Closet Talk: Dr. Michael T. Schmitt – Same-Sex Marriage’s Threat to Heterosexual Identity
I was first introduced to Dr. Michael T. Schmitt’s work by way of jaysays.com’s resident scientist, Jude. After seeing his video presentation, I knew I had to have him on the show. Dr. Schmitt, along with Dr. Justin Lehmiller and Dr. Allison Walsh, published the article, “The Role of Heterosexual Identity Threat in Differential Support for Same-Sex ‘Civil Unions’ versus ‘Marriages’” in the journal Group Processes and Intergroup Relations.
During the show, I found myself attempting not to use the words that came to mind; words like, heterosexual supremacist, egotist, snob, etc. After the show, I found myself thinking: “Well, if it’s a cat, call it a cat.”
Essentially, the experiments determined that the majority’s desire to remain superior to the minority results in a broader support of “civil unions” instead of “marriage”. This determination can be exampled in current events with the defeat of a marriage equality law in Maine and the passage of a “domestic partnership” law in Washington state. In this case, there’s no reason to take my word for it, instead, Dr. Schmitt explains it nicely:
As mentioned, Dr. Schmitt is an Associate Professor at Simon Fraser University. SFU, like many educational institutions, is suffering from under funding. Find out how you can help at savesfu.org.
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Absolutely fantastic interview. What I like most is how ironclad his research is. As a person who supports full marriage equality and the use of the word marriage, I've always been bewildered at why civil unions gain higher support. Now we know. However, I will say – I think that most straight people are unaware that what they feel is a bias. They feel threatened but can't really explain it. I hope his research will help straight people understand themselves more.
This is very eye opening for me, I will have to listen to it again to digest even more, great show Jay! Thanks
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