Fall out from yesterday's blog on San Francisco Chronicle and Paul Cameron

Yesterday, I wrote about how the San Francisco Chronicle cited Paul Cameron in its article about gay adoption. The article omitted his dubious history of rebukes and censures.

Several blogs, including Americablog, picked up the story.

And today, the error has been corrected:

CLARIFICATION: In an article about San Francisco's campaign to get more gays and lesbians to adopt foster children - as well as an opposing evangelical campaign to get more Christian families to adopt -- the Chronicle quoted Paul Cameron, director of the Family Research Institute. The article should have noted that Cameron, who believes gays make unfit parents and self-published dozens of articles he said were based on his research, was expelled from the American Psychological Association in 1983 when he refused to subject his work to peer review. The article also should have reported that his Family Research Institute was named a hate group in 2006 by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Of course that makes me happy for a number of reasons. The biggest reason is that it establishes the presence of a "watchdog" system of blogs that will spot and expose anti-gay industry distortions.

This is how you win a war; by being assertive.

In that spirit, I want to add more to the story of how Cameron's information can slip through and be thought of as credible. I talk about the following in my book and I know that the Southern Poverty Law Center made mention of it.

The following passage is from my upcoming book:

In July 2005, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter asked that the national Health and Human Services look at a certain web site because it allegedly showed inaccurate information about homosexuality and contraception.

The web site, 4parents.gov, received information from an organization called the National Physicians Center for Family Resources. The chairman of the National Physicians Center for Family Resources board, John Whiffen, said the organization was correct regarding what it had printed about homosexuality.

He said:

“It’s fairly well-accepted that smoking is not a good idea. It takes seven years off of your life. It appears that male homosexuality takes more than that off your life.”—Specter seeks review of teen health site, Washington Blade, July 29, 2005

So why is this significant? Because of this passage:

In May 2005, Cameron announced the completion of another study that supposedly proved that homosexuality is more dangerous than cigarette smoking and being overweight.

What he did was take over 10,000 obituaries from the gay newspaper the Washington Blade and compare them to a CDC report entitled AIDS Cases in Adolescents and Adults, by Age—United States, 1994-2000.

He claimed that this supported his gay life span study. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said otherwise.

Ronald Valdiserri, deputy director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, said Cameron uses bad methodology.

He also said:

“[The CDC] does not collect statistics on the life span of gay men. While gay men continue to be severely impacted by HIV and AIDS, AIDS-related death data cannot be used to indicate that homosexual men live shorter lives than heterosexual men overall.”

Now is it really fair to claim that Mr. Whiffen and his group received their information from Cameron? His name was not mentioned.

I think that it is fair. It is too much of a coincidence that Cameron would come out with a certain study and Mr. Whiffen just happens to make references to the findings of the study almost two months later.

If Mr. Whiffen and his group was citing Cameron, it would mean that the national Health and Human Services used information by a group that thinks Cameron, despite his infamous history, is legitimate.

That is scary.

New web page spotlighting my book

As I said Friday, I am working on a new web page that will solely spotlight my upcoming book.

The first phase of the site is finished. I invite everyone to log on to read excerpts from my book as well as a full explanation as to why I spent two years of my life on the subject of the anti-gay industry.

And by all means, invite others to look the webpage over:

Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: Exposing the Lies of the Anti-Gay Industry

Lastly, please don't forget to read my new post below if you haven't already

Odds and Ends:

Paul Cameron just won't go away

Our friend Paul Cameron was cited in an article today:

Focus on the Family's objection to same-sex parents is grounded in interpretation of biblical scripture and research by Paul Cameron, director of the Family Research Institute in Colorado. Cameron says gays and lesbians are unfit parents, are more likely to molest children of their same sex, switch partners frequently, have shorter life expectancies and cause their children embarrassment and social difficulties.

"Any child that can be adopted into a married-mother-and-father family, that's the gold standard," Cameron said. "An orphanage would be the second choice, and then a single woman."

I liked the fact that the article, dealing with more lgbts in San Francisco adopting children, linked Cameron with Focus on the Family. Unlike our friend Peter LaBarbera and groups like Concerned Women for America, FOF is usually very subtle as to how they cite Cameron.

But I did not like that the article gave no background on Cameron's infamous history of rebukes and censures for his bad methodology.

I sent the article's author an email and she sent me back a very polite reply. I don't think I made myself clear though. My problem was not her citing Cameron but omitting his negative history.

At any rate, the article is still an excellent read. Even though the author omitted Cameron's dubious history, she did include the personal stories of lgbts and their adopted children.

Despite what folks like to claim about us, lgbts have a tremendous commitment to the ideas of family and I commend those who take the responsibility of guiding the next generation.


Traditional Values Coalition's Ugly Desperation

Sometimes if you give your enemies enough rope, they tend to hang themselves.

Exhibit A of that point: The Traditional Values Coalition

In their zeal to defeat hate crimes legislation, the organization was not only caught lying about a Congressman's testimony but took the extra hysterical step of putting the image of Jesus on a wanted poster, claiming that He would be arrested under hate crimes legislation.

Now they have outdone themselves.

In attempting to defeat ENDA, TVC has lost its damned mind:

The Barney Frank She-Male Shower bill (Employment Non-Discrimination Act, ENDA [H.R. 2015] is to be debated soon in Congress.

“Homosexual Barney Frank’s bill will be devastating to businesses, day care centers, and even religious bookstores,” said TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty. “It will force employers with 15 or more employees to accommodate heterosexual cross-dressers, homosexual drag queens, transsexuals and even she-males – individuals who go through only half of a so-called ‘sex change’ operation.”

ENDA will require businesses to accommodate the wishes of these individuals to restroom facilities and even shower facilities – for example in large corporations or production plants.

A she-male? I don't think that term is appropriate for our transsexual brothers and sisters. How does having a personal belief that homosexuality is a sin translate to lying and intentionally using derogatory language to scare people? Perhaps someone can tell me that.

But don't get too outraged because it gets better. The following comic appeared on its web page today. It just defies description. Click on it to see a larger image.

I swear I am speechless. And these people are supposed to be Christians?

Harry Jackson just won't quite, even though some folks want him to

Harry Jackson, that lovely black pastor who is trying to exploit the lgbt community for his own purposes, seem to be getting a degree of backlash.

In Townhall.com, a conservative site, he has written yet a third column attacking hate crimes legislation.

I've been through it before with his lies, so I will not try to refute them this time. But I noticed something highly interesting regarding his comments.

If Jackson thinks he is preaching to the choir, he is sadly mistaken. He is being taken to the carpet by some readers of the site, being called everything from a liar to a race-baiter:

For those who want to defend Rev. Harry, here you go. Take a look at the paragraph on Jackson's findings that African Americans have “innate promiscuity”. How about his race baiting statement that “African Americans are spiritually superior to white Christians, in that their faith is more "integrated" into their everyday life.” Talk about racist. If Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton would have said this, conservatives would have led a lynch mob toward Chicago and New York. Race Baiters come in all colors and political persuasions.
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Hate to burst your bubble Reverend, but you like all the other Reverends before you have been imploring the Black Community to cease and desist from crime especially black on black crime and WHAT? Has it ceased? will they desist? it continues unabated with a myriad of excuses as to why it exist in the first place.The simple answer is Black folks behaving badly, we continue to do it-and I know somewhere there is supposedly some white man somewhere to blame for it, it's our only explanation after four hundred years, or maybe it's five hundred years, no six, it depends on which race baiter you talk too-pick one. "God forbid" religous Black Homosexuals and Lesbians get caught marching in support of this Bill in the "Hood" without police escort, and even with a police escort things could get dicey.

It probably doesn't mean anything but who cares! It's fun to watch!

Phase two of editing almost done

In all of the chaos about hate crimes legislation, ENDA, and Falwell's death, I almost forgot to give updates about the original reason this blog was created: my book.

I am sending the new batch of galley edits to the publisher Monday morning. It has taken me so long because this is the last round of editing and I want to make sure everything is perfect or at least close to perfect.

This means not only editing my galleys for grammatical errors but also checking my sources and information yet again.

It's a very meticulous process.

Also, I am developing a new web page. When this blog began in September, I originally wanted it to focus on the progress of my book. Since that time and over 7500 hits later, it has branched out into something more. I am proud of this blog.

While I continue to post here, my new webpage will focus solely on my book, including excerpts and an explanation as to why my book is vital to the lgbt community.

I will keep you posted on this. Until then, please keep reading and supporting me.

Jerry Falwell's legacy? Just ask Paul Cameron or Peter LaBarbera

Today, a friend at my job asked me a pointed but rude question:

"Are you gays happy that Jerry Falwell died?"

I told him of course not but his question gave me pause.

Not because of some of us who are popping the champagne over news of Falwell's death. Unfortunately some of us have chosen not to take the high road in this matter. It's an unfortunate happening but not indicative of the entire lgbt community.

His question gave me pause because it made me think about Falwell's true legacy. We have been inudated by columns and soundbites calling Falwell everything from a good Christian to a demagogue. And in the coming days, we all will continue have to hear how Falwell changed America for either better or worse.

Yesterday, I posted a quote from the Bible that said we should love our enemies and pray for those who use us in a negative fashion. I mean this with all of my heart. But I also don't believe that telling the truth about a deceased person is the same as dancing on his grave.

Jerry Falwell was a bully, plain and simple.

He was a pompous, self-righteous egomaniac who used religious doctrine as an excuse and a bully pulpit to beat up on a group of people whom he knew did not have the sufficient power to fight him back.

Anyone wanting to see Falwell's true legacy should read the following:

Why Should Homosexuals Have Super Rights?
By Dr. Paul Cameron, Chairman of the Family Research Institute

Is it fair, is it just to give those who live parasitic lives 'Super Rights?' After all, it is the duty of every member of society to contribute to the commonweal. Yet the empirical evidence indicates that those who engage in homosexuality 1) contribute less and cost more in goods and services, 2) disproportionately disrupt social functioning, and 3) have few children while being more apt to harm them. Thus, homosexuals not only fail to 'pay for their keep,' but by their negative influence on children, cloud society's future. . .

Falwell made it acceptable to tell lies and demonize the lgbt community, but with the incorrect self assurance that somehow God approves. His need to dehumanize the lgbt community gave birth to a progeny of liars (i.e. Paul Cameron, Robert Knight, James Dobson, Peter LaBarbera, Lou Sheldon) who will continue to taint Christianity with an "ends justify the means" mentality.

And if you ask me, that's a pretty shitty legacy for any minister to have.

It is the legacy you won't hear about at Liberty University, CNN, MSNBC, and especially not on FOX News.

So to those who are complaining that too much attention is on Falwell's opposition to homosexuality, I say the opposite; not enough attention has been given to it.

Jerry Falwell passes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. evangelist Jerry Falwell, a leader of the religious right who battled in the political arena against abortion and homosexuality, died on Tuesday at age 73.
Falwell, who founded the Moral Majority as a conservative political force in 1979, was found unconscious in his office at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, and was taken to a nearby hospital. He had a history of congestive heart problems.

Falwell had no heartbeat when he was found by colleagues at around 11:30 a.m., Dr. Carl Moore, his personal physician, said. He could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead just over an hour later, Moore told a news conference.

Falwell was one of the most prominent figures in the religious right, a powerful movement that seeks to redraw public policy in the United States along evangelical Christian lines.

Fond of quipping that the Bible referred to "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve", Falwell provoked a storm of protest when he said gays, lesbians and health workers who provide abortions were partly to blame for the September 11 attacks.

"I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians ... all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say: you helped this happen," he said.

For decades, Falwell had been an influential conservative voice in politics.

Falwell founded the Thomas Road Baptist Church in his hometown of Lynchburg in 1956. He went on to found Liberty University in 1971 -- a conservative centre of higher learning -- and in 1979 started the Moral Majority organization, which became a major vehicle for getting out the vote for the Republican Party.

He disbanded the Moral Majority in 1989 but it was resurrected as The Moral Majority Coalition, with an explicit political purpose, after President George W. Bush's re-election in 2004.

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; - Matthew, 5:44

Enough said.

Monday venting

Geez I hate this fricking book.

There I said it.

Don't get me wrong because everything is still going according to plan. I am in the middle of my final editing before sending it back to the publisher. I told myself that I would be extremely brutal with my editing this time and I was.

So in short, I am tired. I work a 7.5 hour day and then come home, post on my blog and finally edit my book. This routine tends to get on one's nerves after while.

So pardon me for venting. My book will out this fall therefor despite my cantankerous mood, I am excited over it.

Meanwhile,

A girl and her grandparents have sued the Chicago Board of Education, alleging that a substitute teacher showed the R-rated film "Brokeback Mountain" in class.

The lawsuit claims that Jessica Turner, 12, suffered psychological distress after viewing the movie in her 8th grade class at Ashburn Community Elementary School last year.

The film, which won three Oscars, depicts two cowboys who conceal their homosexual affair.
Turner and her grandparents, Kenneth and LaVerne Richardson, are seeking around $500,000 in damages.

"It is very important to me that my children not be exposed to this," said Kenneth Richardson, Turner's guardian. "The teacher knew she was not supposed to do this."

My first impression is that barring the fact that this was not yet another anti-gay industry phony morale panic (i.e. Repent America and David Parker) it was absolutely stupid for that substitute teacher to do this. The lawsuit is frivilous but showing that film to minors was still a dumb thing to do.

My second impression was damn, did it have to be a gay-themed movie. Because it is a gay themed movie, every Tom, Dick and Peter will be coming out of the woodwork trying to link the teacher's bad judgement with gay/straight alliances and other legitimate attempts to help lgbt students.

At the very least, gay people will have to deal with comments like:

I saw Brokeback Mountain in the theater because I had to. It is a highly effective propaganda film well-suited to exploit today’s widespread confusion over “sexual orientation” and “same-sex love.” The film is about two male cowboys who “fall in love,” and features a sudden sodomitic encounter in a tent that is, well, let’s just say, biological and medical fantasy. The film, of course, seeks to advance the fiction that “gay” romantic love is just like the normal variety except with different genders. But that ignores, for one thing, the terrible damage that sodomy (i.e., anal sex) exacts on the body. That’s why many male initiates into homosexual sex get high on drugs or alcohol first — to dull the pain (and the shame) of this unnatural and sinful behavior.

Please note that Peter didn't say what heterosexuals do when they have anal sex. I doubt he will be giving us any information regarding that anytime soon.

Lastly,

Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin has written an excellent expose on our friend Paul Cameron. It should be required viewing for all of us who want to expose anti-gay industry lies.