Jesus is Out. LGBT is In. Welcome to America.

In the Middleton-Cross Plains School District in Middleton, Wisconsin, kids who want to be a part of a GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) club have the full support of the district’s administrators.

The weekly Jesus Lunch is a longstanding tradition in the community and is hugely popular.

But if those kids or any other kids want to gather outside during school hours and have a “Jesus Lunch” — well, there’s a problem, folks.

The district superintendent and other administrators recently blocked a group of parents who were toting free lunches to a park next to the school in order to meet with high school students and talk about God.

So Jesus is out. LGBT is in. Simple.

On a section of the school district’s website that explains the activities of the Glacier Creek Middle School’s GSA club, a letter reads, “Students have also met with the high school group SAGE (Sexuality and Gender Equality) several times to get ideas for school activities and events, but also to bridge the gap between the middle school and high school experience. This year the GSA is also expanding to meet with other middle school GSAs …

“Another aspect the group has focused on is more communication about the group to the school. The GSA has written special student-read announcements to encourage membership. The club has also been developing a brochure to distribute to students regarding the GSA and its mission, and has plans for an ‘information distribution day’ where students plan to hand out ribbons, bookmarks and pencils with club information included.”

Hmm. Sounds like recruitment by a progressive, radical group. But a healthy lunch and a dose of spiritual insight outside in the fresh air, at a community park no less, are considered too dangerous.

The weekly Jesus Lunch is a longstanding tradition in the community, according to EAG News. Parents meet with students at Fireman’s Park — next to the high school — to eat a good lunch, talk about their Christian faith, and distribute Bibles.

[lz_third_party includes=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6Ct38yx2xE”]

The “Jesus Lunches” started on the high school campus with a handful of students who met their moms for lunch. It became so big over the past few years it moved off campus, according to multiple media reports.

“In the spring of 2014 … 10 students invited their friends to a free lunch and a brief spiritual talk in the open-air pavilion across from the high school,” according to AllGodsPeople.com. “The group [met] for eight weeks in the fall, and eight weeks in the spring. The first week 40 students showed up, then 70; the next week, 100 students came. The five moms make all the meals, set the tables, arrange for the speakers, and clean up, every week.”

The group grew to 400 to 450 students each week, representing “25 percent of the Middleton High School student body,” said the same report.

District superintendent Don Johnson denies there is prejudice against the Jesus Lunch group.

School officials recently sent a letter to district parents expressing concerns about the lunches and urging parents to end the program. The letter said school officials “believe religious or political events do not have a place in our schools or on our campus, except when sponsored by a student group in accordance with our rules, which require prior approval.” Or except when those events are  centered around sexual identity — it seems.

District superintendent Don Johnson denies there is prejudice against the Jesus Lunch group.

“It’s not as good a story as ‘public schools don’t like religion and they hate Jesus and they love transgender and gay people and that’s not fair,'” he told LifeZette. “The issue is about our lease with the city for this park, and our understanding of that lease.”

Johnson contends that the school’s understanding of that lease is that there was to be no alcohol, no smoking, no loud noise, and no events at the pavilion in the park during the school day. “The Jesus Lunch folks then told us the city had issued them the permit to hold the lunches. Then the city attorney said it’s a public park, and we can’t tell anyone that they can’t use it for whatever they want,” said Johnson.

Long story short — the school district has ended its lease with the city for the park. It is now up to the city what happens there, Johnson said.

The school district has also expressed concern about the quality of the food served to students, but Phil Stamman, the Christian group’s lawyer, rejected that.

“Their true motivation is clear – it’s religious speech [they object to],” said Stamman, who told EAG News that school officials have tried to obtain police help to evict the parents, but they have declined to do so.

“Students are free to go a local gas station to buy food, a friend’s house, McDonalds,” he continued. “It’s not an issue with food. The problem is the religious message and the fact that it’s becoming too effective.”

“Jesus Lunch has changed me,” said one student. “I honestly wake up every Tuesday excited to come here. Thank you so much and God bless.”

Johnson told LifeZette that the Jesus Lunch moms also came into the school several times without permission.

“They all seem like warm and positive people, but we don’t allow adults to come in and sponsor events during the school day,” he said.

Unless, of course — the club is a GSA organization.

“A GSA club does have a teacher-adviser,” he said when asked. He said this is not due to state law or directives from the Board of Education, but because that’s how clubs in the district work.

“To have a club, you have to have a supervisor or adviser — there needs to be an adult present,” he said. One could argue that’s exactly the role the Jesus Lunch adults were playing. “It can be someone from inside the school if it meets during a school day,” Johnson said.

What do the kids themselves think of Jesus Lunches — something they are not required nor enticed to attend but do so of their own free will? On the group’s Facebook page, one junior wrote, “Jesus Lunch has changed me. I have become close with so many people I wouldn’t expect to be close with. I honestly wake up every Tuesday excited to come here. Thank you so much and God bless.”

A freshman wrote, “Jesus Lunch has given me a positive environment to go to at lunch! I always look forward to the nice escape from school.”

And a student named Mary posted, “It means so much to me that … as a devoted Christian, [I] can practice my religion with like-minded, kind-hearted people.”