Discredited researcher Mark Regnerus has rough cross-examination

Regnerus

Today, University of Texas professor Mark Regnerus was crossed examined by the lawyers seeking to overturn Michigan's law against marriage equality and second-parent adoption.

Regnerus is the author of the discredited study which claimed that same-sex parenting harms children.  Even though the study has been denounced by several sources, including Regnerus' own university, the state of Michigan called him as an expert witness.

Yesterday, he was questioned by the lawyers for the state of Michigan. If you ask me, I think he burned himself big time:

 The Human Rights Campaign linked to tweets by Tresa Baldas, a staff writer for the Detroit Free Press, who noted that Regnerus admitted that he is “not a fan” of same-sex marriage and that adoption and foster-parenting are “not the ideal” and that he is “not a fan” of in vitro fertilization because in his view, it “reduces kinship.” Baldas also tweeted that Regnerus denied creating the study to derail same-sex marriage but said that a group that funded it wanted to use it before the Supreme Court.

For now, there isn't a lot of information about how he did in today's cross examination from the media because much of the attention seems to be focused on the paradox of a professor's own university AND his own department in the university - sociology - denouncing his research.

 However, if the following tweets hold true, it can be assumed that Regnerus had a rough time at it.

'Fox News personality - lgbts are 'sore winners'' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

George Will, Fox News Contributor, Claims LGBT People Are 'Sore Winners' - I've read this article twice and I STILL don't know what this man is talking about.

Mark Regnerus, Disputed Gay Parenting Study Author, Testifies On Same-Sex Marriage - Eh. I'm not impressed with his testimony. BUT he gets cross-examined today. Sock it to HIM! 

 Mark Regnerus’ Own Sociology Department Calls His Anti-Gay Conclusions ‘Fundamentally Flawed’ - Meanwhile . . .

 Pastor leading Michigan's anti-equality fight: Homosexuality is 'bondage' that 'leads to destruction and death' - And why do our opposition rely on discredited studies? Because I don't think stuff like this would fly in court.  

Washington Times Columnist: Liberals Using Michael Sam To Distract From Benghazi - Aw hell! Who told him? I swear some of us simply can't keep our mouths shut.

Anti-gay groups and their supporters have a disturbing history of distorting scientific research

Mark Regnerus

This so-called culture war over lgbt equality is so immersed in the religious angle and the "personal story" angle that there is scarcely attention paid to how anti-gay groups make attempts at either distorting scientific research or relying on junk science in order to denigrate the lgbt community.

An incident - reported last week by Science Insider and brought to my attention via Truth Wins Out - should give us an idea of how dangerous it is for the lgbt to not bring attention to this aspect:

On 24 February, Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, signed a draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law, after 2 months of declining to do so. Science, he says, changed his mind—in particular, the findings of a special scientific committee his Health Ministry had appointed earlier in the month. “Their unanimous conclusion was that homosexuality, contrary to my earlier thinking, was behavioural and not genetic,” Museveni wrote to President Barack Obama on 18 February, in response to Obama’s pleas that he not sign the bill. “It was learnt and could be unlearnt.”
But some scientists on the committee are crying foul, saying that Museveni and his ruling party—Uganda’s National Resistance Movement (NRM)—misrepresented their findings. “They misquoted our report,” says Paul Bangirana, a clinical psychologist at Makerere University in Kampala. “The report does not state anywhere that homosexuality is not genetic, and we did not say that it could be unlearnt.” Two other committee members have now resigned to protest the use of their report to justify the harsh legislation . . .

What seems like a deliberate attempt by Museveni to distort science in order to justify that awful bill puts him in a wide company of folks guilty of the same offense, i.e. distorting science to justify anti-gay persecution or stances against lgbt equality. For over two years, bloggers and activists in the lgbt community and the scientific community in general have been waging a war against a bogus study created by University of Texas professor Mark Regnerus.

'Judge refuses to allow marriage equality opponent to testify in Michigan case' and other Monday midday news briefs

Michigan's witness in gay-marriage trial barred - A short article details a huge embarrassment for those defending Michigan's ban on marriage equality. It's really their own fault though. The judge rules that a doctoral candidate isn't necessarily an expert witness yet and therefore cannot testify in support of the ban

Star Parker: Gays Forcing Christians 'Into The Closet' - Star Parker is the epitome of the perfect black conservative spokesperson. She leads an organization with probably herself as the only member and she doesn't do anything worthwhile but collect money and prestige for being the black face whenever conservatives and the religious right want to exploit the black community.

Watch This Fox News Host's Heartfelt Apology To The Intersex Community - Yes. Hell froze over. 

Here’s The Anti-Gay ‘Religious Freedom’ Bill Arizona Lawmakers Are Still Considering - It's really never over with these folks.

Liberty Counsel, Mission America among seven groups now designated by SPLC as anti-gay hate groups

This ugly tweet, no doubt, is probably one of the reasons the Liberty Counsel is now an SPLC-designated anti-gay hate group

The Southern Poverty Law Center has added seven more anti-gay organizations to its list of anti-gay hate groups.

No doubt the standard whine of these groups will be the same one offered up by the Family Research Council when SPLC named it as a hate group a while back, i.e. "we are being attacked because we don't believe in gay marriage, we are trying to preserve Christian morality, we are being silenced."

That whine was a lie then and is still a lie. SPLC makes it clear that religious beliefs are not a reason why they call out these groups:

 . . . the SPLC’s listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods — claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities — and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.

So allow me - with the help of other sources such as Truth Wins Out, People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch and GLAAD's Commentator Accountability  Project - to list just a few reasons why some of these groups were named as anti-gay hate groups


Pacific Justice Institute - This CA organization is  by Brad Dacus. Dacus has:

 defended a pastor who said gay people are abmoinations who deserve to be stoned to death

claimed that by fighting for a marriage system that discriminates against same-sex couples, he is "fighting for the soul of Western civilization"

But I think the main thing which may have caught SPLC's attention was PJI's recent actions in a failed attempt to defeat a law which would protect transgender students. The organization  fabricated a story about a transgender teenager harassing other students; when story broke, Dacus accused those challenging his organization's version of events of "trying to supress the truth"  The student whom PJI attacked was put on suicide watch.

The Pray in Jesus Name Project  - This organization, as far as I am aware, is comprised of one person - Gordon Klingenschmitt.

Klingenschmitt has said that any judge ruling for marriage equality should be considered as a domestic enemy

He has also claimed that gay soldiers undermine the military because they have to stop in the middle of combat situations in order to change their diapers.

Klingenschmitt also said that people who are not going to heaven (i.e. lgbts) don't deserve equal protection under the law.

Mission America - another organization which is comprised of one person, Linda Harvey. Harvey is a former advertising executive who supposedly found religion.  The filth coming out of her mouth includes the following:

claimed that same-sex couples use their kids as "props": "The kids are essentially props to be trotted out, sadly, at events like "pride" parades"

claims that gay/straight alliances in schools promote diseases.

expressed support for the anti-gay laws in Russia

advised parents to not take their children to gay doctors

 Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM). According to Truth Wins Out:

Both the World Congress of Families and C-Fam have been vocally supportive of Russia’s anti-gay laws, with the WCF expressing support in a press release not long after the Duma’s final vote on the “propaganda” law. The World Congress also held a roundtable in US House of Representatives office space recently in order to teach American “pro-family” activists how to export their hate around the world. Austin Ruse, president of C-Fam, expressed regret that the United States wouldn’t be able to start the sort of pogrom against LGBT people that Russia has, as he praised Russia in their efforts. It’s likely that the international activities of these groups contributed heavily to the SPLC’s decision to label them hate groups.

The Liberty Counsel - If one wanted to pinpoint a single reason why the Liberty Counsel is on this list, they could point to Matt Barber, a member of the organization who attacks the lgbt community with extreme animus while at the same time, blending his homophobia with "homilies" of his faith.  In the past, Barber:

has said that gay male relationships constitute "one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it ‘love’”

said gay people "purchase kids" and treat them "like having little pets or something"

pushed idea that same-sex parenting is tantamout to child abuse

and is responsible for pushing that vile tweet posted at the top of this article; the tweet which implies that gays want to molest Boy Scouts.

All in all, these groups have earned their designation as anti-gay hate groups. But let's not mistake what needs to be done. Kudos should be given to the Southern Poverty Law Center for calling these organizations out and pinpointing their deceptions and hatred of the lgbt community.

Now it is the job of the lgbt community to raise hell about it. In other words, let's not waste time complaining about who didn't get the designation of being an official anti-gay hate groups. Let's use what we have been given to educate and to break the connection between religion and homophobia.

The two have no business being connected.
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Know Your LGBT History - Olivia Newton John's 'Physical' video

The video for Olivia Newton John's smash hit 'Physical' was one of a kind and very daring in 1981 . Not only was it homoerotic but the ending highly controversial. According to Wikipedia:

MTV frequently cut the ending when it aired the video, and the sometimes sensuous nature of the video also led to it being banned outright by some broadcasters in Canada and the United Kingdom.

The controversy didn't hurt the song at all. It ended up as the number one song of the decade.

Some may view the ending as either insulting to gay men (the ending was played off like a big joke) or very misogynistic. Others may view it as empowering. But I think us gay men who were growing up as youngsters back then would agree on my last point.

We didn't give a flip.

Past Know Your LGBT History Posts:

'White homosexual demons,' refuting religious liberty talking points' & other midday news briefs

This video just upsets me so. If President Obama is unleashing white gay men on black men then where the heck are mine!!?? Oh wait a minute, I'm one of the black gay men President Obama is unleashing on white men.  Wait a minute . . . maybe I shouldn't have told you that. Oh God. Michelle Obama is going to drop me in the piranha tank now.

 In other news: 

Dismantling The ‘Religious Liberty’ Talking Points Used To Justify Anti-LGBT Discrimination - Am loving this concise and to-the-point post by Zach Ford of Think Progress.

From "Subhuman Mongrel" To "Jim Crow" Laws: Conservatives Can't Stop Fighting Lost Cultural Battles - But don't dance yet. One trick ponies have a way of developing new tricks even if they are one at a time. 

United States, EU, Australian Diplomats Issue Joint Denunciation of Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Law - Excellent!  

Lively: Gays To Fault For Modern Divorce Rate, Gay Marriage Will Lead to Legalized Pedophilia In Five Years - Scott Lively used to get me mad (what he helped to cause in Uganda and Russia still gets me mad), but now I figure if this man wants to dig his own hole, who am I to stop him. Hell, I will give him better tools.  

This Is What Discrimination Feels Like - The potential REAL victims who need protection, especially against these "religious liberty" laws.