The Price of Honesty
In 2018, the United States Supreme Court found itself at the center of a cultural firestorm. A Colorado baker had declined to create a custom wedding cake for a same-sex couple, citing his religious beliefs. The case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, was watched closely across the nation. In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the baker, concluding that his First Amendment rights protected his religious beliefs and he can’t be penalizing for refusing to bake a custom wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
The issue was hardly new. Americans old enough to remember the 1950s recall a time when businesses openly refused service to Black customers. Restaurants, hotels, barbershops, and countless other establishments displayed signs announcing who was welcome and who was not. The rationale varied, but the result was always the same: exclusion. Entire classes of people found themselves denied access to ordinary aspects of daily life because others had decided they were unworthy. In this case, the constitution went the other way, in favor of the protected class.
But what happens when the merchant isn’t exercising a constitutional right in refusing service? Or what happens when the customer isn’t part of a protected class? Is a business that holds itself out to provide service to the public able to refuse service to people they don’t like?
This week, a story out of Wales illustrated that reality. According to reports, a man entered a tattoo studio in Carmarthen seeking a tattoo. The artist began the work. The process had already started when the conversation somehow turned to the customer’s past. The man was candid. He disclosed that he had previously been convicted of a sex offense. At that moment, everything changed. The artist reportedly ordered him out of the studio. The internet erupted in applause.
Society’s treatment of registrants is unique. There are many categories of offenders, yet none, including murder, carry a stigma so powerful that it follows a person into nearly every aspect of life, long after a sentence has been completed.
You may be asking yourself; ‘who would want to be tattooed by someone who hates them anyhow’? But that’s not the point here… The scenario can be different and it often is. It could be that you’re out for lunch with a bunch of co-workers, your server recognizes your picture from the registry and the manager kicks you out of the restaurant. Or you’re buying something off a retail shelf. These situations come up all the time and here in Brevard County, Florida, there’s an ordinance that allows businesses to declare themselves to be off limits to registrants forcing people on the registry to stay 1000 feet a way!
Can a merchant prevent a customer from shopping in their store? Should people on the registry go through greater lengths to hide their past?
Registrants are told that accountability requires candor. They are instructed to be truthful about their history. They are told that honesty demonstrates responsibility. They are told that rehabilitation begins with acknowledging the past rather than concealing it. But what lesson are we supposed to learn from incidents like this? If honesty results in rejection, what incentive exists to be honest? If disclosure means humiliation, exclusion, and public condemnation, while hiding offers at least the possibility of being treated normally, what message are we sending?
These situations come up all the time. Maybe a tattooist doesn’t need to know your life history, especially when they are holding a needle and drawing a permanent mark on your body, but that’s a rare example. There are plenty of common examples where you’re put in a situation where you have to say, “look, before you hear it from someone else, I want to tell you…” or “before I make this payment, let me just let you know…” or “since it may eventually come up, I want to be honest about why I can’t…”. Or, there’s Brevard, where it’s the County that says you can’t go within 1000 feet of certain businesses and there’s no conversation to even have.
We are told to “tell the truth.” But then society punishes people when they do.
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I’m sick of people thinking they can explain their story to a bunch of lowlifes. Stop explaining your label to folks unless absolutely necessary.
Let me make this crystal clear:
WE. DON’T. OWE. ANYONE. ANYTHING.
We served our time. That’s it. If they aren’t directly tied to us personally, don’t give them jack squat.
Wow so with all the knowledge just like me we are lowered to say handyman like you and for me im a diesel/automotive mechanic. I have clients that trust me with their lives, kids lives, and family in their car. They take my advise to keep all safe on the road. I also give advise to drivers of diesel on the road. But we can not use our actually degrees for in reality its the registry. Its hard after you get a felony in aviaiton but had a friend with a drug felony get his life back and get his FAA IA cert too. For us tho minute sex offense is know we are done no furthering in aviation
You are correct but I received my credits abd attended before it was a requirement like it is now in florida to report it. So i violated bothing legally. Also other states you dont have to report your school in such a way like in Florida says had to email the institution to let them know now.
As a person forced to register you’re legally obligated to inform school officials of your status. If you don’t, as soon as they look you up on the registry and find you you could be charged with a felony. And since they’ve barred registrants from even attending I don’t think you have to worry about wasting years there because you won’t be there at all.
Good thing I’ve already attained my degrees from other institutions
I can relate. Last week I had a phone conversation with an academic faculty member of a state university about their graduate program. I’ve come to see other areas of my undergraduate major than one single aspect. I proceeded to disclose my background to them believing an educated person would have understanding of rehabilitation and abruptly the conversation was terminated. No excuse, no warning, nothing.
People are ignorant a**holes anymore if they’re telling people that believe in rehabilitation.
My school, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), has barred registered sex offenders from attending or graduating solely because they are on the registry. I never completed my degree, but I am afraid to return and continue my education there. After hearing stories from other registrants, I worry that I could spend years working toward graduation only to have my enrollment denied or my ability to graduate revoked because of a background check. The risk of investing significant time, effort, and money without certainty that I would be allowed to finish my degree makes me reluctant to go back.
You’re legally obligated to inform school officials of your status as a registrant. If you don’t and WHEN they find out you can be charged with a felony. And since they’ve barred registrants from even attending I don’t think you have to worry about wasting years there because you won’t be attending school there at all
I am a graduate of Embry Riddle. I graduated back in 2011, before I was forced to register. I have been wanting to go back and complete my Master’s degree online but I fear they won’t let me take any classes.
I graduated from NAA Clearwater with my Powerplant certification and earned 98 credit hours at ERAU. However, I had a friend who was barred from graduation after a background check.
I want people to be aware that ERAU conducts a second background check before students are allowed to participate in commencement. Enrolling in classes and informing the Sheriff’s Office may not be an issue, but what happens if you complete the program and then are prevented from walking at graduation because of that final check?
I’d be interested in discussing this further sometime, Machiavelli. My goal was to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Aviation Maintenance Management. Back in 2016, my probation officer fully supported me taking online classes. Since 2019, though, ERAU seems to have changed its policies. For me, it has become a costly investment with uncertain outcomes. I may still be able to participate in graduation with legal assistance, but that would involve additional expenses as well.
My degree is professional aeronautics. Minori g in Aviation Safety.