The inauguration of President-Elect
Donald Trump is generating controversy … providing stories that are priceless to
the talk-shows and tabloids. But as Jeff Jacoby (an op-ed columnist for The
Boston Globe) points out – they also provided a reminder of something
too easily forgotten: Freedom of association is a vital human right.
According to news accounts, the Mormon
Tabernacle Choir is slated to sing during the inaugural festivities … while other
musicians have let it be known that they’re staying away. The Radio City Rockettes will also be part of
the inauguration event … but any dancers who wish to opt out are free to do so.
Critics – both left and right – have been
hurling attacks. Liberals have inundated
social media with hateful comments for agreeing to perform for Trump, while
conservatives have mocked the entertainers steering clear of the Trump.
Phoebe Pearl, the Rockette who posted
on Instagram that she was “embarrassed and disappointed” at the prospect of
dancing for Trump was both praised and blasted after her message went viral.
The divisiveness doesn’t stop with the
inaugural entertainment. Heat Street reported that many Washington-area
homeowners who had planned to rent out rooms through Airbnb pulled their listings once they realized that they wouldn’t
be sharing their homes with Clinton enthusiasts. “I have a visceral reaction to the thought of
having a Trump supporter in my house,” one owner said. “No amount of money could make me change my
mind. It’s about moral principles.”
Others with anti-Trump principles are
include fashion gurus Sophie Theallet and André Leon Talley, who announced that
they will refuse to dress Melania Trump – a former model – out of revulsion for
her husband. “You make the choice to be
in Trumpland or you make the choice to eject yourself from the horror of
Trumpland,” Talley told the New York
Times. “I’ve made my choice not to
be part of Trumpland.”
There are also the artists who have
publicly asked Ivanka Trump to remove their artwork from her walls, and
celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who says he will boycott any restaurant in
Trump’s hotels.
Listen: I support them all because
this is much more than disassociating with Trump or Republicans or
inaugurations. This has to do with
freedom of association. The singers who
refuse to sing or the fashion designers who refuse to design for the Trumps,
the landlords who refuse to rent to Republicans, the dancers who refuse to
dance at the inauguration should not be forced to play a role in a celebration
they want nothing to do with, or to hire themselves out to clients they would
prefer not to serve. Additionally, if a
caterer turns down a request to prepare the meals for Trump’s inauguration? … or
a florist declines to provide the floral arrangements? … or a calligrapher says
“thanks but no thanks” to addressing the invitations? … I’d back them, too –
for reasons having nothing to do with Trump or Republicans or inaugurations,
but everything to do with freedom of association.
Jacoby said it so well: “The
right to discriminate — to choose with whom we will and won’t associate — is
vital to human liberty. A dressmaker who
can’t say no to a commission to design a gown isn’t free, and it doesn’t matter
whether the gown is for a First Lady or for the brides in a lesbian wedding. A liberal baker who declines to create a
lavish cake decorated with the words ‘Congratulations, President Trump’ is
entitled to as much deference as a black baker who declines to decorate a cake
with the Confederate flag, or a Muslim baker who declines to decorate a cake
with the message ‘No Muslim Immigrants.’”
Freedom of association, like many
freedoms, isn’t absolute. Commerce that
is open to the public are barred by law from refusing to serve customers
because of their race, religion, or sex, for example; but when it comes to
providing personal services to others — whether the service is baking a cake or
taking photos — coercion is anathema. It
would be ludicrous for the Trump transition team to sue musicians who
outspokenly refuse to perform or compel Phoebe Pearl to dance at the inaugural.
It is just as ludicrous, or ought to be,
to sue florists and bakers to compel their involvement in weddings they prefer
to avoid.
Tolerance and pluralism are important
values in a free society. So are choice
and association. Your choices may not be
mine; my preferred associations may not be yours. In a diverse, live-and-let-live culture, our differences
are manageable — as long as government doesn’t interfere. If the state can’t force a musician to perform
where he/she doesn’t want, then the state shouldn’t be able to force anyone
else to, either.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor,
Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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