Anti-gay One News Now distorts study on gay mental health counseling

Lately, the phony news service One News Now was so focused on denigrating President Obama and spreading lies about his health care reform that I, as a member of the lgbt community, was beginning to feel left out.

It usually makes us the subject of its one-sided messes masquerading as news articles.

Well I no longer feel omitted, thanks to an article published today:

A new study shows that homosexuals and lesbians seek mental health counseling far more than heterosexuals.

The UCLA School of Public Health found that to be true in California, but there have been other studies with similar results. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality says homosexuals usually respond that they would not have so many problems if society would simply accept their behavior as normal.

"You can't just keep going back to homophobia and societal stigma to account for this huge difference between straights and homosexuals with regard to various pathologies," he contends. "First of all, we're talking about California, where there's a much greater tolerance for homosexuality -- so you can't keep pointing to the stigma."

That's basically the gist of the article. A lead in talking about the UCLA study and then Peter LaBarbera rambling on as he does about us "nasty, evil, sinful homosexuals."

Now a credible news service would give more information about the study.

But then again we are talking about One News Now, the supposed Christian news service which used to be a sounding board for Paul Cameron's discredited studies when it was known as Agape Press.

But speaking of the UCLA study, I found some facts which were omitted from the One News Now article. This is from a UCLA press release:

Researchers collected data on 2,074 people, who were first interviewed in the California Health Interview Survey, in a new survey known as the California Quality of Life Survey. They found that 48.5 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals reported receiving treatment in the past year, compared with 22.5 percent of heterosexuals. Overall, lesbians and bisexual women were most likely to receive treatment, and heterosexual men were least likely.

While men and women, regardless of sexual orientation, who had an alcohol and/or drug disorder showed no significant differences in treatment rates, the study found that lesbian and bisexual women who had not been diagnosed with mental and drug disorders were more likely to seek mental health counseling than heterosexual women. This is consistent with emerging findings from national surveys showing that many individuals who receive mental health treatment do not have a diagnosable disorder but may have other symptoms, such as psychological distress or impairments in functioning, that lead them to seek care.

The researchers considered several factors that may explain these findings. Discrimination, violence and other stressful life events may be greater among sexual and gender minorities, they said, and homosexuality and issues associated with it may be construed as mental health problems — particularly among racial and ethnic minorities — which may encourage people to seek treatment. Further, in gay and lesbian communities, therapeutic services are considered appropriate places for coping with the stresses associated with being a sexual minority.(Editor's note - I highlighted that part to show what One News Now omitted.)

So three things to remember:

1. The study never said that homosexuality is a mental disorder (but watch how some folks will misconstrue this point).

2. The researchers did say that discrimination (i.e. stress caused from discrimination) may play a part in their findings, and One News Now omitted this part.

3. You would have better luck with trying to get Rush Limbaugh and Hilary Clinton together as a couple than finding truth in a One News Now article.

Related articles:

Dissecting a One News Now article

It begins - Rush Limbaugh makes an ugly joke about Barney Frank's sexual orientation

I knew someone would link Barney Frank's very appropriate smackdown of healthcare town hall nonsense to his gay sexual orientation.

I just didn't think it would be Rush Limbaugh and I also didn't know how vile the comment would be.

Of course no one has said anything about it on the conservative sites. Maybe a "ha,ha, Limbaugh is so funny" on places like Free Republic, but as far as I know, Fox News hasn't said a word nor has One News Now.

And I don't think that they will.

Now if someone was to make a statement about Limbaugh's history of pill-popping, I'm sure that would wake up Glenn Beck and company.

But basically, Limbaugh is sending a message that when gay man makes a public statement, it all comes down to his sexual orientation, huh?

On one level we should all be ashamed that Limbaugh is a perfect example of political discussion in America.

I suppose if a female legislator gave the same response as Barney Frank, Limbaugh would attribute it to her "woman's problems."

If an African-American male legislator gave the same response, Limbaugh would attribute it to "black men wanting to always bed white women."

If the legislator was a black female, then he would attribute it to her thinking that the "white woman wanted to date her black husband." I'm sure he would have also said something about razors.

How about if the legislator was Native American? I'm sure Limbaugh could make a crass comment about "casinos and firewater."

Bottom line, it ain't funny, folks. Nor is it something to be looked at lightly when a slur like this happens.

Of course we can't expect anything intelligent coming from Limbaugh. But that doesn't mean the lgbt community should shrug our shoulders and go our own way when we are slurred.

Some of us accuse President Obama of being a wuss. Are we acting the same way?

Barney Frank rules, Black president = conservative march on Washington, and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Forgive me for posting this a second time, but BARNEY FRANK RULES!!!!!!!



Why didn’t harassing Anoka-Hennepin teachers get fired? - That's a real good question!

Justice civil rights hire to handle gay liaison - A step in the right direction.

Let the Money Laundering Begin - You mean anti-gay marriage folks are being shady? Tell me something I don't know.

FreedomWorks not free: $10K to participate in D.C. tea party march - I have officially seen everything. First the United States elects an African-American as president and now conservatives are wanting to have a "March on Washington."

Not necessarily an lgbt issue (yet), but as a black man, I simply MUST point out the irony of the situation.

Family Research Council spreading lies about healthcare reform

When it's all said and done, part of the reason why President Obama and the Democrats is losing the message war over healthcare reform is because the conservative machine is at them full tilt.

Even the religious right have gotten in on the message. I received the following email this morning from the Family Research Council. It reads in part:

As debate over "health care reform" heads toward a showdown, the White House and its liberal allies are in full attack mode-confusing voters with moderate words; attempting to silence dissent; demonizing Christians and conservatives; and twisting the arms of moderate and undecided lawmakers who share your traditional values.

. . . President Obama and his liberal congressional allies remain fiercely committed to their radical vision of a nationalized health care system that

Uses your taxes to pay for abortions

Gives bureaucrats the power to ration medicine and treatment

Pressures the elderly and seriously ill to forego life-extending care

Forces pro-life doctors, nurses, and other professionals to participate in abortions

Raises taxes and wastes trillions of dollars on programs that will make health care worse

Liberal advocates can't defend their "reform" plans without revealing those destructive intentions. Instead, our success in exposing the facts and building opposition to them has become a lightning rod for the anti-life movement and the mainstream press to repeat their lies.

Some may view this cynically as an FRC push for money. Apparently the organization feels that its more lucrative to beat up on the President than lgbts for the time being.

But there is more to it than meets the eye. Obama is now facing the machine that have plagued lgbts for as long as I can remember - organizations that will lie for the body of Christ.

I think that there is a coordinated attack on Obama that goes way beyond disagreement with policy. All elements of the right, including the religious right, are involved. My guess is that this will play out in other battles.

Barney Frank completely OWNS person comparing Obama to Hitler

I have to put this late post in because I want to give kudos to U.S. Representative Barney Frank for doing what many should have done at these town hall meetings:



Some folks may not agree with his tone but he was right on. How can you have a coherent conversation with someone who so determined to paint President Obama as a Nazi?

Now watch how soon before Hannity and company attack Frank. How long will it be before One News Now and the rest of the religious right links his words to his lgbt sexual orientation?

While you're at it, count how many columns will be written at Town Hall attacking Frank for telling it like it is.

And lastly, if these things come to pass, note the strange dynamic of how some folks think it is alright to carry a loaded gun to an event where the President is speaking but somehow think that it's wrong to rightfully call someone out for being an idiot.

Deconstructing the way the right-wing tries to dominate arguments

Now the following blog entry is just merely from something I have observed regarding how the right-wing (i.e. religious right, conservatives) sometimes dominate arguments. Don't quote me on this, but if I am wrong, by all means, let me know.

The Supreme Court rules for against a law the religious right and other conservatives favor. Let's say the ruling is a victory for the lgbt community.

What happens next is the following:

• One News Now, owned by the American Family Association, prints an article (biased, of course) against the ruling, and quoting only so-called “pro-family” leaders such as Gary Bauer, who claim that the ruling is a travesty on the country.

• Other talking heads such as Pete LaBarbera and Matt Barber write columns falsely claiming that the Supreme Court ruled against conservatives because of alleged biases of the justices. These columns are filtered to other right-wing publications and blogs.

• James Dobson (Focus on the Family) criticizes the ruling on his radio program, as does Tony Perkins (Family Research Council). Other articles are written trying to prove how the ruling will hurt America. More articles are written digging up speeches that the judges made, hinting on flimsy correlations between their ruling
and so-called personal biases.

• The think tanks emanating from conservative circles smear the reputations of the judges. The phrase “activist judges” is used over and over again in columns, articles, and books. Specifically these books will be written by think tank "experts" and will be driven up the New York Times best seller list by organizations such as the conservative Town Hall buying a bulk number. This way, the books can be referred to as best sellers, giving a false impression that a majority of Americans feel the same as the authors.

• Meanwhile, The Traditional Values Coalition, the Family Research Council, and other so-called “pro-family” groups solicit donations making the claim that either the ruling will doom Christians and will lead to homosexuality being taught “as normal” to children or it will lead to criticizing homosexuality as being designated as a hate crime. They get people of faith who are gullible enough to believe their lies to write letters to Congress and their local newspapers (using a script of anti-gay industry talking points.)

• So-called news programs (such as those on Fox News) and conservative commentators (i.e. Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Mike Huckabee, Glenn Beck) begin debating whether or not judges have a bias against people of faith, making sure to invite only folks like Matt Staver of the Liberty Counsel or Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council.

•Right-wing bloggers (i.e. Michelle Malkin) and columnists on webpages like Town Hall will write piece after piece after piece about “activist judges.”

•Conservative leaning Congressmen will be begin using the phrase "activist judges."

And boom, conservatives have control of the argument before the lgbt community has an opportunity to get our teeth into the discussion.

If I didn't despise it so much, I would give the conservative/religious right machine huge points for ingenuity, technique, and planning.

What gets me is that they like to accuse lgbts of these things, but we aren't nearly coordinated as they are.

Maybe one day we will be.

Donald Wildmon hospitalized, President Obama finally pisses off the right people, and other Tuesday midday news briefs

First, in my post, The Christian Medical & Dental Associations - another group, another batch of lies, I mixed up the American Academy of Pediatrics (a legitimate group) with the American College of Pediatricians (a phony medical group) in one paragraph.

I have corrected the error and hope that it proves my point about how hard it is to distinguish a legitimate medical group from a phony one when both have "official sounding" names.

Don Wildmon Hospitalized with Meningitis - I don't like Donald Wildmon but I don't have to like him to pray for his recovery.

Celebrate Marriage and Family Day in Warwick draws protests - Because this day didn't mean ALL families. That's why there were protests.

ESPN: Half of College Football Players Know a Gay Teammate - Works for me. I wish at least one of them knew my number.

Obama follows through, files to repeal DOMA - It's nice to see the President piss someone else off other than us liberals.

The right wing's latest insane conspiracy theory: an email enemies list - What's wrong with having an enemy's list? I have an enemies list and number one on it is the guy who invented cellphones.

NC: Durham City Council votes unanimously for marriage equality resolution - Big props for the Durham City Council!