Family Research Council defends itself with distorted studies . . . again

It's a regular comedy of errors with the Family Research Council.

In the organization's zeal to defend itself from the charges of being an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, it continues to make huge missteps.

And the latest just happened today.

Now SPLC contends that FRC - and other so-called morality groups - either deliberately rely on junk science, distort legitimate science, or push propaganda to make the lgbt community seem like the dreaded "other" out to destroy American values.

FRC contends that SPLC is unfairly attacking them because they stand against gay marriage even though SPLC has made it clear that this isn't the case.

FRC spokesman Peter Sprigg, who has gone on record wanting gays and lesbians exported out of the United States and  "homosexual acts" to be made illegal, said the following about SPLC's charges in a blog post today:

For the record, FRC believes that every human being, including those who experience same-sex attractions and those who engage in homosexual conduct, is created in the image of God and is loved by Him. How this qualifies as “hate” is a mystery.

We will be preparing a more detailed response to Cohen’s charge that FRC spreads “falsehoods” in our well-documented research, which does show that certain harms are associated with homosexual conduct. Those wishing to examine that research in the meantime can refer to the FRC book Getting It Straight: What the Research Shows About Homosexuality or to our recent pamphlet, The Top Ten Myths About Homosexuality.

For Sprigg's information, I have done just that several times in the past and have found a bunch of errors in both works he cited.

I've talked about these errors in several blog posts, but they bear repeating.

Let's look at the brochure The Top Ten Myths of Homosexuality.

What's the deal with the religious right and gay sex anyway?

This nonsense from conservatives and the religious right about the DADT repeal "forcing heterosexual men to shower with gay men" has me thinking. What is the deal with the religious right and "gay sex" anyway. Truth be told, I wish I was having as much sex as they accuse gay men of having:

"One study determined that homosexual males have from between 20 to 106 sexual partners per year. It's no wonder that homosexual men account for over 50% of all hepatitis cases, and still account for over 50% of all AIDS cases despite the fact that they only make up 1-3% of the population." - The Gay Agenda vs. Family Values, Matt J. Barber

"Fidelity is almost unheard of in homosexual relationships; the average number of partners for each person is eight. These relationships are not open--they are wide open. A homosexual publication, The Advocate, reports that 57 percent of its homosexual readers claimed they had sexual relations with 30 or more partners. Twenty-nine percent of their readers had anonymous bathhouse sex. A 1991 study of homosexual men in New York revealed an average of 308 sexual partners per man." - Supremes Ruled Wisely: Arizona Can't Afford Same Sex Marriage, The Arizona Conservative

An article in USA Today in November 1984 reported that homosexuals have an average of 50 different sexual partners each year. - Offering Hope to Homosexuals - http://www.firststone.org/articles/topic/homosexuality/offering_hope_to_homosexuals.htm

"Homosexual activists claim their lifestyle, which in some cases includes thousands of sexual partners, should be sanctioned, protected, and granted special rights by society. Would you critique this stance?" - a biased question on the Focus on the Family web page

I have an idea. Why don't they just show the following:



Idiotic, isn't it? Trying to reduce the lives of millions into fevered thoughts of sex acts is the very height of idiocy. But it's a tactic which has served the so-called Christian right well on many occasions.

You will remember that they claim to oppose ENDA and other anti-discrimination laws because it might lead to "men dressing up as women and harassing ladies and children in locker rooms and restrooms."

These tactics are not rooted in logic, but fear and prejudice - two very un-Christian characteristics.

Why is Senator McCain teaming up with a hate group? and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Just in case you missed it:



McCain Joins FRC Against DADT Repeal – The Politics of Slander Are Now His Values - It's sad how low Sen. John McCain has fallen.

Family Research Council: We'll Sue To Stop DADT repeal - speaking of which, the hate group's single-minded pursuit of fighting the DADT repeal will do wonders for convincing Americans just how homophobic they are.

The Catholic Church's $400,000 Fax Machine - Being a homophobic SOB certainly pays well.

Gay advocates win victory at UN - Let's end Wednesday's news briefs with some excellent news.

Religious right strategize to undermine DADT repeal

There has been a lot of talk regarding the Southern Poverty Law Center either declaring certain religious right groups as anti-gay hate groups or profiling them for their tendency to demonize the lgbt community.

The groups claim that they are simply trying to show "Christian" opposition to homosexuality and gay marriage in general. This of course is a lie and what better way to prove it than to showcase the words of members of these organizations.

In today's issue of the *American Family Association's One News Now, Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel - one of the groups profiled by SPLC - had this to say about the DADT repeal:

"As we move forward in 2011, we're going to ask the House of Representatives to de-fund any implementation of this repeal," he reports. "We believe that Congress, the House of Representatives, can de-fund any implementation, and thus the repeal would essentially be meaningless. Then we also believe that as we move forward in 2011 [and] 2012, we're going to remember those individuals in the House and the Senate who betrayed our military and America."

You got that? Who cares if Congress voted to end DADT. Staver and company are determined to undermine the will of this vote simply because it benefits the lgbt community.

And then there are the words of Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, which was declared  an official hate group by SPLC:

"Obama and gays have shown that they care more about the sensitivities of gay and lesbian soldiers than they do about the privacy rights of the majority of normal soldiers."

You see that's hatred. That's homophobia so stark that no one can call it anything different. To LaBarbera, the sacrifice of soldiers like Eric Alva, who became the first American wounded in the war in Iraq and lost his leg because of the wound, mean nothing.

And why?

Because to LaBarbera, soldiers like Alva aren't "normal." They are "dirty homosexuals."

How is this any different than the mindset of those who opposed President Truman's desegregation of the Armed Forces in 1948? 

I don't think these efforts will be successful but they do reveal a lot about those behind them. These aren't Christian people. These are pathetic haters who mask their lies and homophobia behind Christian beliefs.

The only thing good about their words is that they clearly show these haters so filled with hubris that they don't realize how deep they are cutting their own throats.


*The American Family Association was also declared an anti-gay hate group by SPLC.

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Last ditch attack on DADT repeal fails, reveals Republican flaw

One thing is assured in politics.

When the Democrats take over Congress, they face criticism of not knowing how to govern. But when Republicans take over, they tend to overdo things, going too far with the tactics which got them into power to the point of either alienating or scaring folks.

We saw it with the Clinton impeachment trials and the case of Terri Schiavo. And we are seeing it again in the case of the DADT repeal. In an absolutely silly attempt to stop the repeal of DADT after the Senate voted, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell makes an ass of himself:

A last-ditch effort by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to complicate the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy was blocked Tuesday night after Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) objected, Senate aides said.

McConnell attempted to add an amendment to the so-called stripped-down defense authorization bill that would have required the consent of the military service chiefs to proceed with "don't ask" repeal. Under legislation passed by the Senate last week, certifications are required from the president, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. All the incumbents in those positions support repeal.

"It was a McConnell proposal," a GOP aide confirmed. "There was an attempted to get unanimous consent for it to be included in the defense bill and someone objected."

McConnell's amendment, which Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other GOP senators have been urging for months, called for certifications from the four service chiefs. All of the incumbents in those positions have expressed at least some reservations about repeal at this time.

Repeal advocates have long viewed such an amendment as a poison pill. Presumably, this is what prompted Lieberman's objection. A spokesman for the senator did not immediately respond to an e-mail query Tuesday night. The stripped-down defense bill is proceeding on a unanimous consent basis after most of the controversial aspects were stripped out. Even if such a bill somehow passed with an amendment that threatened "don't ask" repeal prospects, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) would likely refuse to bring it to the floor.

Of course, any such amendment, or even the prospect of it, could be seen as an effort to upstage President Barack Obama as he prepares to sign the conditional repeal bill into law on Wednesday morning.

Geez guys. Can you wait to get into power before you mess yourselves up. At least that's what Republicans did in the past.