Missouri officials threatened to defund Columbia library over lawful LGBTQ+ story time, alleging grooming without citing a violated law

On July 28, 2026, Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins and state Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican running for Congress, held a joint press conference announcing an investigation into the Daniel Boone Regional Library in Columbia and threatening to cut its state and federal funding over a "rainbow story time" the library's Columbia branch had hosted for toddlers and preschoolers on July 25. The $26 event — its only added cost was an $18 prop wig and $8 of contact paper — featured readings of two picture books, "Rainbowsaurus," about a family searching for a rainbow dinosaur, and "Big Wig," about a child who wins a costume contest in drag; library staff said neither book contains sexual content.

Before the event, library executive director Robin Westphal had received a letter from Attorney General Catherine Hanaway stating that "local residents" had asked her office to ensure the event complied with Missouri laws against providing minors pornographic or sexually explicit material, and a more explicit warning from Hoskins that he would "do everything in my power to block every dollar of state and federal funding" from future Daniel Boone library events if the reading went forward. The library held the story time as scheduled; Columbia residents turned out in support, chalking "love is love" messages on the sidewalk outside.

At Tuesday's press conference, Hoskins and Brattin repeatedly called the event "grooming" and, per Hoskins, "unconscionable, if not criminal," and said they would work with the legislature to outlaw similar programming if it proved not to already be illegal. Neither official would say whether the two specific books met Missouri's legal definition of pornographic material for minors, which requires content that caters to a prurient interest in minors, depicts nudity or sexual acts, and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson, who had been copied on Hanaway's letter, told a local reporter it is "not a crime to talk about LGBTQ+ issues" and that the underlying statutes concern depictions of sexual activity, not gender identity. Hoskins said he had separately contacted Missouri's House budget chair and Senate appropriations chair to raise concerns about state funding to the library system.