by Chris Peterson
A community theatre production of Shrek the Musical in Parker, Colorado, has lost a sponsor mid-run after Denver Lutheran High School withdrew its sponsorship over the show’s use of Pride flags during the song “Freak Flag.”
In a statement, the school said it was removing its sponsorship for the remainder of the run after learning a recent performance “continued to include the content that does not align with the mission of Lutheran High School.” The statement also emphasized that the decision was “not indicative of our relationship with Parker Arts,” but rather a choice based on the content presented in the production not aligning with the school’s mission.
The production, staged at the PACE Center under the Parker Arts umbrella, had drawn complaints from some audience members after performers incorporated Pride flags into “Freak Flag,” a number that centers on embracing difference and rejecting shame. Despite reported conversations about changing that staging choice, the flags remained in the performance, and the school’s sponsorship was pulled.
Now, here’s where I want to be careful, because it’s easy to turn this into a cartoon.
I’m not looking to condemn a faith-based school for having a mission. They’re allowed to have a mission. They’re allowed to decide what they sponsor. They’re allowed to opt out of attaching their name and money to something they believe doesn’t align with their values. That part is not shocking, and it’s not automatically malicious.
But we also don’t get to hide behind vague phrasing and pretend we don’t all know what this actually is.
The “content” in question wasn’t profanity. It wasn’t violence. It wasn’t anything added to the script. It wasn’t even a plot point.
It was a Pride flag.
It was queer visibility—brief, symbolic, and entirely consistent with the message of the number it appeared in.
And that’s the part that’s hard to ignore, because “Freak Flag” is not subtle. It’s not a blink-and-you-miss-it moment. It’s the show standing on a chair, waving its arms, and yelling: the outsiders are done apologizing for taking up space. That’s the point. That’s the message. That’s why the song exists.
So when an institution says, essentially, “We can’t be associated with this because it doesn’t align with our mission,” there are real people in that community who hear something much more personal than the school probably intends.
Because here’s what a lot of LGBTQ students, families, and audience members will hear, whether anyone meant it that way or not: We were fine until you showed up.
And this is where I want to land, because you said it upfront: you want to stress acceptance.
Acceptance can’t just be a warm feeling you claim in a mission statement while quietly treating visibility as the problem. If the line is, “You can exist, just don’t be seen,” then that isn’t acceptance. That’s tolerance with conditions. That’s “we don’t want to hurt you, but we also don’t want to be associated with you.”
And maybe, in their minds, that feels like a compromise. Maybe it feels like the most respectful way to hold their beliefs without attacking anyone.
But it’s still a message. It still lands somewhere.
Because if a rainbow during “Freak Flag” is enough to trigger a sponsor withdrawal, we should at least be honest about what that says to the queer kids sitting in the audience watching all of this unfold.
They don’t hear “mission alignment.” They hear, “Not you.”
