Woman not allowed to wear pro-life pin in National Art Gallery

This is a story that's both hard to believe and not hard to believe at the same time.

It seems that this past Saturday, a woman who had participated in the March for Life in Washington was told by security guards that she had to remove her pro-life pin that she had on from the march before she entered the building.  She was told that you can't wear religious or political items in a federal building.  (??) Via Lifenews [1]:

...after searching her bag, two guards at the Gallery told her, "You're good to go in, but first you need to remove that pro-life pin.”

"He was indicating the small lime green pin with the message 'impact73.org' and the silhouette of a small hand inside that of a larger hand that I had attached to the lapel of my coat," Duke writes today.

"The pin, they informed me, was a 'religious symbol' and a symbol of a particular political cause and it could not be worn inside a federal building," Duke continues.

"Why, I asked, can I not wear a religious or political symbol inside a federal building? Bringing to bear the full weight of the supreme law of the land, the guards informed that it was a violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution: The combination of me, wearing a pro-life pin, in a federal building was a violation of the separation of church and state," she explained.

Asked for a written copy of the rules preventing her from wearing a pro-life pin as a visitor to the gallery, they informed her the rules were not allowed for public viewing.

According to the story, the higher ups in the National Gallery admitted that the guards made a "mistake".  But that really isn't the larger point here.  Is this what we have devolved to in this country?  We've allowed our government to become so antagonistic to religion that some security guards working in a federal building can get the idea that freedom of speech is not allowed on the premises?  A building that is part of a government founded by a document that, among other things, guarantees freedom of speech and religion?

Amazing.  And sad.