David Blankenhorn
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David Blankenhorn (born 1955 in
Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...
) is the founder and president of the
Institute for American Values The Institute for American Values was a New York City think tank focused on family and social issues.Don S. Browning, ''Marriage and modernization: how globalization threatens marriage and what to do about it'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003, p. ...
and its initiative
Braver Angels Braver Angels (formerly Better Angels) is a New York-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to political depolarization. The organization runs workshops, debates, and other events where "red" (conservative) and "blue" (liberal) participants attempt t ...
. He is also co-director of The Marriage Opportunity Council and the author of ''Fatherless America'' and ''The Future of Marriage''. A noted figure in the campaign against
same-sex marriage in the United States The availability of legally recognized same-sex marriage in the United States expanded from one state (Massachusetts) in 2004 to all fifty states in 2015 through various court rulings, state legislation, and direct popular votes. States each ...
, his position changed and he voiced support of legalizing same-sex marriage in June 2012.


Biography

Blankenhorn received a bachelor's degree in Social Studies, magna cum laude, from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1977; he was also awarded a master's degree, with distinction, in Comparative Social History from
University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...
in Coventry. Blankenhorn served as a
VISTA Vista usually refers to a distant view. Vista may also refer to: Software *Windows Vista, the line of Microsoft Windows client operating systems released in 2006 and 2007 * VistA, (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) ...
volunteer and was involved in community organizing. Blankenhorn founded the Institute for American Values, a nonpartisan think tank whose stated mission is to "study and strengthen key American values", in 1987. In 1992, President
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
appointed Blankenhorn to serve on the National Commission on America's Urban Families. Blankenhorn helped to found the National Fatherhood Initiative, a nonpartisan organization focused on responsible fatherhood, in 1994. As of 2007, Blankenhorn has written "scores of op-ed pieces and essays, co-edited eight books and written two." Blankenhorn identifies as a liberal Democrat. Blankenhorn and his wife Raina are the parents of three children, and they reside in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.


Braver Angels

Braver Angels (originally Better Angels) is an initiative from Institute for American Values working to depolarize US politics. Founded shortly after the 2016 presidential election, the organization runs workshops, debates, and other events where ''red'' (conservative) and ''blue'' (liberal) participants come to better understand each other's positions and discover their shared values. The name ''Better Angels'' was inspired by Lincoln's plea for national unity at the close of his first inaugural address. The name was changed to ''Braver Angels'' in 2020 pursuant to a trademark infringement suit.


''Perry v. Schwarzenegger'' testimony

Blankenhorn was presented to the court as an
expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...
in ''
Perry v. Schwarzenegger Perry, also known as pear cider, is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally the perry pear. It has been common for centuries in England, particularly in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire. It is also mad ...
'' by the proponents of
California Proposition 8 (2008) Proposition 8, known informally as Prop 8, was a California ballot proposition and a state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage; it passed in the November 2008 California state elections and was later overturned in court ...
, a constitutional amendment restricting marriage to the union of opposite-sex couples. On
cross-examination In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India and Pakistan known as examination-in-chief) and m ...
by
David Boies David Boies (; born March 11, 1941) is an American lawyer and chairman of the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. Boies rose to national prominence for three major cases: leading the U.S. federal government's successful prosecution of Microsof ...
, Blankenhorn stated that marriage's "rule of two people" is not violated by
polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...
, because "Even in instances of a man engaging in polygamous marriage, each marriage is separate. He — one man — marries one woman." During questioning, Blankenhorn stated "I believe that adopting
same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
would be likely to improve the well-being of gay and lesbian households and their children." Also, he identified 22 other benefits of adopting same-sex marriage, published on page 203 of his book ''The Future of Marriage'', stating only 5 with which he disagreed. Some of the benefits with which he did agree included that it would: increase the proportion of gays and lesbians in stable, committed relationships; lead to higher living standards for
same-sex couple A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries ...
s; lead to fewer children growing up in state institutions and more growing up in loving adoptive and foster families; decrease the amount of anti-gay prejudice and hate crimes; and decrease the number of those warily viewed as "other" in society, further reaching the American ideal. In the decision filed on August 4, 2010, Judge
Vaughn Walker Vaughn Richard Walker (born 1944) is an American lawyer who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California from 1989 to 2011. Walker presided over the original trial in '' Holl ...
ruled that Blankenhorn was not qualified as an expert witness, and that his testimony was "unreliable and entitled to essentially no weight."


Changing position on same-sex marriage

In June 2012, Blankenhorn announced in a ''New York Times'' opinion column that his stance on same-sex marriage had changed. He noted that the opposition voiced in his book and in his trial testimony was founded in a belief "that children have the right, insofar as society makes it possible, to know and to be cared for by the two parents who brought them into this world", a right that he points out is guaranteed by the 1990
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Con ...
. But while that belief had not changed (being central to his view that “gay marriage has become a significant contributor to marriage’s continuing deinstitutionalization”), it was now trumped by other more holistic factors. He cites "the equal dignity of homosexual love", "
comity In law, comity is "a practice among different political entities (as countries, states, or courts of different jurisdictions)" involving the " mutual recognition of legislative, executive, and judicial acts." Etymology Comity derives from the La ...
", and "respect for an emerging consensus" as positive reasons for his now supporting same-sex marriage. Noting that the fight against same-sex marriage had not advanced the cause of marriage more generally, he expressed a hope that gay and straight couples alike could join together in efforts to strengthen marriage.


Cultural depictions

Blankenhorn appears as a character in '' 8'',
Dustin Lance Black Dustin Lance Black (born June 10, 1974) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and LGBT rights activist. He is known for writing the film ''Milk (2008 American film), Milk'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenpl ...
's play about the trial surrounding Proposition 8, in which the character recites portions of the ''Perry v. Schwarzenegger'' testimony. The part has been performed by
Rob Reiner Robert Norman Reiner (born March 6, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence with the role of Michael "Meathead" Stivic on the CBS sitcom ''All in the Family'' (1971–1979), a performanc ...
and
John C. Reilly John Christopher Reilly (born May 24, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer, and writer. After his film debut in ''Casualties of War'' (1989), he gained exposure through his supporting roles in '' Days of Thunder'' (1990), '' ...
. Rob Reiner played Blankenhorn again in ''
When We Rise ''When We Rise'' is an eight-part American docudrama miniseries about the history of LGBT rights advocacy in the United States from the 1970s to the 2010s. It was created by Dustin Lance Black and stars Guy Pearce, Rachel Griffiths, Mary-Loui ...
''.


References


External links


Institute for American Values profilePerry Trial Transcripts (Blankenhorn begins Day 11 and Day 12)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blankenhorn, David 1955 births Harvard College alumni Living people Activists from New York City Alumni of the University of Warwick