David Blankenhorn (born 1955) is the founder and president of the Institute for American Values and the author of The Future of Marriage and Fatherless America.[1]
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Blankenhorn received a Bachelor's Degree in Social Studies, magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 1977;[1][2] he was also awarded a Master's Degree, with distinction, in Comparative Social History from University of Warwick in Coventry.[1][2] Blankenhorn served as a VISTA volunteer and was involved in community organizing.[1] Blankenhorn founded the Institute for American Values, a nonpartisan think tank whose stated mission is to "study and strengthen key American values", in 1987.[1][3] In 1992, President George H.W. Bush appointed Blankenhorn to serve on the National Commission on America's Urban Families.[4][2][5] Blankenhorn helped to found the National Fatherhood Initiative, a nonpartisan organization focused on responsible fatherhood, in 1994.[1][2][6] As of 2007, Blankenhorn has written "scores of op-ed pieces and essays, co-edited eight books and written two."[1] Blankenhorn identifies as a liberal Democrat.[7][1]
Blankenhorn and his wife Raina are the parents of three children, and they reside in New York City.[1]
Blankenhorn was presented to the court as an expert witness in Perry v. Schwarzenegger by the proponents of California Proposition 8 (2008), a constitutional amendment restricting marriage to the union of opposite-sex couples. On cross-examination by David Boies, Blankenhorn stated that marriage's "rule of two people" is not violated by polygamy, because "Even in instances of a man engaging in polygamous marriage, each marriage is separate. He — one man marries one woman."[8] During questioning, Blankenhorn stated "I believe that adopting same-sex marriage would be likely to improve the well-being of gay and lesbian households and their children."[9] In his decision filed on August 4, 2010, Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that Blankenhorn was not qualified as an expert witness, and that his testimony was "unreliable and entitled to essentially no weight."[10]