Kansas House lawmakers display LGBTQ flags on their desks during a vote April 5, 2023, to override the governor’s veto and impose a transgender sports ban on public schools. (Rachel Mipro/Kansas Reflector)
Just like that, a chilling cut to public television funds in Kansas was rescinded.
Wednesday morning, the Senate Ways and Means Committee heard budget recommendations from the Senate Commerce Committee. Last week, that panel had stripped 10% of the state’s PBS funds. Why? Sen. Caryn Tyson, R-Parker, was offended by a documentary about LGBTQ+ Kansans. While an attack on free speech and expression, the cut was somehow better than Tyson’s original proposal of dynamiting the entire $500,000 public television budget.
“We have the hammer, and I’m going to swing this hammer in a large way,” Tyson said then.
The tone was substantially different Wednesday morning.
“I hate to see us cut public broadcasting because of hearsay,” said Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, after attempting to pry details of the cut from Commerce Charwoman Sen. Renee Erickson, R-Wichita. Erickson wouldn’t name the offending show, and Tyson didn’t do so last week either — I only identified it as “ No Place Like Home: The Struggle Against Hate in Kansas ” after checking with the head of the Kansas Public Broadcasting Council.