How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
Kenji Yoshino is a professor of constitutional law at NYU School of Law. Yoshino is influential in the fields of constitutional law, anti-discrimination law and law and literature. Yoshino is also an openly gay man who has written columns for The New York Times and The Boston Globe about LGBT issues and regularly speaks out about gay rights. He responded to the following questions by e-mail.
Q: Did you think gay marriage would pass in the New York State Senate [Wednesday]?
A: I would not have been surprised with either outcome. Many of the senators were not revealing their votes. One positive outcome of this vote is that their positions are now clear and that they can be held accountable for them.
Q: What should same-sex marriage advocates do in the future?
A: I think same-sex marriage advocates should continue to press for the right to marry in governmental forums when the timing seems right. I also think we should understand that the formal political processes are just a piece of the puzzle. We need to win the hearts and minds of our fellow citizens through cultural action, such as acquiring a stronger presence in the media, and social action, such as persuading allies, colleagues, friends and family. We must remember that the history of civil rights has always been a narrative of "two steps forward, one step back." I think in hindsight, many of us tend to think of civil rights as occurring in a relatively discrete slice of time. Many of us speak as if civil rights for African-Americans, for instance, were achieved during the 1960s. But of course, debates over the rights of African-Americans extend back to the founding of our nation, and those rights have not been fully secured even today. The struggle for gay rights will take time, but time appears to be on our side. In other words, this is not a narrative of "one step forward, two steps back."
Q: Why is same-sex marriage legislation passing in some states, but failing in others such as New York?
A: I do not think there is a clear answer here. This is a question that bears close study and analysis, because so many factors could potentially be in play. For instance, in Maine it might have been easier for the legislature to pass the legislation because there was the "backstop" of a state-wide referendum, a procedure that does not exist in New York.
Q: What are the implications of recent court cases, such as the November ruling that New York must honor out-of-state same-sex marriages, in the gay marriage debate? Does this ruling bring us closer to passing legislation on gay marriage?
A: I believe it does, simply because more same-sex couples in New York will be treated under law as married. I am a general believer in the contact hypothesis — the theory that prejudice against minorities goes down as individuals in the majority rub elbows with them. As more same-sex couples hold themselves out as legally married in New York, I think same-sex marriage will appear more natural. We saw this in Massachusetts — one year after individuals started getting married in that state, opposition to same-sex marriage had gone down dramatically.
Q: What will have to happen for increased acceptance of same-sex marriage, both culturally and legally?
A: I think there needs to be a new generation of citizens and lawyers who have grown up seeing LGBT individuals as not so different from them, and who think of the unequal treatment of LGBT individuals as a civil-rights issue. I believe this generational shift is occurring in a very exciting and organic way. Pollster Nate Silver has stated that he believes a majority of Americans will be in favor of same-sex marriage somewhere in the next decade.
