Thomas Rosengren was a sixth-grade teacher and theater educator in the Atwater Cosmos Grove City public school district and also one of 11 finalists for Minnesota’s Teacher of the Year award, until the right-wing publication Alpha News Minnesota contacted the district’s superintendent about photos of Rosengren participating in an erotically charged performance as part of the 2019 “Mr. Minneapolis Eagle” gay leather pageant.

Shortly thereafter, Rosengren withdrew himself from consideration for the award and, as of yesterday, he no longer works for the district, The Central West Tribune reported.

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Photos from the pageant showed Rosengren dressed in a cowboy hat, buttoned shirt, and jeans, holding a sign that read, “It’s feeding time on the farm. Cowboy Tommy is feeding the six piglets & bull.” In other pics, men (also shirtless but wearing pants and clad in leather) remove his shirt to reveal his leather harness underneath, and then lick and caress his neck and torso.

Additional pics showed other shirtless men (not Rosengren) wearing leather gear and simulating sexual acts on a hay bale. Other pics showed Rosengren, speaking onstage with a microphone while wearing only a cowboy hat, a chest harness, and a skimpy jockstrap. While erotically charged, none of the images showed actual fornication, buttocks, or genitalia.

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The Eagle bar in Minneapolis holds weekly and monthly events as well as occasional pageants and fundraisers. Numerous gay leather and kink bars internationally share the Eagle name, but Minnesota state law prohibits establishments like the Eagle from allowing full nudity or sex among its patrons.

The aforementioned right-wing publication asked Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City School District Superintendent Kip Lynk if district officials were aware of Rosengren’s images and whether they considered it appropriate for teachers to appear in publicly accessible images of this nature. (The photos were seemingly taken from Rosengren’s Facebook profile.)

In response, Lynk wrote, “Under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, Mr. Rosengren is entitled to data privacy protections, and without his consent, there is limited information I can share.” However, Rosengren withdrew from the 2026 Teacher of the Year competition shortly thereafter. Lynk later confirmed that Rosengren no longer works for the district.

There is no indication that parents or children knew of Rosengren’s involvement in the Eagle pageant or leather community.

He began working for the district as a musical and play director in December 2015 and became a full-time 6th-grade teacher in May 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile. During his time with the district, he Rosengren helped his school’s theater program grow from 12 students to more than 50.

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