Principal Quits After Allowing Antigay Band to Play at School

A high school principal who green lit a performance from an antigay Christian rock band at a school assembly announced his resignation Wednesday.

Mike Cooper, principal of Dunkerton High School, allowed the band Junkyard Prophet, associated with the ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, to play for students. When the music stopped, the group began a sermon-like speech on "moral standards" that condemned homosexuality, transgenderism, and abortion. At one point, graphic images of allegedly aborted fetuses were displayed on a projector screen. The speech was captured on video and posted to YouTube, sparking nation-wide outrage (see below).

Following the episode Iowa's Superintendent of Schools Jim Stanton criticized Cooper for allowing the assembly and said that the concert "didn't conform to the district's teaching of tolerance." Earlier this month, he blasted the group, and said no such messages had a place in Iowa's schools. Stanton claimed that Cooper's resignation was for other reasons and had been planned in advance of the controversial issue. "He simply wants to be a superintendent," Stanton said. Cooper will continue to hold his position through the remainder of the school year.

Dunkerton parent Jennifer Littlefield told the Associated Press, "They told these kids that anyone who was gay was going to die at the age of 42. It just blows me away that no one stopped this."

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has helped raise money for the You Can Run But You Cannot Hide ministry in an effort to block marriage rights in Minnesota. The ministry was created by Evangelical leader Bradlee Dean, who is has been a paid speaker at public school assemblies about the dangers of homosexuality.

Cooper's resignation follows that of Tennessee Principal Dorothy J. Bond, who resigned after telling gays and pregnant teens their "lives were over" and that they "were going to hell."