“…Rick Brattin (r) and Denny Hoskins (r) are the pre-eminent legal scholars and final arbiters of the law in the State of Missouri, said no one ever…”

Pearl clutchers gotta clutch pearls.

What Missouri officials didn’t explain about an LGBTQ+ library story time
Jason Hancock
July 30, 2026 5:45 am

Denny Hoskins wants to cut a library’s funding over two books he has not read.

He Googled them, saw excerpts and looked at some pictures. For Missouri’s secretary of state, that was enough.

The books are “Rainbowsaurus,” the tale of a family searching for a rainbow dinosaur, and “Big Wig,” about a child who wins a costume contest in drag. Staff at a Columbia library read them aloud to toddlers and preschoolers during a “rainbow story time” attended by families who chose to be there.

The additional cost to Daniel Boone Regional Library for the event was $26 — $18 for a prop wig and $8 for contact paper. Everything else came from resources the public already owns.

When Hoskins learned of the event, he warned the library that if the “inappropriate endeavor” went forward, he would use his authority over the Missouri State Library to block every dollar of state and federal funding he could from future events.

The library read the books anyway.

And thus, a press conference was quickly convened.

Hoskins stood beside Rick Brattin, a state senator running for Congress, with a warning letter from Attorney General Catherine Hanaway providing the legal backdrop. Together, they brought the machinery of state government to bear on a Saturday morning story time for preschoolers.

[….]

“…Denny Hoskins wants to cut a library’s funding over two books he has not read…”

Next step, book burning for fun and profit.

Previously:

Addressing Bigotry – Warrensburg, Missouri City Council Meeting – May 8, 2023 – part 3 (May 9, 2023)

Some (former) constituents are more equal than others (June 4, 2023)