Missouri panel at heart of gay rights exhibit in Capitol mum on issue – STLtoday.com

The Board of Public Buildings, which is composed of Gov. Mike Parson, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and Attorney General Eric Schmitt, was thrust into the spotlight after Parson used it as justification for removing the exhibit from the Capitol’s first floor history museum earlier this month.

According to the governor’s office, the exhibit was moved to a nearby building in the Capitol Complex because the Missouri Department of Natural Resources did not follow a statute requiring the board to approve the exhibit.

That explanation was widely panned because the board has not previously weighed in on individual exhibits placed in the museum. Rather, it typically meets to approve issues related to financing building construction and renovations.

On Monday, for example, the board approved the sale of $61 million in bonds to help pay for upgrades to the Missouri State Park system.

“This is a really great investment in the future of our state,” Parson said.

During the brief hearing in the governor’s office, none of the members broached the issue of the exhibit, including during a time set aside for so-called “new business.”

Parson spokeswoman Kelli Jones said the governor did not have time to discuss the decision following the meeting.

Schmitt attended by telephone.

Kehoe did speak briefly with reporters. Asked if the board was the proper venue for determining which displays are allowed in the state museum, Kehoe said he was still studying the matter.

“That’s the new question I’m still trying to figure out myself,” Kehoe said.

He also said he would not weigh in on whether removing the display was appropriate.

“That ship has sailed already,” said Kehoe, a Jefferson City Republican who is running for governor in 2024.

But, Kehoe added, “Several people have said some parts of our history are uncomfortable to different groups of people for different reasons. But it is history, so, there you go.”

The exhibit, “Making History: Kansas City and the Rise of Gay Rights,” was removed from the Capitol after the governor’s office received complaints from an aide to a GOP lawmaker from southwest Missouri and Rep. Ann Kelley, R-Lamar. Rep. Brian Seitz, R-Branson, also said he inquired about the display but did not receive a callback from DNR.

Parson has in the past expressed reservations about gay people, telling the Baptist magazine Word&Way in 2017 that he was “old school. I know how I believe, I know what’s going to happen to these people.”

The decision and explanation have drawn sharp criticism from Democrats.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, wrote a letter to the governor calling the circumstances illegitimate. Sen. Greg Razer, a gay Kansas City Democrat, called the explanation for moving the display “a convenient bureaucratic excuse.”