Scott Lively tries to sanitize Paul Cameron

I generally post news briefs at this but I ran across something that's totally unbelievable. Only the religious right would sanitize the reputation of a man who makes up stories about gays castrating children.

Author of a discredited book that tries to link the Nazi Party with the lgbt community (The Pink Swastika) Scott Lively has really reached the lines of lunacy.

In a One News Now article, Free handbook on preserving traditional family values, Lively talks about a "textboook" he has authored, Redeeming the Rainbow: A Christian Response to the Gay Agenda:

According to Lively, the book is a useful tool for families with children in the junior high to high school range. He adds that the book takes a close look at how the homosexual movement pushes its agenda.

"Understanding the terminology that the gay movement has used to gain power and how that language has been used as a form of actual psychological manipulation of the public," Lively explains some topics the book covers.

This book is a 200+ page hot mess. It is a basic rehash of the same distortions, half truths, and anecdotes that the religious right have used to plague the lgbt community since the 1980s, including the Michael Swift lie and the "Overhauling of Straight America" lie.

But I noticed something else about Lively's book.

This isn't the work of an ignorant wannabe Christian activist blinded to the obvious because of his or her strident belief in the nobility of "the cause."

This book is created by someone who knows that he is telling refuted lies and distortions. A perfect example of this is not only Lively's usage of the discredited work of Paul Cameron but his sad attempts to rationalize the usage. The following passage is found in the "textbook":

Additional material may be found at www.familyresearchinst.org, the website of Dr. Paul Cameron. While Cameron has been the subject of intense, unrelenting criticism (and mockery) by “gay” activists and their allies, he has produced an impressive body of work related to the homosexual issue, much of it published in peer-reviewed journals, and I do not believe the criticism of his work is merited on scientific grounds.

First of all, Lively is lying. Much of Cameron's work has been published in pay-for-pay publications.

And while it's easy for Lively to dismiss repudiations of Cameron to the "nefarious work" of "gay activists and their allies," he conveniently does not mention a few facts:

"Right now, here in Lincoln, there is a 4-year-old boy who has had his genitals almost severed from his body at Gateway in the rest room with a homosexual act… It’s really awkward. I could see where Gateway would want to suppress this. I could see where the parents would want to suppress it. It could be just a rumor. But enough things have happened recently so that such a thing doesn’t have to be invented.” - Paul Cameron told this story to a group in 1982 in Lincoln, NB in an attempt to kill a human rights ordinance. The police discovered the story to be false but the ordinance was defeated.

And let's not forget the condemnations rained down on him by the medical community:

“(Cameron) misrepresents my findings and distorts them to advance his homophobic views. I make a very clear distinction in my writing between pedophilia and homosexuality, noting that adult males who sexually victimize young boys are either pedophilic or heterosexual, and that in my research I have not found homosexual men turning away from adult partners to children . . . I consider this totally unprofessional behavior on the part of Dr. Cameron and I want to bring this to your attention. He disgraces his profession.” - Dr. A. Nicholas Groth in 1984 after discovering that Cameron distorted his work.

"Paul Cameron (Nebraska) was dropped from membership for a violation of the Preamble to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists - American Psychological Association, 1983

The science and profession of psychology in Nebraska as represented by the Nebraska Psychological Association, formally dissociates itself from the representations and interpretations of scientific literature offered by Dr. Paul Cameron in his writings and public statements on sexuality. Further, the Nebraska Psychological Association would like it known that Dr. Cameron is not a member of the Association. Dr. Cameron was recently dropped from membership in the American Psychological Association for a violation of the Preamble to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists - Nebraska Psychological Association, 1984

Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism" - American Sociological Association, 1985

The Canadian Psychological Association takes the position that Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism and thus, it formally disassociates itself from the representation and interpretations of scientific literature in his writings and public statements on sexuality. - Canadian Psychological Association, 1996

And while we are at it, let's not forget those on the right who dismiss Cameron's work:

"Given what I now know, I believe there are flaws with Paul Cameron's study. One cannot extrapolate from his methodology and say that the average male homosexual life span is 43 years." - former Ronald Regan Cabinet member William Bennett criticizing Cameron's "gay lifespan study." - New Republic (1998, February 23, page 4)

This article has been removed due to the inaccuracies surrounding the research of Paul Cameron. - A posting on the webpage of Ex-gay group Exodus International

The groups run by Cameron and Lively (The Family Research Institute and Abiding Truth Ministries), by the way, are considered anti-gay hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They have this classification not because they believe that homosexuality is a sin.

According to Mark Potok, the director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center:

“ . . .we don’t ordinarily list groups that say homosexuality is wrong or see it as a sin; we list very few anti-gay groups. They have to be very extreme in their views. We see Lively the same way we see Paul Cameron; the two of them in our view consciously promote easily provable false defamations. They don’t seem to care at all what the truth is.”

You took the words out of my mouth, Mr. Potok.

Information on Paul Cameron taken from here.

If you want to read Lively's "textbook," the One News Now article has a link where you can receive it. I refuse to link to such a nasty piece of propaganda.