Missouri Republicans threaten to defund library over books about a rainbow dinosaur and a wig
Republicans targeted Columbia Public Library’s wholesome “Rainbow Story Time” despite finding nothing inappropriate inside the beloved books
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On Saturday, July 25, the Columbia Public Library in Missouri hosted a family-friendly event called “Rainbow Story Time” in which librarians read "Rainbowsaurus" by Steve Antony (about a search for a rainbow dinosaur) and "Big Wig" by Jonathan Hillman (about the power of a glorious wig).
Both books are cute, adorable, colorful, and no different from any other children’s book you might have enjoyed.
To be clear, these weren’t events featuring drag queens (not that there would have been anything wrong with that). Just regular librarians inviting families to bring their toddlers and preschoolers to the free event. And an estimated 150 people attended.
Before the event even occurred, though, the library received a letter from Secretary of State Denny Hoskins and Attorney General Catherine Hanaway—both Republicans, of course—telling them to halt the event before it even began, according to the Missouri Independent:
“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.
The library wrote back and essentially said There’s nothing to worry about! They checked and the books were “age-appropriate” and not-at-all illegal!
By Friday, Hoskins followed up with an even bigger threat:
“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.
The event was not halted. It was fabulous. And so Republicans kept whining.
On Tuesday, Hoskins and State Sen. Rick Brattin (who’s running for Congress) held a press conference announcing they were investigating the library’s use of taxpayer dollars—the event cost all of $26 for crafts—and threatened to rescind any future funding from the entire library system.
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.”
He didn’t read the book?! It takes about 30 seconds to read both books. And at no point did any child swap genders as a result of learning about the power of a good wig.
Maybe because they never read the books, nowhere in the press conference did they bother to explain if there was “pornographic material” or “explicit sexual material” in them. Which is to say: They held a press conference to claim the library had done something illegal but were too lazy to offer the bare minimum of proof. They just wanted the cameras on them because they know that in a red state like Missouri, banning books riles up the ignorant Republican base, and if that means making an enemy out of the library, so be it.
Anyway, because there’s literally no way these books violate any law, they soon pivoted to saying they’re going to rewrite the laws so that books like these are illegal to read to children.
“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.’”
Are they going to write laws to prohibit kids from reading books with more than four colors? Or that feature hair that’s more than twice the size of a human head? They were so obsessed with landing the accusation, they never even thought about any possible follow-up questions.
In 2024, by the way, Brattin made headlines when he voted against a rape exception to the state’s abortion ban and justified it by saying carrying a rapist’s baby was a form of “healing” for the victims. He’s also previously argued there’s a “distinction between homosexuality and just being a human being.” You’ll never guess his religion. (Okay, you get one guess.)
For those of us who are old enough to remember Reading Rainbow, how lucky were we to be able to enjoy that show without conservatives claiming it was left-wing propaganda?
In any case, you know what happened at the end of this library-hosted event? A bunch of kids and parents went home happier and more eager to read. Nothing remotely objectionable happened. The only scandal was that a bunch of Republicans eager for some culture-war drama in an election season saw the word “rainbow” and a picture of a wig and jumped to the immediate conclusion that this meant stripper poles, orgies, and rituals to turn kids LGBTQ.
If they ever read to their own kids, they might know better.
It’s telling that Hoskins and Brattin didn’t uncover anything damning in the books—not an image, not a scene, not even a sentence. Maybe that’s why Hoskins admitted he never read it—it was a lot easier than admitting he had and then having to defend the purpose of his press conference.
Librarians deserve better than having to defend children’s books from the most ignorant idiots in their state—ignorant idiots who have the power to rescind their funding. Their job is to help children discover books, exercise their imaginations, and develop a lifelong love of reading. And that’s what they were doing with this event! Good on them for not backing down at the first threat.
Voters need to remember that, too. Republicans want them to live in a bland, imagination-free world where there’s only ever one book that matters. That’s why they stoke fear: It’s way more useful than admitting there are other interesting options out there. The most dangerous things at this event weren’t the books being read to kids; it was the men behind the podium.
Republicans pander to the preachers while viewing human decency as a character flaw, all of it unencumbered by the thought process. Left up to these politicians America's public libraries would be reduced to the intellectual depth of a Christian bookstore.
Man, this shit is exhausting.