On Tuesday, the Austin, Minnesota City Council voted to remove a member of the city’s Human Rights Commission, citing concerns over his views and his involvement with groups whose missions, according to the Human Rights Commission, do not align with the Commission’s values. One of the groups in question is Minnesota Family Council. Although members of the City Council and the Human Rights Council insisted that this is “not about politics” and also nothing against Mueller personally, their interviews and statements to the press did not offer specific critiques but instead mentioned vague concerns about his social media involvement and his views not aligning with the Human Rights Commission.
Which views might those be? In a statement to the City Council, Mueller shed some light on the matter saying,
I have served on the Human Rights Commission and throughout the community since moving back to the area without incident or issue until recently with no change in my actions, commitment to the community or attitudes to others. What has changed is that my wife was elected to the MN House of Representatives and now people who were once colleagues and community connections we supported have begun to attack my wife and now me over political differences.
Mueller additionally cited his attendance at events from various organizations including Minnesota Family Council as part of the reason for these attacks. He also faced criticism from the Council because his wife, Representative Patricia Mueller, was one of the representatives who co-sponsored a bill protecting athletic opportunities for female students by preventing biological males from competing on girls’ sports teams. Mueller went on to say,
What I learned from the last meeting of the HRC is that the main reason and proof is that my wife signed on to the Protection for Girls in Women’s Sports Bill that seeks to protect girls from competing against biological boys in female sports.
Limiting athletic competitions on the basis of biological sex rather than gender identity is not bigotry but a commonsense acknowledgment of the biological differences between males and females. Not only that, but Mueller himself was not the one co-sponsoring this bill as he is not a member of the House of Representatives. His removal from the Commission was based not on what he has said and done, but on “guilt” by association. His suspected views were enough for the Commission and the City Council to decide that he was no longer welcome to serve the community as a member of the Human Rights Commission.
One council member, Jason Baskin, voted against Mueller’s removal, pointing out that removing someone for holding a minority viewpoint is a dangerous precedent that could have a chilling effect on open debate.
By voting to remove Mueller, the Austin City Council and Human Rights Commission are making it clear that certain beliefs are not welcome in their community and that dissenters will be silenced.
