Missouri honoring Confederate traitors is great, but gay history? Back in the closet

After two days of withering criticism, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources said late Friday it would reinstall an exhibit dedicated to gay and lesbian history in Kansas City.

But that’s not exactly true.

The department said the display will reopen, but not in the Missouri State Capitol, where it stood for four days before it was abruptly removed under pressure from conservatives. Instead, the exhibit will go up in the Lohman Building, across the street from the Capitol building.

It’s hard to imagine a more salt-in-the-wounds response. The state is now telling gays and lesbians they aren’t good enough for the Capitol. Instead, Missouri says, the LGBTQ community must settle for display in a room nearby.

“The Parson administration is still caving to pressure from bigots to keep LGBT history in the closet, censoring the story of marginalized Missourians in the process,” said Missouri House Democrats in a statement. Correct.

We thought separate-but-equal died a half century ago. Not in Jefferson City, it seems, where discrimination is alive and well.

“We apologize for the way this unfolded,” said a statement from Dru Buntin, DNR director. Why, then, make matters worse?

And where’s the apology from Gov. Mike Parson, who lied about the process? “The statutory procedure the governor says wasn’t followed … does not exist,” said House Minority Leader Crystal Quade. “The governor had no justification for removing this exhibit and no excuse for not restoring it.”

State lawmakers who aided and abetted the original bigotry were also silent. Because those opposing the display lack the courage, or the decency, to defend themselves.

The controversy began last week when the exhibit, called “Making History: Kansas City and the Rise of Gay Rights,” was opened on the first floor of the state Capitol building in Jefferson City.

The series was developed by a history class at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and has traveled throughout the region for years. It’s freely available online.

It isn’t a polemic, or a political statement, or a value judgment. It’s history. Important history. That’s why it was displayed in the Missouri State Museum in the Capitol, where the state’s stories should be told.

That isn’t what has happened. It appears a state legislative staffer was somehow offended by the exhibit, raised a stink on social media, got a few legislators to agree, and DNR pulled the display after just four days.

“To God be the glory!” the offended staffer posted on Facebook.

The decision to take the display down, and then move it across the street, may well violate the law. There is no requirement that the state offer such an exhibit, but once it has done so, taking it down based on its content, particularly for a religious motive, is a clear First Amendment violation.

More broadly, the decision was an insult to all Missourians, including tens of thousands of LGBTQ residents. “Sounds like we’ve been moved from the broom closet to a walk-in closet,” said state Sen. Greg Razer of Kansas City. “Better, but still a closet.”

The Missouri Capitol is a public building. It belongs to everyone. Any state that can display a bust of the late Rush Limbaugh, despite his offensive beliefs, can temporarily display in the Capitol a history of gays and lesbians organizing for rights.

Missouri State Parks runs the Confederate Memorial State Historic Site. Apparently, going to war to maintain slavery should be honored, but ending discrimination against gays and lesbians is offensive.

From 1996 until 2001, the Taliban destroyed much of the cultural and intellectual history of Afghanistan. “Taliban fighters killed artists, musicians and poets; destroyed antiquities, musical instruments and audio cassettes; banned singing and burned down libraries; and let museums crumble to disrepair, destruction and looting,” ABC News reported.

Taliban fighters claimed a faith motive for the destruction. “We deem it a must … because of our religious responsibility,” a spokesman said at the time. That isn’t “to God be the glory!” but it’s close. Too close.

This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.