Letter: Museum honors slaveholders but not gay community – STLtoday.com
.tnt-restrict-img-bcc15404-8f81-5d3e-9540-2a1536225d41 { max-width: 1744px; }
A capitol employee passes the Governor’s office on the second floor of the Missouri capitol building on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018, beneath a mural by Sir Frank Brangwyn, an Anglo-Welsh artist, which covers the ceiling of the rotunda in Jefferson City. Photo by Christian Gooden, cgooden@post-dispatch.com
Regarding “Missouri panel at heart of gay rights exhibit in Capitol mum on issue” (Sept. 14): Gov. Mike Parson at the urging of some GOP lawmakers decided to remove the LGBTQ exhibit from the state Capitol on Sept. 1, after two days of display. Parson justified his censorship and created the subsequent controversy because “the Board of Public Buildings did not approve it.” That dodge was exposed by the former State Museum director, who stated that he never asked for said approval on any other exhibit that he mounted.
I recently visited the Missouri State Museum in the Capitol and saw a display entitled “Empire Builders: Anglo-Southerners and Western Expansion.” So we are told that our state was built by Anglo-Southerners. Many of these famous pioneers mentioned in the exhibit were also slaveholders. Oddly, there was no mention of the contributions of those slaves.
So we bring controversy when we celebrate the contributions of the LGBTQ community, but the Anglo-Southerners get no pushback from the governor.
John Larson • St. Louis County
#pu-email-form-opinion-email-article { clear: both; background-color: #fff; color: #222; background-position: bottom; background-repeat: no-repeat; padding: 15px 20px; margin-bottom: 40px; border-top: 4px solid rgba(0,0,0,.8); border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,.2); display: none; } #pu-email-form-opinion-email-article, #pu-email-form-opinion-email-article p { font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, “Segoe UI”, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, “Apple Color Emoji”, “Segoe UI Emoji”, “Segoe UI Symbol”; } #pu-email-form-opinion-email-article h1 { font-size: 24px; margin: 15px 0 5px 0; font-family: “serif-ds”, Times, “Times New Roman”, serif; } #pu-email-form-opinion-email-article .lead { margin-bottom: 5px; } #pu-email-form-opinion-email-article .email-desc { font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 5px; opacity: 0.7; } #pu-email-form-opinion-email-article form { padding: 10px 30px 5px 30px; } #pu-email-form-opinion-email-article .disclaimer { opacity: 0.5; margin-bottom: 0; line-height: 100%; } #pu-email-form-opinion-email-article .disclaimer a { color: #222; text-decoration: underline; } #pu-email-form-opinion-email-article .email-hammer { border-bottom: 3px solid #222; opacity: .5; display: inline-block; padding: 0 10px 5px 10px; margin-bottom: -5px; font-size: 16px; } @media (max-width: 991px) { #pu-email-form-opinion-email-article form { padding: 10px 0 5px 0; } }