A hat too far for Zack

He'd tolerated her evangelical Christianity. But when she appeared in a photograph wearing - you know, one of those - he had to pull the plug on a years-long friendship:

Think Progress‘s LGBTQ writer Zack Ford wants you to know, that when it comes to politics versus friendships, he will choose politics every time.

Ford, who is also infamous for accusing women who don’t want men in their bathrooms of “bigotry” and “transphobia”, has a newsletter he sends out periodically. He shared the link to a recent one on his Twitter feed in which he talked about a longtime friend who he saw in a photo wearing a MAGA hat.

Here’s what Ford wrote in his newsletter (if you click on the link, scroll to the bottom in order to bypass the other random nonsense):

As I was browsing Facebook last night, I saw a picture of an old high school friend celebrating the Fourth of July with her daughter on her lap. She was wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.

Now, this friend and her family are evangelical Christians, and I’ve definitely disagreed with them on many things. But we’ve had respectful conversations about many topics in the past, even on the very personal issue of their anti-gay beliefs, and I believed that there was still mutual respect despite these significant disagreements. I’ve even stayed in their home in the past. But seeing her proudly wearing a MAGA hat in public — and with her daughter no less — violated this accord deeply.

It’s not just a hat. It’s a symbol of all of the oppression and injustice the Trump administration is responsible for. It’s an endorsement of caging kids, banning Muslims, firing trans people, and dozens of other ways Trump has undermined our democracy — up to and including the fascist military display that graced the National Mall last night. More than anything, “MAGA” represents the idea that some human lives are worth more than others.

I explained all of this to my old friend. To those inclined to reject the humanity of any particular group, a MAGA hat is a symbol of affirmation — license and encouragement to continue holding those beliefs. To members of those many rejected groups, it’s a threat — a warning that such prejudice is welcome in that person’s vicinity (and may come from them directly). It’s unacceptable to me to be subjected to that symbol from someone with whom I hypothetically have mutual trust.

I gave my friend an ultimatum. I told her I wouldn’t unfriend her so long as she apologized for wearing the hat and promised me I wouldn’t have to see it in my feed again. When she claimed I was trying to police her beliefs, I corrected her, pointing out that my conditions only regarded the hat, not her position on any particular issue. When she claimed that she’s equally offended by the Pride flag, I corrected her again, explaining that objecting to a symbol of inclusion is in no way comparable to objecting to a symbol of exclusion and that she was making a false equivalency. When she said, “If I can’t have an opinion about something then I guess I don’t really live in a free country,” I knew there was no longer enough common ground for us to have a relationship.

He unfriended her.

This is a perfect example of how the collectivist mindset has absolutely no room for considering a human being as an individual. Friendship must be subordinate to The Correct Worldview.

The hat-wearer can take some consolation in the fact that it was never a real friendship anyway. And, of course, she and all of us can pray for Zack to cast off his wretchedness.