An award-winning Missouri chef has closed his restaurant and now plans to leave entirely after he was made to feel unwelcome by what he says are the state’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies.
Chef Rob Connoley ran Bulrush at Midtown in St. Louis for five years starting in 2019, after moving to the city from New Mexico in 2017. But last weekend, he prepared his last dishes.
Connoley, who is gay, has been a James Beard Award finalist for several years in a row, but feels the state is pushing an anti-gay and anti-trans agenda.
“I feel uncomfortable promoting a state that is actively working to harm the LGBTQ community, especially the trans community,” Connoley wrote in a lengthy Facebook post announcing the closure of his restaurant.
‘As a restaurant owner, I work to right the wrongs of the past, but I can’t keep doing that. I can’t keep supporting my own oppressor.
James Beard Awards Finalist Chef Rob Connoley Announces Plans to Leave Missouri Due to What He Perceives as Anti-LGBTQ+ Policy
Connoley’s restaurant, Bulrush, located in Midtown, has been named the number one dining establishment in St. Louis. It closed last weekend after five years of service.
Connoley made clear his disapproval of Missouri politics on his social media accounts.
“I need to run a business where I feel like the contributions I’m making to the community are valued and that the money I’m generating for the state is being put to good use instead of being used to attack me and people like my community,” he said. he said to KSDK software development kit.
Connoley’s departure is a huge loss for the culinary scene. In the past, his restaurant has been rated the number one dining establishment in all of St. Louis.
Their tasting menu featured local ingredients such as mushrooms, acorns and quail eggs, drawing culinary inspiration from what European settlers, slaves and indigenous people ate in the past.
Bulrush Restaurant, which opened in 2019, served dishes inspired by traditional Ozark recipes and even made a mark globally: Connoley was sent to London to promote Missouri cuisine.
But he believes state lawmakers have actively targeted the LGBTQ+ community, and that the Attorney General is spearheading this effort.
Connoley began considering moving his business out of Missouri. He has expressed concerns about what he sees as Missouri lawmakers’ targeting of the LGBTQ+ community.
Connoley, who is a married gay man, hopes his departure will also be seen as a powerful statement.
Connoley believes Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s (pictured) efforts to gain access to medical records related to transgender care are 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 prohibiting health care workers from performing gender-affirming surgeries, administering cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers to those under 18 years of age.
Although the law exempted patients who were already receiving treatment, many medical providers in the state stopped providing care, citing legal risks.
“I’ve really struggled to understand how a business operates in a state that is moving from conservative to radical,” he said. Fox 2.
In particular, Connoley believes Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s efforts to gain access to medical records related to transgender care are of particular concern.
Opened in 2019, Bulrush’s kitchen served food inspired by traditional Ozark recipes.
The tasting menu featured local ingredients such as mushrooms, acorns and quail eggs, inspired by what European settlers, slaves and indigenous people ate in the past.
The request for access to medical records is part of a state investigation into gender-affirming care for minors, but Connoley has serious concerns about the request.
‘AG Bailey has stated that he is doing this for the safety of children, but this is simply hate politics at its worst in an election year. We know this when we look at the lack of action on Missouri’s infant mortality, poverty or child health rates,’ Connoley wrote.
‘Missouri ranks fourth among the worst states for early childhood education, yet AG Bailey chooses to focus on destroying the intimate relationship between a trained doctor and a patient. True actions don’t get votes, but speaking from the pulpit does,’ she stated.
While Connoley insists he has loved being in St. Louis, he says that despite advocating for change, he feels that only by moving can change be achieved.
‘I thought, let’s go out to the top. Let’s make a statement and hope the state can rewrite its course,” Connoley said.
Connoley, right, is seen working in his St. Louis kitchen after the pandemic.
‘I’m out, I’m definitely out. Because Missouri is not a temporary problem. It’s a trend. And it has 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 waiting to see the state correct its course and put the political games behind it, but that has not been the case,” Connoley wrote online.
“My greatest sadness is that I love St Louis more than I can express and I have so much admiration and affection for the Ozark region and its people, people who time and time again have shown me to be hospitable and loving to everyone.”
Connoley described Missouri and Bulrush as “his whole world.”
It was a finalist for this year’s James Beard Awards, sometimes referred to as the “Oscars of food.” It was also a semifinalist in 2022 and 2023.