Fresno’s Tower Theatre demonstrations yield one positive result: freedom of protest

The unfolding drama of the disputed sale of the Tower Theater in the iconic Tower District in Fresno to the Adventure Community Church has much of which to be proud, much of which to view with understanding of the evolution of time, and some aspects that portend serious consequences for Fresno and the nation.

The conflict is between those claiming that the Tower District, roughly along Olive Avenue between Fruit and Blackstone, has a unique atmosphere friendly to the LGBTQ community, and which is inimical to the perceived values of the proposed incoming church.

I rejoice at the fact that folks on both sides can freely express their views and peacefully demonstrate. These rights were only earned by blood and tears over centuries. It is a thrilling thing to see demonstrators on both sides with signs marching to proclaim their views supported by the Fresno police.

While they are doing so, similar demonstrators are being killed in Myanmar, and imprisoned in Russia and Hong Kong. Those agonies only highlight the magnificence of our free society, a splendor which we often take for granted.

The next reason to rejoice is in the openness of the LGBT community. Within my lifetime I have seen this community go from being totally silent as to their identity, to “coming out of the closet,” to openly proclaiming their sexual orientation, and finally to having it broadly accepted. Our society has come a long way in accommodating the reality of a broad spectrum of sexual preferences. Hooray that they can openly oppose the sale as a united community.

The decline over centuries of the idea of property is clearly present in this conflict. There is an owner trying to sell his own property. Several centuries ago this would have been sufficient. English philosopher John Locke in the 17th century wrote that free men have the right to “life, liberty, and property.” This was later changed in the American Declaration of Independence of 1776 to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” reflecting this evolution.

Over the centuries we have seen continuing decline of the rights of property owners. No longer are they able, as they were in 13th century and subsequent centuries in England, to condemn millions of farm tenants to hardship (and emigration) as they were expelled from their farms to make way for more profitable sheep. Now zoning laws seriously limit property owners. And environmental rules, eminent domain, and rent control do the same.

Decades, even centuries ago the following argument would have been made: The owners of the Tower Theatre own it and should be able to make a profit ending all dispute. No more! I have heard no argument in support of the owner.

But there is an ugly side to this conflict. It reflects a deep divide of those claiming white privilege with a nostalgia for the often racist past and those seeing a multiracial and tolerant America.

The Tower dispute is not between political parties, but it is much more profound. It is between some seeing a white America attacked and endangered by other ethnic groups and those with different sexual orientation. David Brooks, in a column in The New York Times, said that this division is fracturing and endangering America.

In a different age, these local antagonists would just sit down and negotiate. No more. Instead, they stare at each other over an angry chasm as broad as the Grand Canyon.

So there is much of which to be proud in the Tower Theater dispute, but it also contains a profound warning. It is a microcosm of our nation. Division in our society into warring tribes threatens our very existence as a free society. My prayers are for the end of this dispute, which has a glitter of First Amendment success, but also the seeds of the destruction of our republic.