Days after its removal, LGBT history exhibit has been moved to new location
An exhibit highlighting the history of the LGBTQ community in Kansas City has been relocated to the Lohman Building, near the Missouri State Capitol, the Missouri Department of Resources (DNR) announced late Friday.
Before it was removed earlier this week, the exhibit, titled “Making History: Kansas City and the Rise of Gay Rights” was displayed at the Missouri State Museum, which is housed in the first floor of the state capitol.
DNR officials said the display was removed after they received complaints.
“We apologize for the way this unfolded,” Dru Buntin, DNR director said in a statement. “We agree the history of all Missourians is an important story that needs to be told, and we’ve made a commitment to work with the members of the State Capitol Commission and the Board of Public Buildings to do so.”
The display 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 is on loan through the end of the year. The Lohman Building is part of the Jefferson Landing State Historic Site.
State Sen. Greg Razer, a Kansas City Democrat, was angered by the decision to remove the display. He said he found the new location highly questionable.
“It’s unfortunate that DNR has been put in this position by extremists in the Legislature who will go to any length to erase LGBT history,” Razer said in a text message to The Star.
“The Lohman Building sure ain’t the Capitol rotunda,” he said. “Sounds like we’ve been moved from the broom closet to a walk-in closet. Better, but still a closet.”
Kelli Jones, a spokeswoman for Gov. Mike Parson said, the exhibit was removed because DNR officials had failed to follow the “statutorily mandated process” for putting up temporary exhibits in public buildings. Jones said the governor’s office had received several complaints about the exhibit.
The display was borrowed because of its connection to the formation of the Phoenix Society for Individual Freedom, Kansas City’s first gay and lesbian rights gro as part of the Missouri Bicentennial timeline on display in the museum’s History Hall, said Mike Sutherland, DNR deputy director.
“In response to a number of concerns, we made the decision to move the exhibit while we clarified and reviewed our internal process to make sure we were complying with state law,” Sutherland said in a statement.
On Friday, the Missouri House Democratic Caucus said in a tweet: “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.”
