(Missouri Independent) – Missouri Republican officials threatened Tuesday to cut state funding for Columbia’s public library after staff held a reading of LGBTQ+ children’s books last week. 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. “These families have a legal right to exist in Missouri and in every other state,” she said. 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. That year, House lawmakers proposed cutting all state funding for libraries after the Missouri Association of School Librarians joined a lawsuit challenging state restrictions on what school libraries can put on shelves.