Missouri Republicans threaten library funding over ‘rainbow story time’

The event featured two picture books: “Rainbowsaurus,” which follows a family in search of a rainbow dinosaur, and “Big Wig,” which tells the story of a young child who dresses up in drag and wins a costume contest. The event was free and open to the public. 

Hoskins, who told reporters he had looked up the books but not read them, said he will use his powers over the Missouri State Library to affect which grants go to regional libraries that shelve books he deems inappropriate.

“I am going to take a look at how (state and federal) funds are allocated and the application process for that,” Hoskins said. “Because in my opinion, events like that and books that groom kids are not appropriate use of taxpayer dollars.”

Robin Westphal, the library’s executive director, told The Independent that the event used mostly existing resources apart from $18 for a prop wig and $8 for contact paper used for a craft.

Before the event, Westphal received letters from Hoskins and Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, both of whom said they were responding to complaints from Columbia residents.

“Local residents have requested that my office take action to ensure this event is conducted in a manner consistent with Missouri law,” Hanaway’s letter read, citing laws that restrict providing minors with pornographic material or displaying explicit sexual material in a public setting.

Hanaway’s office did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday asking whether it was still investigating the story time.

Hoskins issued a more explicit warning in a letter he sent last Friday.

“If this inappropriate endeavor for children takes place, I will do everything in my power to block every dollar of state and federal funding I can from future events at the Daniel Boone library system,” he wrote.

Despite the warnings and mounting attention, the library continued with the story time as planned. On Saturday, Columbia residents showed up to support the decision, writing affirming messages on the sidewalk in front of the library proclaiming “love is love” with hearts and peace signs.

Westphal said Saturday was the first time the library held a story time geared toward families with LGBTQ+ parents, but it had previously offered LGBTQ+ programming without garnering such public concern.

“These families have a legal right to exist in Missouri and in every other state,” she said. “Don’t these families deserve to see their family represented in programming?”

Hoskins and Brattin told reporters the books were inappropriate for young children and alleged that LGBTQ+ book readings are part of a larger effort to groom children. But they did not directly answer whether the books read Saturday rose to the level of pornography or “sexually explicit material,” which would be illegal for the library to display to minors.

Brattin said that if he learns that the event was legal, he would work to strengthen state laws to prevent similar readings in the future.

“If it’s not illegal, then we’re going to be working with the legislature,” he said. “I had several legislators that called out to me and said, ‘Hey, if this is not illegal, we want to file bills to ensure this is illegal in the future.’”

Hoskins said he contacted the House budget chairman and the Senate appropriations chair to express his concerns about state funds going to Daniel Boone Regional Library, raising the possibility of a funding battle similar to what Missouri lawmakers considered in 2023. That year, House lawmakers proposed cutting all state funding for libraries after the Missouri Association of School Libraries joined a lawsuit challenging state restrictions on what school libraries can put on shelves. That cut didn’t survive negotiations with the Senate, and the law at the center of the lawsuit was struck down last year.

But for Hoskins and Brattin, the fight is not over.

“I will work tirelessly if this is not remedied, if this is not stopped, to defund libraries that continue to (read inappropriate books),” Brattin said.

Their central objection was the advertised age group: toddlers and preschool-aged children. That was too young, they said, alleging children were being “targeted” and “groomed” through LGBTQ+ picture books.

Westphal is confident that the library’s staff wouldn’t choose anything inappropriate.

“We have a veteran staff, with over 100 years of combined experience just from the masters’ degreed level librarians, who have been doing story times for many years, and they are experts at determining what is appropriate for both our collection and programming,” she said.

Staff select books based on reviews, awards, how well they sound read aloud and how interactive they can be during group story time. “Rainbowsaurus,” she noted, was the School Reading List Children’s Picture Book of the Year for 2024 and was nominated for a prestigious award for its illustrations.

State Rep. Wick Thomas, a Kansas City Democrat, drove to the event Saturday and made another trip Tuesday to check out the two books and read them aloud at the State Capitol following Brattin’s and Hoskins’s press conference.

Thomas told reporters that Saturday’s event was “wholesome” and well-attended.

“Everyone is just confused as to why this is even a topic because no one was forced to be there,” Thomas said. “Families chose to bring their children to this story time.”

Brattin’s and Hoskins’s threats, Thomas said, felt like “government censorship.”

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