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Ho is one of four recipients of the Dukeminier Award from the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School

In 鈥淨ueer Sacrifice in Masterpiece Cakeshop,鈥� published in the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, UMass Law Associate Professor Jeremiah Ho explores the divisive case of a Colorado same-sex couple who was turned away from ordering a wedding cake by a baker whose religious beliefs did not support their marriage.

The paper has received a top prize in the field of LGBTQ legal scholarship as one of four recipients of the Dukeminier Award from the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School. The article was published in Volume 20 of the l, which is read by lawyers, advocates, and academics in the field. The piece was originally published in 2020 in the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism.

The Dukeminier Awards were established to acknowledge and distribute the best of legal scholarship concerning various aspects of sexual orientation and gender identity law.

鈥淚鈥檓 extremely grateful and delighted that the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law has recognized my work, 鈥淨ueer Sacrifice in Masterpiece Cakeshop,鈥� on the Supreme Court鈥檚 2018 Masterpiece Cakeshop decision, showing how that case provides insight on interpreting the progress of LGBTQ+ legal advances in the U.S. today,鈥� said Ho.

鈥淭he award is a great honor as scholarship has been immensely important to my life in the law,鈥� he added. 鈥淢y first published law review piece as a second-year student in law school was on same-sex marriage at a time in which the progress for LGBTQ+ rights had not yet turned as positively. That piece had been a seminal part of my coming out experience during law school as well. Since then, I鈥檝e continued to write in the area, especially after entering the legal academy, hoping to give more visibility to the diversity and pluralism within LGTBQ+ lived experiences. This recognition of my scholarship from the Williams Institute is quite meaningful because it acknowledges writing that has given me much purpose in life on these various levels.鈥�

Ho鈥檚 article aims to explain why it was acceptable to the Supreme Court that a married Colorado same-sex couple could be turned away from ordering a wedding cake by a baker whose religious beliefs did not support gay marriage.

鈥淲hen the Colorado public accommodations law protected against sexual orientation discrimination and since the Supreme Court has recognized same-sex marriages, this decision seemed dissonant,鈥� Ho said. 鈥淪houldn鈥檛 this couple have been able to get their cake and eat it too? But as I argue in the article, this couple鈥檚 鈥渜ueer鈥� attributes did not align with the more assimilated portrayals of gay couples in the Supreme Court鈥檚 same-sex marriage cases. This couple鈥檚 queerness threatened the status quo. As a result, the couple was then indirectly denied their recourse under the law. What this likely proves for LGBTQ+ rights advances is that progress is conditioned on conforming into how the status quo perceives LGBTQ+ identities. If you don鈥檛 conform, you don鈥檛 get your cake.鈥�

Masterpiece Cakeshop article refined Ho鈥檚 direction in his LGBTQ+ legal scholarship

Ho said he began focusing more acutely on specific areas of LGBTQ+ rights advancements when he began to write 鈥淨ueer Sacrifice in Masterpiece Cakeshop鈥� in 2019. 鈥淚鈥檝e always been fascinated by how assimilation by marginalized groups is an available way of gaining access into the establishment but at a great鈥攐ften monumental鈥攃ost. My prior published works had started to focus on this aspect of LGBTQ+ rights progress. But this work on the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision helped me crystallize my observations in more theoretical and methodical terms.鈥�

Last year, Ho published another piece that builds on the theoretical examination about LGBTQ+ assimilation that was published last fall in the American University Journal of Law, Social Policy, and Gender. 鈥淨ueering Bostock鈥� followed the Supreme Court鈥檚 Title VII employment decision, Bostock v. Clayton County, that gave protection to sexual orientation workplace discrimination. As part of his current sabbatical, Ho is currently working on another article that broadens the connection between his theories in both pieces.

鈥淚n effect, whether I knew it or not in 2019, 鈥淨ueer Sacrifice in Masterpiece Cakeshop鈥� has given me a lot of insight not only for observing recent LGBTQ+ legal advancements but how diversity is being defined presently in the U.S. for race, gender, and sexuality,鈥� he said.

鈥淚鈥檝e always been fascinated by how assimilation by marginalized groups is an available way of gaining access into the establishment but at a great鈥攐ften monumental鈥攃ost."

Highly-regarded UMass Law faculty member

Professor Ho joined the UMass Law faculty in 2012. In 2020, he received the Manning Prize for Teaching Excellence, awarded annually to one faculty member at the entire university, for his exemplary dedication to students and the campus community. He has been named Professor of the Year a record of six times by the UMass Law Student Bar Association.

As the UMass Law Review's research and scholarship advisor, Ho works closely with students on their research and scholarly writing. An article he co-wrote with the student editor-in-chief was published in the Harvard Journal on Legislation.

Ho has published in leading law journals at Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, the University of California-Davis, Marquette, Utah, and Kentucky, as well as the Journal of Legal Education.