District president urges board to protect transgender students amid MSHSL eligibility debate

Max Maher, district president, addressed the Osseo Area Schools Board of Education during audience opportunity at the Aug. 26 meeting and urged board members to avoid policies that would exclude transgender students from athletic participation.

Maher said concerns previously raised about the district's membership in the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) were "not defined and not substantiated." He argued that proposals to amend eligibility rules in ways that would exclude a protected class of students would contravene Minnesota law and the district's values. "The idea that inclusion can be achieved by excluding a protected class of students is not just contradictory, it erases students from the field entirely," Maher said.

Maher told the board that, in the community's discussions to date, "Not one specific example has been offered. Only abstract discomfort dressed up as concern." He urged the board to seek evidence before advocating for changes that would affect students' participation and to avoid elevating national culture-war rhetoric at a local school board meeting.

Maher also cited the Minnesota Human Rights Act and said that sweeping exclusions of transgender girls from sports "aren't about fairness, they're about fear." He asked board members to "lead with courage and compassion." The speaker noted there is ongoing federal litigation in the community around athletic eligibility but said no public evidence had been presented to show current policy harmed student athletes.

No board action was taken on the point during the meeting; audience comments were heard during the public-comment portion of the agenda and the board did not respond from the dais at that time.