What is Yoshino’s vision for a new civil rights and how does he think it can be achieved? Find, introduce, quote, and analyze a passage in which he lays out this vision. Then respond by evaluating his ideas. In your response, consider the following: Do you think his vision is possible? Is it something we should strive for?
While discussing the new civil rights within the court system, Yoshino says, “Equality claims — such as group-based accommodation claims — inevitably involve the Court in picking favorites among groups. … Liberty, claims, on the other hand, emphasize what all Americans (or more precisely, all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States) have in common. The claim that we all have a right to sexual intimacy, or that we all have a right to access the courts, will hold no matter how many new groups proliferate in this country” (Yoshino 543). This describes what needs to be changed about the old civil rights system and offers a reason to strive for this change. He says that people can adopt civil right by assigning rights to humans, not groups. Instead of saying this group deserves this right, say that all people deserve it. This also gives rights to groups that may not be established or considered now. Yoshino’s vision is definitely something to strive for. If it became reality, all people will be protected from covering and discrimination and allowed certain rights. His vision may also be unrealistic though. Even if rights are granted to all people, in individual minds, groups will never dissolve into just a group of humans. To many, it will always be that gay people were given the right to marry, rather than that all people are allowed to marry the person of their choosing. In reality, equality and liberty paradigms overlap in many ways and finding equilibrium between these two is the best pathway for achieving new civil rights.
