Private Voluntary Organizations

Abstract

A more relaxed view is appropriate when considering private voluntary organizations that do not receive public funds. These organizations need not always reflect the democratic principles of freedom and equality in their internal values. In general, individuals should be free to form private associations rooted in a common purpose without fear of dilution by forced association with others who do not share their goals. Context, however, is important. Society must not only allow for exclusivity, but also the slack, or the potential for other opportunities for association, that gives meaning to the freedom to leave. Although the Boy Scouts, for example, merit criticism for their former policy of excluding gay boys and scoutmasters, the Supreme Court was correct to allow them the expressive freedom to expel a gay scoutmaster despite the Scouts’ flimsy justification for doing so. But if enough voluntary associations were exclusive toward the same groups, these unified policies might curtail opportunities similarly to Jim Crow, thereby justifying government intervention. Private organizations accepting public funds, however, have less room to deny liberal democratic values. Because the Christian Legal Society, for example, accepted benefits from a public law school, they were correctly required to follow the school’s accept-all-comers policy.