For years, while living in Italy, I warned friend and visitors that they couldn’t get into St. Peter’s wearing shorts, miniskirts, bare shoulders or tank tops. Some Asian countries require modest dress at their temples. It comes with the tourism territory. But, there are some new rules being promulgated here in the U.S.A. that seem to hold our monuments in the same regard as houses of worship.
Some recent incidents at the Jefferson Memorial and court rulings in the U.S. have raised the issue of what is “appropriate” at national monuments. It is a sticky issue and even overseas, has been applied in most cases to religious institutions and of course The Ritz here and there where gentlemen must wear jackets.
Any veteran of European travel knows the rules for getting into many churches in Italy, especially St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. Monitors stand outside the doors and will stop anyone they feel is inappropriately dressed. There is no appeal. Either meet their standards or go home without seeing the interior of St. Peter’s.
Please be aware that there are monitors outside St. Peter’s, which has a very strict dress code: no skirts above the knee, no shorts, no bare shoulders (i.e., tank tops or sleeveless blouses), and you must wear shoes. You will not be permitted inside the basilica unless you are dressed appropriately.
There have been recent problems in south Asia where many tourists have been wandering around beach communities in beach attire. In Goa and in India, there have been reports of the locals beginning to crack down a bit on dress codes.
Priests at the Mahalsa Narayani Temple in Mardol posted a sign warning “entry restricted for foreign tourists” while others imposed a strict dress code for visitors to protect the ‘sanctity’ of their places of worship.
The ban was revealed amid growing concern in Goa about the behavior of western tourists, most of whom are from Britain, and their lack of respect for the state’s conservative Christian and Hindu cultures.
The state’s reputation as a relaxed tropical beach paradise has been severely dented recently by a series of murders and rapes of Western tourists, including the Devon schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling, amid lurid stories of drunken behaviour and violent drug gangs.
Back here in the supposedly more secular United States a judge issued this ruling in a case involving dancing at the Jefferson Memorial.
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates ruled in a 26-page opinion on Monday that the interior of the memorial is not a public forum where people may dance, even if they are silently boogying to music on headphones.
“The purpose of the memorial is to publicize Thomas Jefferson’s legacy, so that critics and supporters alike may contemplate his place in history,” Bates wrote. “The Park Service prohibits all demonstrations in the interior of the memorial, in order to maintain ‘an atmosphere of calm, tranquillity, and reverence.’”
“Prohibiting demonstrations is a reasonable means of ensuring a tranquil and contemplative mood at the Jefferson Memorial,” the judge added.
Of course this begs the question about what is the definition of dance, something that many have contemplated even on official dance floors. Plus, it may preclude dancing or swaying anywhere anyone sees fit to “contemplate.” A spate of those kinds of lawsuits might flood federal courts. If dancing is a demonstration, what about Martin Luther King’s speech or Glen Beck’s rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial? Though they had a permit, are we now only allowing government approved?
We have many national monuments of many different types. We have national parks, state forests, presidential libraries, government buildings. All of these have flowed from the people, the taxpayers, through our government based on the ideas of freedom of speech and expression.
Are we entering a new period in the U.S. where our government has become out religion? God is dead! Long live the government and our hallowed institutions!
I think we can all agree that these kinds of rulings by the modern priests and rabbis of our “secular” society, our judges, are potentially dangerous to the very liberty that shaped society.
What are your thoughts. Should we establish new rules for entry into “special” buildings and monuments and employ an enlarged police force to enforce these dress and behavior rules? To which monuments should the rules apply? Are some monuments more holy than other?
Photo from www.visitingDC.com
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
