UPDATE - PFOX answers my question. And someone is still distorting the issue

I received an email from PFOX regarding my question about the study PFOX head Regina Griggs cited in a recent One News Now article.

In my post below, I talked about how Griggs was claiming that GSAs actually led to lgbt children attempting suicide. According to the article:

Quoting a recent study, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) is warning of the increased risk of suicide that is linked with young people who identify themselves as homosexuals before achieving full maturity -- a process encouraged by many homosexual high school clubs.

The name of the study was not mentioned in the article. I had a suspicion that PFOX was referring to the 1996 Elizabeth Saewyc study that looked at lesbian teen suicides. If it was, then PFOX would have been in error.

A controversy had come up concerning the study when Focus on the Family's spokesperson Melissa Fryrear used it to claim that teen lesbians are having problems with suicide because they are "encouraged by gay activists to come out" (I am paraphrasing here).

Dr. Saewyc said Fryrear's comments was a distortion of her research.

I was concerned that PFOX was still using the Saewyc study to reach the same conclusion that Fryrear did.

This is the email I received from PFOX:

The source is listed at www.pfox.org under Press Releases.

The press release, PFOX Exposes Dangers Of Self-Identifying As ‘Gay’ Before Maturity, is where the name of the study is mentioned.

And Griggs was right. PFOX did not cite the Saewyc study. It cited:

Risk Factors for Attempted Suicide in Gay and Bisexual Youth by Remafedi, Farrow, and Deisher, in Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Pediatrics 87: 869-875 June 1991

Now here is the problem. The first sentence of the One News Now article says:

Quoting a recent study, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) is warning of the increased risk of suicide that is linked with young people who identify themselves as homosexuals before achieving full maturity -- a process encouraged by many homosexual high school clubs.

A recent study? Hardly. Who considers a 17-year-old study to be recent? Apparently members of the anti-gay industry if the study can be used to demonize lgbts.

There is still a deception here but I don't know who is guilty of it; PFOX, One News Now, or LifeSiteNews.com (the place where the article originated from).

I emailed Griggs again asking for clarification. Was it she who described the 1991 study as a recent one or did One News Now and LifeSiteNews.com use bad dramatic license?

This is getting good.


They just can't stop lying: PFOX tries to slip one by and Peter LaBarbera's friend cites Paul Cameron

One of the most annoying characteristics about the anti-gay industry is their tendency to repeat distortions even after the said distortions have been refuted.

A perfect example are two that I found today:

PFOX tries to distort work on gay teen suicide

I read this today in One News Now:

Quoting a recent study, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) is warning of the increased risk of suicide that is linked with young people who identify themselves as homosexuals before achieving full maturity -- a process encouraged by many homosexual high school clubs - PFOX: Homosexual high school clubs increase risk of suicide

Interestingly enough, the study PFOX is referring to is not mentioned anywhere in the article.

But PFOX head Regina Griggs gives a clue as to the nature of the study:

. . ."Research has shown that the risk of suicide decreases by 20 percent each year that a person delays homosexual or bisexual self-labeling. Early self-identification is dangerous to kids."

That quote looked familiar to me so I did a little research and found the following:

Going far beyond the research results, Focus on the Family claims a recent study presented at a Canadian public health conference links "pro-gay advocates" to increased rates of lesbian teen suicide attempts, a claim that has baffled the scientist who conducted the study.

"Nothing in the brief results we presented or in our overall study could lead to such conclusions," said Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc, an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, and research director of the McCreary Centre Society.

Reacting to survey results that showed higher rates of suicide attempts among lesbian high school students vs. heterosexual teens, Focus on the Family blamed the very people trying to help teens enter a more accepting society.

"Regrettably, they think they have to embrace homosexuality because pro-gay advocates told them that they were born gay," claimed Melissa Fryrear, a spokesperson for Focus on the Family, on their website.

This was from a June 16, 2006 article in which University of British Columbia Professor Elizabeth Saewyc accused Focus on the Family of distorting her study about lesbian teen suicide.

Focus on the Family spokeswoman Melissa Fryrear claimed that lesbian teens are committing sucide because they are encouraged to "identify as lesbians" by "pro-gay advocates."

Saewyc said Fryrear's conclusion was a distortion of her study. She said:

What we have found is that sexual, racial, or anti-gay harassment, discrimination, and violence are strongly associated with suicidal attempts among young people -- and that includes heterosexual teens too." She noted her previous study of Seattle high school students, which found 4 out of 5 students experiencing anti-gay harassment identified as heterosexual, and harassed students were significantly more likely to report suicide attempts regardless of their orientation.

So now in 2008, is PFOX and Griggs trying to incorrectly interpret the study even after Saewyc cried foul?

I think so.

Of course some may say that I am engaging in pure conjecture. Fair enough. I have drafted a letter that I will email to Griggs and PFOX asking for the name of the study she referred to in the One News Now article. I will send the letter today.

I will also keep you posted on whether or not I receive an answer.


Peter LaBarbera's 'Christian friend' and Paul Cameron

On his webpage, Peter LaBarbera has endorsed a report written by Phil Magnan of the Family Bible Advocates:

Meanwhile, take a read of Phil Magnan’s report, “15 Reasons Why Homosexuality is Wrong and Hurts Society.” Phil is the founder of Biblical Family Advocates, based in San Diego. I just met him in person for the first time and came away impressed by his love for people, including those practicing homosexuality, and his love for God’s truth and His heart on this issue.

By all means, please do read the "report." Magnan's essay comes across as the standard anti-gay industry tripe which recycles the discredited studies and other distortions that have made our lives just a little bit harder.

Interestingly enough, I emailed Magnan about several errors in his work last weekend. Of course I did not get an answer back.

The following are just a few of his errors:

Magnan - The book Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them: Battered Gay Men and Domestic Violence by two homosexual researchers “estimated that 650,000 homosexual men are victims of domestic violence each year, compared to figures from the FBI which showed that last year 1,300 hate crimes were reported.”

Truth - Patrick Letellier complained that Gary Glenn of the American Family Association cherry picked passages from his book (Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them) in order to assert that domestic violence is high in gay relationships. Years after this, the book continues to be cited by the anti-gay industry in the same way Glenn cited it. (in the same manner Magnan did)

Magnan - Defining a Homosexual relationship as loving and monogamous ignores the reality of same sex relationships. Many say that the premise on which we should accept same sex unions is that some of them are "loving, monogamous relationships." Same sex unions may be loving and monogamous from a worldly viewpoint, but if they had “real godly love” they would not subject each other to unnatural sexual activity that leads each other into sin. When we lead others into sin, we are no longer walking in love. In regards to homosexual monogamy, homosexuals remain faithful to one partner about 25% of the time. This is a much lower fidelity rate, than their heterosexual counterparts, which is 80%. It is not unusual for homosexuals to have hundreds of sexual partners in a life time.

Truth - Maria Xiridou of the Amsterdam Municipal Health Service completes a study which objective was “to access the relative contribution of steady and casual partnerships to the incidence of HIV infection among homosexual men in Amsterdam and to determine the effect of increasing sexually risky behaviours among both types of partnerships in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).” Despite the fact that this study was situated in a foreign city, only looked at casual relationships, was completed before same-sex marriage was legalized in the Netherlands, had nothing to do with lesbian relationships or children in same-sex households, it will be cited by the anti-gay industry to speak against gay relationships, same-sex marriage, lesbian relationships, gay adoption, etc. etc. (FOOTNOTE - Box Turtle Bulletin published a excellent report today accusing the Family Research Council of distorting the study in the same manner as Magnan.)

And the piece de resistance: Magnan freely cites discredited researcher Paul Cameron:

Magnan - There is less likelihood that a same sex couple will even be alive to care for their child. One of the reasons that Homosexual couples should not be able to adopt children or take in foster children is that according to many studies, the life span of homosexuals is much lower than that of heterosexuals. These tragic conditions create a much less stable home life for that child. Giving a foster or adopted child to homosexual parents is a form of relational child abuse. The child has been placed in a home in which the parents have an inherent shorter life span.

Truth - The study mentioned was created by Paul Cameron .

* On December 2, 1983, the American Psychological Association sent Paul Cameron a letter informing him that he had been dropped from membership. Early in 1984, all members of the American Psychological Association received official written notice that "Paul Cameron (Nebraska) was dropped from membership for a violation of the Preamble to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists" by the APA Board of Directors.5 Cameron has posted an elaborate argument about his expulsion from APA on his website, claiming that he resigned from APA before he was dropped from membership. Like most organizations, however, APA does not allow a member to resign when they are being investigated. And even if Cameron's claims were accepted as true, it would be remarkable that the largest professional organization of psychologists in the United States (and other professional associations, as noted below) went to such lengths to disassociate itself from one individual.

* At its membership meeting on October 19, 1984, the Nebraska Psychological Association adopted a resolution stating that it "formally disassociates itself from the representations and interpretations of scientific literature offered by Dr. Paul Cameron in his writings and public statements on sexuality."6

* In 1985, the American Sociological Association (ASA) adopted a resolution which asserted that "Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism" and noted that "Dr. Paul Cameron has repeatedly campaigned for the abrogation of the civil rights of lesbians and gay men, substantiating his call on the basis of his distorted interpretation of this research."7 The resolution formally charged an ASA committee with the task of "critically evaluating and publicly responding to the work of Dr. Paul Cameron."

At its August, 1986 meeting, the ASA officially accepted the committee's report and passed the following resolution:

The American Sociological Association officially and publicly states that Paul Cameron is not a sociologist, and condemns his consistent misrepresentation of sociological research. Information on this action and a copy of the report by the Committee on the Status of Homosexuals in Sociology, "The Paul Cameron Case," is to be published in Footnotes, and be sent to the officers of all regional and state sociological associations and to the Canadian Sociological Association with a request that they alert their members to Cameron's frequent lecture and media appearances."

And of course those errors merely scratch the surface when it comes to Magnan's report. On my other blog, Anti-Gay Lies and Liars, I list 17 lies that the anti-gay industry spread about gays and lesbians.

Magnan seems to be trying to validate them all, even the one about gay men allegedly molesting children at a high rate.

I guess Magnan's version of Christian love doesn't involve truth.

Why is it that those who look to get into Heaven seem to be causing the most hell on earth for the rest of us?

You see this is why it is important to keep up with anti-gay industry lies and be ready to refute at almost every turn.

They keep coming up.