Missouri Capitol Kills LGBTQ+ Exhibit After Aide Screams ‘LGBT Agenda’

Author: Trudy Ring

An exhibit on the history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement in Kansas City, Mo., has been removed from the Missouri state capitol after only four days, apparently due to a complaint from a legislative staffer.

The exhibit, “Making History: Kansas City and the Rise of Gay Rights,” was in the Missouri State Museum on the first floor of the capitol in Jefferson City. It was taken down Wednesday, The Kansas City Star reports.

“This display was supposed to be up until December 26 [and] made it all of four days before some members of the legislature threw a fit and [the Department of Natural Resources] apparently acquiesced to them and took it down and literally put my history back in the closet,” said Sen. Greg Razer, a Kansas City Democrat and the only out gay state senator.

The Department of Natural Resources runs the Missouri parks system, which includes the museum.

Uriah Stark, an aide to Republican state Rep. Mitch Boggs, had posted his objections to the exhibit Tuesday on Facebook, saying the museum was “pushing the LGBT agenda.”

In a follow-up post Wednesday, he celebrated the exhibit’s removal, thanked two legislators, and wrote, “To God be the glory!”

Neither Stark nor the lawmakers he cited commented to the Star. A spokeswoman for the Department of Natural Resources declined to say why the display was taken down or who made the decision.

The exhibit was organized by students in the public history program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. It consisted of banners with messages documenting the work of early LGBTQ+ rights organizations in the city. It has been displayed around the state since the students assembled it in 2017, and there is an online version with extensive information.

A Facebook Live event about the exhibit was scheduled for Thursday but has been canceled.

Original Article on The Advocate
Author: Trudy Ring