Anna sits on a couch at the GLO Center, a Springfield-based LGBTQ+ community center, and holds her 4-month baby while trying to control her 10-year-old.
She lives in Springfield, is LGBTQ+ and does gig work to support her family. We’re only using her first name due to possible repercussions for her or her kids.
She said during the government shutdown, it was hard to figure out how to stretch her budget without Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP benefits.
“I'm actually disabled, and I can't really work that much without falling,” Anna said. “[I’m] trying to figure out where my money's gonna go, whereas before it would go towards gas and my phone bill, but now I have to pick and choose if I'm gonna get gas, so I can buy food and stuff for [her daughter’s] lunch, and it's about to be her birthday on Thanksgiving — so, it's a really bad month for this to be happening.”
She and a few others are listening to a University of Missouri Extension expert who's explaining the status of SNAP benefits during the government shutdown, larger changes to the SNAP program overall and sharing some local resources.
They’re also there to receive some donated food and a prepared Thanksgiving dinner kit from the GLO Center’s food pantry.
“There is a disproportionate amount of people in the LGBTQ+ community who are affected by food insecurity,” said GLO Center Community Services Specialist Emilia Stauffer.
Stauffer said she's been working in the her role for about a year — connecting LGBTQ+ community members to resources, such as housing, healthcare and employment.
The center opened its food pantry in March and it’s now expanding it to meet the additional needs of the queer community — which didn't begin with the government shutdown and won't end with the its reopening.
“People are often avoiding reaching out for services because they're afraid of discrimination, and so, we thought, ‘How can we bridge that gap? Well, let's have a food pantry and let's open it so that people have a safe place to come to,’” Stauffer said.
She said the fear of discrimination can come from having to present government documents when applying for food assistance — which could inadvertently out transgender people whose gender identity and presentation does not match the gender on their IDs.
This “outing” can be dangerous for trans and nonbinary people. According to the 2025 Annual LGBTQ+ Community Survey, four in 10 transgender and gender-expansive adults experienced discrimination based on their sex, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity/expression in the last 12 months
“They're literally terrified,” Stauffer said. “I know we're here to talk about food, but just even the idea of being flagged as trans is terrifying.”
She added LGBTQ+ people in the region can also be apprehensive about seeking out food assistance because the majority of food pantries are tied to religious organizations. One study from 2022, found that more than 60% of food pantries were affiliated with faith-based groups.
Stauffer said one of her roles is to meet with organizations in the Springfield area to determine if they would be safe and welcoming for her clients. But even with that reassurance, it can be hard for LGBTQ+ people to go into spaces that historically have been unwelcoming.
“Not all faith organizations are the same, but when one has experienced religious trauma, it's easier to over-generalize than to take that risk,” Stauffer said.
Brad Sears is one of the founders of the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, which studies LGTBQ+ law and policy. He grew up in Missouri, and said it’s often the anticipation of potential discrimination that keeps LGBTQ+ people from reaching out for help.
Research from the Williams Institute found that similar rates of cisgender and transgender people are income-eligible for SNAP benefits, but transgender individuals were 10% less likely to be enrolled in the program.
"It's important to remember this is a community of great resilience. When the institutions that have existed for others don't serve us, we have come together to take care of our own... really coming together and making sure we have an eye out for everyone in our community."Brad Sears, Williams Institute scholar, co-founder
“White evangelical religions, which are a strong force in Missouri, a state which I'm from, have not been supportive traditionally of LGBTQ people,” Sears said. “The Southern Baptist Convention this year voted to overturn marriage equality in the United States.”
Sears said his research shows LGBTQ+ people are more likely to be food insecure and more reliant on SNAP — for many reasons beyond just fear of discrimination, such as higher rates of poverty and higher rates of disability.
The Institute's 2025 report on food insecurity and SNAP reliance in the LGTBQ+ community shows more than 1.2 million LGBTQ+ adults are using and relying on SNAP nationwide. And the vast majority — more than 90% — are working, students, retired or otherwise unable to work.
“And I think it's also important to keep in mind that SNAP benefits are shockingly low,” Sears said. “We're talking about dollars a day to try to feed yourself and your family, and we know with the high cost of food and the inflation in the last couple of years, that has become more and more of a struggle.”
Gina Plata-Nino, the SNAP Director at the national advocacy group Food Research and Action Center, said the lack of social supports can also increase the level of food insecurity among the queer community.
“You can't just say, ‘Oh, I'll go to my support system,’” Plata-Nino said. “For example, youth aging out of foster care can't say, ‘I'm going to rely on my family,’ right? ‘I'm going to rely on my parents.’”
Aaron Kitchens, the GLO Center's Executive Director, said they have been working to create that support system for LGBTQ+ individuals in Springfield and the surrounding rural communities for many years. They offer support groups, family programming and a safe, affirming place for people of all age to come together.
But, in the last few years, he said the concerns of the community have changed. So, the GLO Center began to develop new ways to provide more direct, tangible support to the community, including Emilia Stauffer's position, the food pantry, housing assistance and more.
“Thankfully, our community has shown up,” Kitchens said. “We've received a lot of donations through drives and other events, and then the local food bank here has also mobilized some funding to help support their food pantries to meet that increase in demand because we have new clients, and we need to be giving our clients more support right now.”
He said he hopes LGBTQ+ community members realize that they don’t have to be despondent to reach out for help and he reminds them that accessing available resources doesn’t keep people who “need it more” from getting help.
“I think that for many folks, it's really easy to be defeated by the constant wave a barrage of actions like this, but the queer community is — we're known for our resilience,” Kitchens said. “These are our friends and family — this is our community."
For the audio transcript of the radio story, click here.
