Being Rejected By A Tattoo Artist

An attention-grabbing, recent news article from Bennington, Vt. was about a man that was arrested after crashing his vehicle into Tattoo Artist Thomas Keith’s house where his 1-year-old daughter was sleeping.

Myers then proceeded to chase him in the front yard, all because Keith wouldn’t add on to his Nazi or Aryan Nation tattoos.

Local Vermont man, Michael Myers, was enraged when Keith said he would not work on his tattoos, but did Keith have the right to reject him?

According to the Bennington Police Department, Myers is being held without bail.

Myers is charged with:

• Attempted first-degree murder
  
• Aggravated assault with a weapon
  
• Reckless endangerment
  
• Unlawful trespassing
  
• Resisting arrest
  
• Leaving the scene of a crash
  
• Driving under the influence of alcohol, third offense
  
• Two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer
  
• Two counts of unlawful mischief

Artists Have The Right To Choose...

Whether customers like it or not, the artists have a right to NOT tattoo you. Getting tattooed by an artist should be looked at like a privilege, not a requirement. Whether you agree with their decisions or not, it is like you are in their house so you respect them and their talent either way.

Marvel Art Tattoos Artist Eddie Snyder said in an interview with The Shreveport Times that as a Christian he too refuses to do certain types of tattoos.

Snyder refuses to do:

• Satanic tattoos
  
• Numbers of the beast or pentagrams
  
• Racist images
  
• Any tattoos on the face

...As Long As You Don't Discriminate

Now that I’ve said tattoo artists have a right to refuse certain tattoos, this does NOT give them the right to discriminate. Let’s not forget about the Fourteenth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.

What if the artist misunderstands a religion?

Wiccans do not believe in Satan, and find the five pointed pentacle to represent the five life aspects; the spirit and four earth elements.

Would Snyder tattoo a Wiccan? Would he tattoo a pentacle?

Some questions that arise:

• Where is the deciding line drawn?
  
• Who gets to draw this line?
  
• Does this not get decided because tattoo life is still on the back burner for many states?

Any feedback or follow up questions? In the mean time I’ll be on the prowl for relevant court cases!