Ban on Pentagrams Lifted in New Mexico School District

September 24, 1999

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

On September 24, 1999, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the public school board in Roswell, New Mexico voted 4-1 to lift a ban on students wearing pentagrams, a Wiccan symbol. The school district had a ban on any "attire associated with gothic, satanic or occult-type activities such as pentagrams, etc.," but the pentagram has been excluded from this group because the district faced legal action from Kathryn King, a local minister of Wicca who says she knows approximately a dozen students in the district who adhere to Wicca. Following the recent vote, King expressed the sentiment of the Wiccan students in the school district: "They were very proud this morning that they could finally do that (wear pentagrams)."