Post Office Removes Gay Pride Display From Lobby

A gay pride exhibit installed at the downtown post office in Milwaukee, WI last month stayed on display less than four hours before it was removed by a U.S. Postal Service official reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Reporter Julie Bolcer writes on the Advocate.com Web site,"Maggi Cage, head of the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, was asked to create the exhibit by Dale Shuster, a letter carrier and member of the post office’s diversity team. Shuster secured written approval from the post office’s diversity manager for the exhibit, which included photos of gay pioneers, historical information, and a large AIDS awareness stamp in glass cases in the post office lobby."

According to Bolcer, Cage found out that the exhibit had been removed only after she had alerted her colleagues to check out the exhibit.

Marge Oehlke, spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service in Milwaukee, is quoted as saying the exhibit did not fit the USPS criteria that all exhibits must be revenue related, such as pertaining to stamp purchases, which the gay pride display was not.

The Journal Sentinel reported that exhibits related to African-American history and veterans have appeared at the post office in the past, and were not removed.

Shown above, 1993 Aids Awareness stamp.

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