Recently, the statue has come under criticism due to Gordon's stance on race. Following the Charleston church shooting in 2015, a state senator proposed a law forbidding the official recognition of Confederate symbols, including icons such as the Gordon statue. Around the same time, American historian Kenneth W. Noe, speaking with "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution", spoke directly about the Gordon statue and others on the Capitol grounds as symbols of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. In 2019, the government of Georgia passed a law barring the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials.