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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."
