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FRC president Tony Perkins |
Editor's note - I've written about following Family Research Council study, Comparing the Lifestyles of Homosexual Couples to Married Couples, several times. However the fact that the organization continues to push it as "trending" on its webpage gives me another opportunity to show how FRC distorts and cherry-picks information in order to demonize the lgbt community. So much for "Christian" values.
On the Family Research Council's webpage, this study,
Comparing the Lifestyles of Homosexual Couples to Married Couples, is supposedly "trending." That's not necessarily a good thing because it
is flawed on so many levels. The headline should give you an indication
of one flaw, i.e. the comparison of homosexual couples to
married heterosexual couples.The study ignores the simple fact that lgbts can now marry
in
several states.
Another
flaw is that the study is highly out-of-date. Its author, Timothy
Dailey, hasn't been employed by FRC for a number of years now. As a
matter of fact, I pointed out several flaws in Comparing the Lifestyles of Homosexual Couples to Married Couples as far back as 2009.
Allow me to do a recap. Amongst the errors,
Comparing the Lifestyles of Homosexual Couples to Married Couples contains:
- A citation of the book Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women
by Alan Bell and Martin Weinberg as a correct generalization of lgbt
sexual habits despite the fact that it was published in 1978 and was not
meant by the authors to be a correct assessment of the lgbt community in
general. A passage from Homosexualities clearly says:
“. . . given the variety of circumstances which discourage
homosexuals from participating in research studies, it is unlikely that
any investigator will ever be in a position to say that this or that is
true of a given percentage of all homosexuals.”
- A citation of the book The Male Couple: How Relationships Develop
by David P. McWhirter and Andrew M. Mattison despite the fact that the
book was written 1984 and was not meant to be a correct assessment of
the lgbt community in general.
A passage from The Male Couple says:
“We always have been very careful to explain that the very
nature of our research sample, its size (156 couples), its narrow
geographic location, and the natural selectiveness of the participants
prevents the findings from being applicable and generalizable to the
entire gay
male community.”