Chef reveals ‘radical’ reason why he fled popular city in red state

An award-winning Missouri chef has closed down his restaurant and is now planning to leave altogether after being made to feel unwelcome over what he says are the state’s anti-LGBTQ+ politics.

Chef Rob Connoley ran Bulrush in Midtown in St. Louis for five years from 2019, after moving to the city from New Mexico in 2017. But last weekend, he plated up his final dishes.

Connoley, who is gay, has been a James Beard Award finalist several years running, but feels the state is pushing forward an anti-gay and anti-trans agenda.

‘I have become uneasy promoting a state that is actively working to harm the LGBTQ community, especially the trans community,’ Connoley wrote in a lengthy Facebook post announcing his restaurant’s closure. 

‘As an owner of a reparative restaurant working to make amends for the harms of the past, but I can’t keep doing it. I can not continue supporting my own oppressor.

Chef Rob Connoley, a James Beard Awards finalist, has announced plans to leave Missouri due to what he perceives to be anti-LGBTQ+ politics

Connoley’s restaurant, Bulrush, located in Midtown, has been celebrated as the number one dining establishment in St. Louis. It closed last weekend after five years of service

Connoley made clear his disapproval of Missouri’s politics on his social media accounts

‘I need to run a business where I feel the contributions I’m making to the community are valued and the money I’m generating for the state is being well utilized instead of being used to attack me and people like my community,’ he said to KSDK. 

Connoley’s departure is a huge loss to the culinary scene. In the past, his restaurant  has been rated as the number one dining establishment in all of St. Louis.

His tasting menu included local ingredients such as mushrooms, acorns and quail eggs taking culinary inspiration from what European settlers, enslaved and indigenous people ate in the past.

Opening in 2019, Bulrush’s cuisine served food inspired by traditional Ozark recipes and even made a mark globally, with Connoley being sent to London promoting  Missouri dining.

But he believes that lawmakers in the state have actively targeted the LGBTQ+ community, with the Attorney General leading the charge.

Connoley began contemplating moving his business out of Missouri. He has expressed concern over what he sees as Missouri lawmakers targeting the LGBTQ+ community

Connoley, who is a married gay man, hopes that his moving away might also be seen as a powerful statement

Connoley believes efforts by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, pictured, to gain access medical records related to transgender care to be of particular concern

Missouri is one of several states that has restricted gender-affirming care for transgender minors. 

In 2023, its legislature passed a law that barred health care workers from providing gender-affirming surgeries, cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers to those under 18.  

Although the law exempted patients who already were receiving treatment, many medical providers in the state stopped providing care, citing legal risks

‘I’ve really struggled with how a business operates in a state that is leaning away from being conservative to being radical,’ he said to Fox 2.

In particular, Connoley believes efforts by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to  gain access medical records related to transgender care to be of particular concern. 

Opening in 2019, Bulrush’s cuisine served food inspired by traditional Ozark recipes

The tasting menu included local ingredients such as mushrooms, acorns and quail eggs taking inspiration from what European settlers, enslaved and indigenous people ate in the past

The request to access medical records is part of a state investigation into gender-affirming care for minors, but Connoley has grave concerns over the request.

‘AG Bailey has stated he is doing this for the safety of the children, but this is simply election-year hate politics at its worst. We know this when we look at the lack of action on Missouri’s infant mortality, poverty, or childhood health rates,’ Connoley wrote. 

‘Missouri ranks the 4th worst state for child education, yet AG Bailey instead chooses to focus on destroying the intimate relationship between a trained medical doctor and a patient. True action doesn’t garner votes – speaking from the bully pulpit does,’ he said.

While Connoley insists that he has loved being in St. Louis he says that despite advocating for change, he feels that only by moving away may change come. 

‘I thought, let’s go out on top. Let’s make a statement and hope that the state can rewrite its course,’ Connoley said. 

Connoley, right, is seen working in his St. Louis  kitchen following the pandemic

‘I’m out, I’m definitely out. Because Missouri, it’s not a blip. It’s a trend. And it’s gone from being a conservative state to a radical state.

‘This is not a decision I have made lightly. I have spent over a year hoping to see the state correct its course and move on from the political games, but they haven’t,’ Connoley wrote online.

‘My greatest sadness is that I love St Louis more than I can express and have such admiration and fondness for the Ozark region and its people – people who have time and time again, proven to me to be hospitable and loving of all.’ 

Connoley described Missouri and Bulrush ‘his entire world.’ 

He was a finalist in this years James Beard Awards, sometimes referred to as ‘the food Oscars.’ He was also a semifinalist in 2022 and 2023.

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