Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Family Research Council fails at attempt to smear same-sex couples

The Family Research Council has smeared every aspect of lgbtq life, so of course the organization has to go after same-sex families.

In an absolutely ridiculous attempt, FRC attacked a recent study, All Children Matter, which looked at the inequalities children in same-sex households face. To help with the smear, FRC used an old distorted claim:
The report says "unequal treatment and social stigma" harm these kids, while stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that the destruction of the natural family is the greater threat. Still, some may argue that providing legal "protections" to kids of homosexual parents (by legalizing same-sex "marriage") wouldn't hurt anyone else. Yet scholar Stanley Kurtz has pointed out that in the Netherlands, "a remarkable and long-lasting spike in its out-of-wedlock birthrate" resulted from recognition of homosexual partnerships and same-sex "marriage," because "once marriage stops being about binding mothers and fathers together for the sake of their children, the need to get married gradually disappears." We can't afford to let that happen here. 

But here is the facts about Kurtz's claim that FRC didn't mention.

In 2004, Kurtz, who was affiliated with the Hoover Institute (a right-wing think tank) at the time had written a theory that said when gay marriage was introduced in the Netherlands, it destroyed marriage in general by leading to more out-of-wedlock births.

However, during testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee later that year,  Kurtz admitted he had no proof that same-sex marriage led to out of wedlock births in the Netherlands. When pressed by Rep. Jerome Nadler (D-NY),  Kurtz admitted that he was merely making a systematic argument.

In other words, he took two events and said that one (same-sex marriage) led to the other (out of wedlock births) without providing any evidence of such.

To tell the truth, I am rather disappointed in this latest FRC lie. Usually the organization provides more care in the propaganda it uses against the gay community.

Someone is definitely not on the ball today.



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2 comments:

Xaratherus said...

Oh, you mean Kurtz presented a post hoc, ad propter hoc (after this, because of this) fallacy? Say it ain't so. You're right, this IS pretty sad, even for the FRC. But then again, all their best arguments have already been stripped away, so they're resorting to logical fallacy to try and retain some semblance of validity.

Bishop said...

In the adding insult to injury category, Dutch tax benefits for children are generous as is perinatal parental leave and day care. And, while out of wedlock births may be more common in the Netherlands, this is because couples don't marry at the same rates in the first place.

Note also: Full health insurance coverage (public/private, but unemployment doesn't mean losing healthcare)