Where’s the honor in the Union League’s celebration of Ron DeSantis? | Editorial

The Union League of Philadelphia has tried to expand and modernize, but sometimes it just keeps dragging its knuckles on the ground.

Its decision to award its highest honor — the gold medal — to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a step backward for an exclusive club that has been trying to move forward.

When it comes to honoring Americans for their service to the country, the Union League had plenty of worthy options. It needn’t even stray too far from Pennsylvania.

It could have honored the scientists who turned the COVID-19 pandemic tide, including Jenkintown’s Katalin Karikó, who helped develop the mRNA vaccines that have saved millions of lives. It could have honored those who defended our democracy against election deniers, including Philadelphia’s Al Schmidt, as President Joe Biden did earlier this month.

Instead, the league chose to honor DeSantis, a bully who has gained traction in Republican circles as a less Trumpier version of Donald Trump himself.

» READ MORE: Why Ron DeSantis wants to trample the dreams of about 700 college kids on his White House path | Will Bunch

What, exactly, did the Union League see in DeSantis that needs to be honored? This is the same crude guy who thought it was cute to send two charter planes filled with migrants to Cape Cod in Massachusetts this summer.

DeSantis has used his Trump-lite shtick to stir up other culture war battles that sow division, waste time, and solve nothing.

He successfully pushed to reject an Advanced Placement course covering African American studies from being taught in Florida schools. He has made false claims about COVID vaccines and scolded students he was on stage with for wearing masks.

DeSantis targeted Florida’s LGBTQ population for harassment, signing the so-called Don’t Say Gay bill that banned classroom instruction on sexual orientation. He then abused his power to go after Disney for criticizing the bill.

Florida’s governor has refused to call what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, an insurrection and supports election deniers. He also removed a twice-elected prosecutor from office based on political differences.

Then again, this is not the first time the Union League has honored someone who is undeserving of an award first given to Abraham Lincoln.

» READ MORE: The Union League should not honor Ron DeSantis | Jenice Armstrong

In 2018, the Union League awarded the gold medal to then-U.S. Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, who was denied a federal judgeship because of his racist past, including saying he thought the Ku Klux Klan “was OK until I found out they smoked pot.”

That’s a long way from the Union League’s founding in 1862 as a bulwark in support of President Lincoln and the Union Army during the Civil War. The Union League helped recruit Black Civil War regiments.

Despite that bold stand, it wasn’t until 1972 that the Union League itself desegregated. Women were not allowed membership until 1986. Indeed, for most of the Union League’s history, the majority of Pennsylvania citizens need not apply to the club.

More recently, the Union League has tried to broaden its appeal. Despite efforts to diversify, the Union League struggles to shake its roots as a bastion for privileged white males.

The Union League is a private club that plays by its own rules. But it’s 2023, for crying out loud. What in the world would possess any club in Philadelphia to dishonor itself by honoring a pol who belittles lifesaving COVID vaccines, persecutes gay teachers, and says that Black history lacks “educational value”?

Like the Republican Party it was founded to support, the Union League has sacrificed the best aspects of its identity to go out of its way to honor a divisive Florida politician who has made a name for himself by playing to the extreme fringes of the once Grand Old Party.

Where is the honor in that?

If the Union League wants to play a role in modern Philadelphia, it should follow Lincoln’s advice by appealing to the better angels of our nature.