4-H Club Removes Child’s Rainbow Drawing After Bigots Complain
The Chronicle, a local newspaper. As part of the painting, he wrote the slogan: “Have your heard the news? 4-H is 4 everyone,” with a drawing of an orange, yellow, green, and blue-colored rainbow underneath.Elwood said the design was meant to show the club was inclusive of LGBTQ individuals, a value that the national 4-H organization has promoted on its website, reports Des Moines-based CBS affiliate KCCI.But when the family drove by the window the following day, the rainbow had been removed.“I wasn’t expecting that at all,” Elwood Burns said. “I was kind of in shock.
I didn’t really know what to do. I also didn’t want to make a huge deal out of it, but I think inclusion should not be erased from a window like that, especially when 4-H is supposed to be fully inclusive in supporting LGBTQ+.”Rachel Burns told KCCI she contacted the club leader about the change and was told the club was receiving complaints, prompting the removal of the rainbow.
It is still unclear who specifically complained. The Chronicle said they did not have an issue with the painting and did not request its removal.But the Burns family said it bothered them that 4-H leaders removed the painting without informing them of the decision, and felt that the club had ceded to discriminatory demands and failed to stand by its values.Frannie Burns wrote an open letter explaining why she and her brother ultimately decided to quit the club. “I believe (removing the rainbow) was childish and inappropriate,” she wrote. “I also believe that this is telling the children of this 4-H club that it is right not to include members of the LGBTQ+ community which is not in fact right.
This is the reason I am quitting this club and moving to a new inclusive club. This is also the reason I ask this club either to change for the better or close.”Another child also quit the club in solidarity with the Burns family.Rachel Burns posted her daughter’s letter to social media.
