The sixth annual Pettis County Pride Picnic is set for Saturday, despite recent legislative efforts targeting LGBTQ+ Missourians and the pride fest in nearby Marshall being canceled due to safety concerns.

Missouri Rainbow Rights, the LGBTQ+ advocacy group in Marshall that was planning its event for earlier this month, wrote in a statement that, “there is not adequate support to keep our event, participants, and attendees safe, which must remain the top priority when organizing any event, but especially one where our community is actively under attack all around us. We cannot and will not have an unsafe event.”

Cassie Brown is the president of PFLAG Sedalia , a group which supports and advocates for the queer community throughout western Missouri, and one of the hosts of the event.

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