courthouse lawn, despite the unpredictable Texas weather.
“We don’t want to move away from the square,” said Helgerson. “Because it seems to us that’s what they want, right? They want us to be quiet, to silence us, and to get us off the square.”
“The reason why we started the church was to do this kind of thing, and to be on the square right to be at the center of town.”
Upcoming City Council Meeting
Laura Sewell, Southwestern University’s director of the Sarofim School of Fine Arts Administration and former vice chair of the Georgetown Arts and Culture Board, will speak at the May 17 city council meeting on the “Be Your Own Person” mural, though the issue is not on the agenda for council discussion. Sewell is expected to speak in favor of the mural.
However, in order to speak at the city council meeting on an issue not posted on the official agenda, citizens must register to speak the week prior. Many local citizens missed the registration deadline, since the Church on the Square’s lease was terminated just last Friday.
Concerned citizens can contact the Georgetown City Council to register comments on the issue.
