Kenji Yoshino

So at the risk of sounding sentimental, I will again go back to my wonderful parents and to say that they constantly were saying to me as I was growing up, we love you. But I trusted the love, but I didn't trust the you, because the you that I was presenting to them was not the real me. So I thought, if I come out to you as gay, I don't know if you will still love me.

And it was only after I came out that I trusted them when they said, as I continue to say, we love you. And so that idea, and you could frame it in less kind of sentimental, more daily terms. If I say, Shankar, I respect you, but there's something about yourself that you're not fully disclosing to me, you might trust the respect, but you might not trust the you.

And it was only after I came out that I trusted them when they said, as I continue to say, we love you. And so that idea, and you could frame it in less kind of sentimental, more daily terms. If I say, Shankar, I respect you, but there's something about yourself that you're not fully disclosing to me, you might trust the respect, but you might not trust the you.

And it was only after I came out that I trusted them when they said, as I continue to say, we love you. And so that idea, and you could frame it in less kind of sentimental, more daily terms. If I say, Shankar, I respect you, but there's something about yourself that you're not fully disclosing to me, you might trust the respect, but you might not trust the you.

You might think, well, that respect attaches to some kind of fictional me that I'm presenting to the world rather than my real self. And it's only when I give you the conditions to be fully authentic that I can say I respect you and you can trust the respect and the you. So for me, this project is a project about saying, how do we actually achieve belonging?

You might think, well, that respect attaches to some kind of fictional me that I'm presenting to the world rather than my real self. And it's only when I give you the conditions to be fully authentic that I can say I respect you and you can trust the respect and the you. So for me, this project is a project about saying, how do we actually achieve belonging?

You might think, well, that respect attaches to some kind of fictional me that I'm presenting to the world rather than my real self. And it's only when I give you the conditions to be fully authentic that I can say I respect you and you can trust the respect and the you. So for me, this project is a project about saying, how do we actually achieve belonging?

You don't achieve any kind of belonging if the person who belongs is not really you. So if I say, in an extreme case, like pass as a straight person, and everyone says, oh, Kenji's a great guy, we accept him, he belongs in this community, I'm never going to trust that sense of belonging because the person you've included is not me.

You don't achieve any kind of belonging if the person who belongs is not really you. So if I say, in an extreme case, like pass as a straight person, and everyone says, oh, Kenji's a great guy, we accept him, he belongs in this community, I'm never going to trust that sense of belonging because the person you've included is not me.

You don't achieve any kind of belonging if the person who belongs is not really you. So if I say, in an extreme case, like pass as a straight person, and everyone says, oh, Kenji's a great guy, we accept him, he belongs in this community, I'm never going to trust that sense of belonging because the person you've included is not me.

It's some facsimile of me that I've created in order to be included. So I've not given the community the chance to accept me for who I really am. So I realize it can feel very scary and very risky. But this idea that I could actually say to my community, this is who I truly am. And then the community responds by saying, and you belong as you. That's when I can really trust that sense of belonging.

It's some facsimile of me that I've created in order to be included. So I've not given the community the chance to accept me for who I really am. So I realize it can feel very scary and very risky. But this idea that I could actually say to my community, this is who I truly am. And then the community responds by saying, and you belong as you. That's when I can really trust that sense of belonging.

It's some facsimile of me that I've created in order to be included. So I've not given the community the chance to accept me for who I really am. So I realize it can feel very scary and very risky. But this idea that I could actually say to my community, this is who I truly am. And then the community responds by saying, and you belong as you. That's when I can really trust that sense of belonging.

Distinct storytelling is kind of what I've been doing at multiple points in this wonderful exchange, Shankar, which is when I talk about a story like, oh, I was on the tenure track and I was told to downplay my sexual orientation if I wanted tenure or not write on gay topics if I wanted tenure. Or, you know, when I was offered this chair and I had to debate whether or not to speak up.

Distinct storytelling is kind of what I've been doing at multiple points in this wonderful exchange, Shankar, which is when I talk about a story like, oh, I was on the tenure track and I was told to downplay my sexual orientation if I wanted tenure or not write on gay topics if I wanted tenure. Or, you know, when I was offered this chair and I had to debate whether or not to speak up.

Distinct storytelling is kind of what I've been doing at multiple points in this wonderful exchange, Shankar, which is when I talk about a story like, oh, I was on the tenure track and I was told to downplay my sexual orientation if I wanted tenure or not write on gay topics if I wanted tenure. Or, you know, when I was offered this chair and I had to debate whether or not to speak up.

Like those moments where you are being asked to cover and you rejected the covering demand and you came out of it on the other side much stronger than you would have been if you had ducked your head and gone away. Those are what I'm calling distinct stories. They are set pieces or stories or anecdotes that just illustrate to people the power of authenticity.

Like those moments where you are being asked to cover and you rejected the covering demand and you came out of it on the other side much stronger than you would have been if you had ducked your head and gone away. Those are what I'm calling distinct stories. They are set pieces or stories or anecdotes that just illustrate to people the power of authenticity.

Like those moments where you are being asked to cover and you rejected the covering demand and you came out of it on the other side much stronger than you would have been if you had ducked your head and gone away. Those are what I'm calling distinct stories. They are set pieces or stories or anecdotes that just illustrate to people the power of authenticity.

So just to land the plane on this, imagine if I had accepted the very similar sounding chair, the Earl Warren Professorship of Constitutional Law, without pushing back on my dean, I can guarantee you that every time I was introduced, whether on this interview or elsewhere, I would have had like a wave of shame of like, that was a moment in my life where I should have stuck up for myself and I did it.