Minnesota Teacher Exits Award Race After Leather Photos Surface
A right-wing outlet shared racy photos of Thomas Rosengren competing in a "Mr. Minneapolis Eagle" contest.
A Minnesota teacher withdrew from consideration for the 2026 Teacher of the Year award after a right-wing news site circulated photos of him in leather bondage gear.
The right-wing publication Alpha News Minnesota published a story on April 13 revealing online images of Thomas Rosengren, a sixth-grade teacher and theater educator for the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City School District.
The images, taken during the 2019 “Mr. Minneapolis Eagle” contest and described by Alpha News as publicly available, show Rosengren in a cowboy hat, buttoned shirt, and jeans holding a sign reading: “It’s feeding time on the farm. Cowboy Tommy is feeding the six piglets & bull.”
Two other men in leather gear — one shirtless and one in a vest — were photographed removing Rosengren’s shirt to reveal a leather harness. The images also depict the men touching and licking his neck and torso, and later engaging in a simulated sex act onstage atop a hay bale.
Alpha News shared images of Rosengren onstage during another segment, speaking into a microphone while wearing a cowboy hat, chest harness, and leather jockstrap. None of the images show explicit nudity. He was crowned “Mr. Minneapolis Eagle” and qualified for the 2019 International Mr. Leather contest, held each spring in Chicago.
A brief profile of International Mr. Leather contestants in The Leather Journal described Rosengren as a dedicated “boy of service” who was first “collared as a bratty boy” in 2016.
Rosengren joined the leather community less than a year after beating lung cancer and an unspecified kidney disease. He announced he was cancer-free in September 2015.
There is no indication that parents or students were aware of Rosengren’s involvement in the Eagle pageant or the leather community.
Alpha News contacted Education Minnesota to ask about the images and also asked Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City School District Superintendent Kip Lynk whether district officials were aware of the photos and considered it appropriate for teachers to appear in publicly accessible images of that nature.
In response, Lynk told the outlet: “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.”
“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,” Lynk responded.
Rosengren began as a theater director with the district in 2015 and served as a substitute teacher before being hired full-time in 2021. He was credited with growing the theater program from 12 students to more than 50. He also taught earth science and Minnesota history to sixth graders and worked in reading and math intervention.
He was one of 11 finalists for the Teacher of the Year award and was scheduled to interview with an independent selection panel on May 2. Had he been chosen, he would have received the award at a May 3 banquet in St. Paul. After the images were shared by Alpha News, he withdrew from consideration.
Lynk, the superintendent of the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City School District, later told the Tribune that the school district had no comment regarding Rosengren, but did confirm he is no longer employed by the school district.
Lynk later told the West Central Tribune that the district had no comment on Rosengren but confirmed he is no longer employed there.
It remains unclear whether Rosengren’s departure was voluntary. Multiple outlets were unable to reach him for comment.
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