Osseo Area Schools will be flying “Progress Pride flags inside of all buildings within the district” beginning Thursday to commemorate “Pride” month.
“Our district will be raising Progress Pride flags inside of all buildings within the district beginning June 1,” the school district said in a May 25 email to parents obtained by Alpha News.
The email referenced Osseo’s 2022 LGBTQ resolution which outlines that in addition to raising Pride flags on June 1, the district will “establish a full month before June during each academic year to observe LGBTQIA+ History and Culture Month.”
“Osseo Area Schools seeks to eliminate transphobia and homophobia in any form and is committed to examining our own practices, procedures, and policies to identify structural barriers that are embedded and perpetuated in the educational system,” the resolution states.
In its June 21, 2022, resolution, the board resolved that Osseo school facilities will provide “increased privacy and greater student choice in restrooms and locker rooms.”
“Osseo Area School Board declares June as Pride Month and directs the Superintendent and all District staff to support policies, practices, and curricula that respect LGBTQIA+ students and their families in June and throughout the school year,” the resolution says.
The district has also developed an “LGBTQIA+” advisory group and committed to providing “ongoing support for the Assistant Superintendent of Equity and Achievement.”
The email from the district provided a resource for parents to use to talk to their children about Pride month, which quotes the YouTuber Queer Kids Stuff, and tells parents to “make an environment that normalizes the existence of queer people.” The article says that parents should read books and watch TV shows with their kids that have LGBTQ characters and family structures.
“It’s also important to make activism and solutions a part of the conversation,” the resource says.
Some parents have concerns, with one telling Alpha News that celebrating Pride month in schools is inappropriate.
“A third-grader doesn’t even understand ‘sexual attraction.’ This discussion does not belong in the schools,” Korissa Olson, a parent of an Osseo student, told Alpha News.
“I will be keeping my child home from school for Pride Day,” she said. “We will make this a Pray Day and pray for those that are caught up in the lies of this movement, that we may show kindness and love.”
Another Osseo parent recently spoke at a school board meeting, criticizing the district’s move to implement LGBTQ curriculum. LaDawn Severin read excerpts of a picture book that the district has confirmed is “included in kindergarten classrooms as an option during independent reading time.” The book questions the ability of parents to accurately gender their children at birth.
A mom confronts a Minnesota school board over the book 'Call Me Max,' which discusses a child's gender transition.
She claims the book has been given to first-graders in the school district. pic.twitter.com/W2guYez81H
— Crisis in the Classroom (@CITClassroom) May 25, 2023
The book, “Call me Max,” is about a transgender boy and explains that parents can make “a mistake” when saying babies are boys or girls.
“This assaults the God-given identity of young males and young females,” Severin said. “First-graders are busy enough trying to master phonics and trying to learn how to read. Why would we allow authority figures to plant seeds of doubt in their existence simply as a boy or a girl?”
Hayley Feland
Hayley Feland previously worked as a journalist with The Minnesota Sun, The Wisconsin Daily Star, and The College Fix. She is a Minnesota native with a passion for politics and journalism.
