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| Joseph Backholm - a "new" leader pushing same old junk science. |
When the news came that the Washington state Senate had passed the bill allowing marriage equality, opponents began rallying to put the possibly soon-to-be law on a referendum before voters.
One group that will most likely be in the forefront of this effort is the Policy Family Institute of Washington. According to Equality Matters:
One of the most prominent anti-gay groups currently working to defeat proposed marriage equality legislation in the state of Washington is the Family Policy Institute of Washington (FPIW). Led byJoseph Backholm, FPIW has played a central role in organizing anti-gay efforts in the state over the past several years, including opposing efforts in 2009 to expand domestic partnerships to include same-sex couples.
Last week, Backholm testified before a Washington Senate sub-committee, urging senators to put the issue of marriage equality to a referendum and have voters to decide if “moms and dads do matter.”
Although FPIW presents itself as a typical “pro-family” organization, the group openly promotes anti-gay propaganda has ties to some of the country’s most notorious anti-gay hate groups.
According to a local Washington newspaper, The Herald Net, the 33-year-old Backholm has been called a new type of leader for the religious right:
What's made Backholm's voice stand out in the chorus of gay marriage opponents is its tone. There's less fire and brimstone and more stoic argumentation, a product of his training as a lawyer and toils as a policy wonk.
"He's not a flag waver, Bible waver or stomp around kind of guy," said Pastor Joe Fuiten of Cedar Park Assembly of God in Bothell, who served on the Family Policy Institute board of directors when Backholm came on board. "He's not a hired gun. He believes in what we're all about. It's always good for our side to be represented by someone like that."
This could present a problem because it would seem that the so-called new stoic voice will be repeating the same discredited information. Equality Matters also pointed out an article on the group' resource page:
Also included in the “Resources” page is an article by George Dent – Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University – titled “No Difference?: An Analysis Of Same-Sex Parenting.” The article contains a number of anti-gay smears, including the myth that homosexuals molest children at higher rates than heterosexuals:
The claim that living with a same-sex couple does not affect a child’s sexuality is implausible. “It would be surprising indeed if . . . children’s own sexual identities were unaffected by the sexual identities of their parents.” Even young children may sense, or be told by others, that their guardians are unusual--queer--thereby initiating their sexualization at an unusually early age.There is evidence that children raised by homosexuals are more likely to engage in homosexuality and to feel confused about their sexual identity. [...]
Further, “gay men tend to be even more preoccupied than most straight women with their bodies, physical attractiveness, attire, adornment and self-presentation.” They may choose to marry only when they no longer feel attractive enough for the promiscuity of the homosexual “meat market.” [...]
Does Dent's article sound familiar? It should. Dent's article is being used by the lawyer hired by the House of Representatives - Paul Clement - to defend DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act).
In writing about this last year, I pointed out a number of huge errors in “No Difference?: An Analysis Of Same-Sex Parenting.”
On page four, Dent cites both Paul Cameron and George Rekers, both discredited researchers. Cameron has been censured or rebuked by several organizations for his bad methodology in his studies and Rekers lost a lot of credibility two years ago when he was caught coming from a European vacation with a "rentboy."
On page two, Dent cites the work of Walter Schumm's study Children of Homosexuals More Apt To Be Homosexuals? A Reply to Morrison and to Cameron Based on an Examination of Multiple Sources of Data.
Schumm's study was criticized for using the same false methodology as Cameron's work. i.e. citing sources "from general-audience books about LGBT parenting and families, most of which are available on Amazon.com"
Furthermore, in 2008, Rekers and Schumm testified for Florida's gay adoption ban. The judge overseeing the case, Cindy Lederman, criticized both of them. She said about Rekers:
"(His) testimony was far from a neutral and unbiased recitation of the relevant scientific evidence. Dr. Rekers' beliefs are motivated by his strong ideological and theological convictions that are not consistent with science. Based on his testimony and demeanor at trial, the court cannot consider his testimony to be credible nor worthy of forming the basis of public policy."
And about Schumm, she said:
" (He) integrates his religious and ideological beliefs into his research," citing several of his writings, including one with Rekers, in which a theological argument against homosexuality is offered."
Regarding Cameron, Dent's paper not only cites him directly, but also indirectly.
On page 13, Dent cites a book called Straight & Narrow by Thomas E. Schmidt to make criticisms about gay health. However, Schmidt is not a credible researcher in the field of gay health. He is a professor of New Testament Greek at Westmont College in Santa Barbara and according to Rev. Mel White of the group Soulforce, Schmidt cited Cameron's discredited studies many times in Straight & Narrow (5th letter to Jerry Falwell.)
Another huge problem with Dent's paper is on page 16 when it cites a paper by the American College of Pediatricians (Homosexual Parenting: Is It Time for Change?).
The American College of Pediatricians is not a credible organization, but an organization created to give credibility to junk science about the gay community. Two years ago, over 14,000 school district superintendents in the country were sent a letter by ACP inviting them to peruse and use information from a new site, Facts About Youth. The site claimed to present "facts" supposedly not tainted by "political correctness." Of course these were not facts, but ugly distortions about the gay community, including:
Some gay men sexualize human waste, including the medically dangerous practice of coprophilia, which means sexual contact with highly infectious fecal wastes
The particular study by the ACP cited by Dent, Homosexual Parenting: Is It Time for Change?, is filled with several errors which I talked about three years ago, including:
1. Outdated work
2. Extreme distortion of studies not meant by to used to gauge the effects of same-sex parenting.
3. And researcher complaints.
Regardless of these errors, my guess is that we will be seeing Dent's article cited as a credible source for folks who wan to defeat marriage equality in Washington state.
And that would be a shame. What's the point of being touted as a new kind of leader in the religious right if your organization is pushing the same old lies that have been used to stigmatize and dehumanize the lgbtq community in the past?
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