Missouri says it pulled LGBT exhibit for bypassing state board that seldom reviews exhibits

Missouri state parks officials have removed an exhibit documenting the LGBT rights movement in Kansas City from the state capitol after complaints from a legislative staffer.

The exhibit, titled “Making History: Kansas City and the Rise of Gay Rights” was on display at the Missouri State Museum, which is housed in the first floor of the state capitol. It consisted of banners, curated by UMKC history students, that recount the activism of the local LGBT community, including a focus on 1950s gay rights groups known as homophile organizations.

It had gone up just four days ago, said state Sen. Greg Razer, a Kansas City Democrat and the only openly gay member of the senate. On Thursday, it was gone.

Razer said he believed the parks officials had done so because lawmakers or their staff complained. He said he was awaiting a call with the director of the Department of Natural Resources, which runs the state parks system that administers the museum.

“This display was supposed to be up until Dec. 26 [and] made it all of four days before some members of the legislature threw a fit and DNR apparently acquiesced to them and took it down and literally put my history back in the closet,” he said.

In an email response to inquiries about the exhibit’s removal, DNR spokeswoman Connie Patterson wrote only that “the display has been moved from the Capitol.” She did not say why or who made the decision.

A Facebook event hosted by the Missouri State Museum inviting the public to view the exhibit was canceled on Thursday.

In a statement Thursday afternoon, Gov. Mike Parson’s spokeswoman Kelli Jones said DNR removed the exhibit because the “statutorily mandated process” for putting up temporary exhibits in public buildings was not followed. She said Parson was not aware of the exhibit but his office received “several complaints” about it.

“The Department of Natural Resources manages the Museum and state statute requires the Department to coordinate activities relating to the Museum with the Board of Public Buildings,” Jones said.

The board consists of Parson, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and Attorney General Eric Schmitt. It last met in July, but the state meeting notice did not include an agenda. Minutes from meetings going back to 2015 show the board discussed matters such as easements on public property and bond sales, and during that time never discussed a state museum exhibit.

Razer said he spoke Thursday afternoon to DNR director Dru Buntin and was given the same reason for the removal, which he called “a convenient excuse.” He said Buntin would not commit to reinstating the exhibit.

“My guess is, and obviously he would not give me a straight answer on this, is they never go to the board to get permission to put up a temporary exhibit,” Razer said. “There’s always rotating temporary exhibits.”

Instead, Razer said the state pulled the exhibit because of complaints from Republican lawmakers, “and now I’ve found out and made a stink out of it and they found this way out.” He said he would seek out the next board meeting.

On Tuesday Uriah Stark, a legislator assistant to Rep. Mitch Boggs, a LaRussell Republican, posted a complaint on Facebook that by displaying the exhibit, the “taxpayer funded museum is pushing the LGBT agenda in our state capitol.”

“These are literally in-your-face banners that you can’t walk through the museum without seeing… and they’re scheduled to be there through December,” Stark wrote.

In response to subsequent comments decrying the exhibit, Stark wrote that it “needs to be stopped.”

“I’m so sick of always having to react to this stuff. It should never have happened. And they KNEW it would get a reaction, they just like pushing it,” he wrote.

Stark did not respond to requests for comment.

On Wednesday night, he posted that the exhibit had been removed and credited intervention by Reps. Ann Kelley, a Lamar Republican and secretary of the House Republican Caucus, and Brian Seitz, a Branson Republican.

“Update on pro LGBT ‘history’ exhibit,” Stark wrote. “Thanks to the efforts of several of our great elected officials, the exhibit has been removed from the Missouri State Museum! To God be the glory! Shoutout to Rep. Ann Kelley and Rep. Brian Seitz for taking the bull by the horns! I also spoke with multiple other elected officials who were ready and willing to take action, thank you all for standing for traditional family values!”

Kelley did not respond to requests for comment.

Seitz on Thursday morning said he made one phone call asking to speak with the museum curator but had not heard back. He said he had seen pictures of the exhibit on Facebook and wanted to know “why that exhibit was placed there at this time, what was the purpose behind the exhibit, and just see who made the call as far as putting that at the capitol.”

“That’s the extent of my involvement,” Seitz said.

He said he has not seen the display in person. Asked what concerned him about it, Seitz said, “Everything that we do at the capitol has a purpose to it, including some of the displays we put up.”

“Is that representative of that museum area?” he said. “We have to look at everything in the capitol as possibly having an agenda. Did that exhibit have a specific agenda or was it simply an informational piece?”

Stark also named several other Republican lawmakers as involved in the removal. One told The Star she was not involved and had asked for her name to be removed from the post. Another said he was only informed of the exhibit.

The UMKC exhibit had been on display around Kansas City in past years before making it to the Missouri State Museum. Last Friday, UMKC’s Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America posted on Facebook cheering its installation at the capitol. The students who curated the exhibit used the archive’s collections.

“We are absolutely thrilled that our colleagues at the Museum have mounted the exhibit, which will be on display for Capitol visitors and state legislators through the end of the year,” the post read.

Razer said he was not involved in the putting up the exhibit but said it was a “happy surprise” to learn it was in the capitol. He was furious to find out about its removal and said he questioned whether LGBT Missourians are welcome in state parks.

“I think it is the epitome of cancel culture that they just want to cancel my history,” he said. “I think it shows a degree of bigotry and I don’t use that word lightly.”

In recent years, Razer has pushed for the legislature to adopt a law prohibiting discrimination against LGBT people in housing, employment and other private sector activities. The proposal has not made it to passage after more than two decades. Razer said the exhibit’s removal was proof discrimination is alive in Jefferson City.

“Do you really think the people that brought down that exhibit are going to rent me a house? We have seen discrimination under our own roof,” he said.

“The story that that exhibit told is the story of how I get to stand on the Senate floor in the first place. Thirty years ago there wouldn’t be an openly gay man in the state Senate.”

This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 11:05 AM.