So many issues going down today

I tell you, the right has gone ape crazy today. I usually make only one post regarding the anti-gay industry, but so many things have gone on, I think I will make several posts.

Dobson answers

James Dobson finally answered charges that he distorted and cherry picked the work of various researchers and professors during his Time magazine tirade last week.

Or something like that.

Another member of Focus on the Family, Bill Maier, attacks the notion that Dobson misrepresented anything.

As usual, the routine anti-gay industry standby excuse is pushed: it's a "liberal conspiracy," or in this case, a "liberal groupthink":

"These are well-respected scientists who probably feel they have no choice but to cry 'foul' because they work in a field that is so dominated by liberal groupthink," Maier explained. "But the fact they aren't happy their data was used to reach a conclusion they disagree with doesn't mean the data was not properly applied. Dr. Dobson never claimed these researchers share his view on this issue -- they clearly do not. But there is no denying that the data they compiled can be appropriately cited to show the unique contributions mothers and fathers make in the lives of their children.

Feel free to go over the past posts about the researchers complaining over Dobson's misuse of their work and see how the answer his subordinate gave is yet another lie.

While I like it when the anti-gay industry shoots itself in the foot, the desire of Dobson to continuously cut his own throat in this matter is just pitiful.

Claiming 'War on Christmas' yields profits

The People for the American Way (an excellent organization) is claiming that the so-called War on Christmas that Dobson and company claim folks like myself declare every year is a fluke that garners them much influence and money:

The conservative Christian groups declined to provide all the numbers behind their Christmas efforts, but some did disclose how many items they had sold and distributed.

Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based Christian legal group, has shipped 20,000 "Christmas packs" this year, said spokesman Greg Scott. The value of the "goods and services" included is $4, receipts show. The rest of the money goes into ADF's general fund, Scott said. A majority of the packs were sold for less than the suggested $29 donation, he added, though he declined to provide details.

To that, I say - no shit!

Obama fears

I will say something for Barack Obama - he may or may not become president, but he certainly has some people showing their true colors, or rather, prejudices:

In a December 18 column headlined "Barack Hussein Obama: Once a Muslim, Always A Muslim" and posted on her website, right-wing pundit Debbie Schlussel argued that because Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) middle name is Hussein, his late, estranged father was of Muslim descent, and he has shown interest in his father's Kenyan heritage, Obama's "loyalties" must be called into question as he emerges as a possible Democratic presidential candidate. In the column, Schlussel asked: "So, even if he identifies strongly as a Christian ... is a man who Muslims think is a Muslim, who feels some sort of psychological need to prove himself to his absent Muslim father, and who is now moving in the direction of his father's heritage, a man we want as President when we are fighting the war of our lives against Islam? Where will his loyalties be?" She ended her column by asking if Obama becoming vice president instead would be acceptable. Answering her own question, she wrote: "NO WAY, JOSE ... Or, is that, HUSSEIN?"

Where do they dig these people up and why do they give them their own shows? I was born the wrong gender, color (skin and hair). Although for a brief period in college, I was a blond and yes, they do have more fun.

Finally, penguins in North Carolina

Some people have too much time on their hands. Apparently a school district in North Carolina banned a book because it featured two male penguins who "adopted" a hatchling in order to nurture it and keep it from dying.

Now to some, it looks like a usual move by penguins to make sure baby penguins don't die from neglect.

But to the school district and Mecklenberg Commissioner Bill James, it is another example of the "gay agenda":

"I am opposed to any book that promotes a homosexual lifestyle to elementary school students as normal," he said.

Now this is the same Bill James who has gone very public on many occasions with his disagreement of the supposed "gay lifestyle," as witnessed by a letter he wrote to a constituent:

“You really think that a pool of people (homosexuals) where 45% of them eat feces from the rear end of another male is "normal"? If you do, you are frankly nuts. A lifestyle where one of their past times is buying gerbils and hamsters from the pet store and cramming them up their rears in an activity called feltching? A group of people who like to urinate on their partners and call them "golden showers"? Where one of the honored members of the Gay Alliance is an organization called the "Man-Boy Love Association" that promotes sex with underage boys? That behavior is worthy of protection? That behavior is worthy to be taught in our schools? to our children? You are one sick "Independent, white, married-heterosexual, presbyterian" if you do. . .”

Such a nice fellow. I'm personally rooting for the penguins.

Yet another headless monster!!!!

In the middle of my euphoria of Wayne Besen's consistent smackdown of James Dobson's lies, I received word of yet another lie perpetrated by the anti-gay industry.

I've always believed that citizens speaking out are powerful. If they speak out with no knowledge of what they are talking about, they can be downright dangerous.

Case in point - Bill Wilson, a "news service senior analyst" writing on what he feels are the most dangerous issues pressing America:

"Homosexuality and abortion represent as much a clear and present danger to the national security of America as does terrorism. The public immorality of the United States of America is appalling and the nation is fast heading for massive decline."

Here we go again.

Mr. Wilson goes on an ill informed tangent, specifically about the gay community, especially when he mentions this little canard:

" . . .many studies indicate that the average lifespan of the homosexual is far less than heterosexuals."

For the benefit of those who are not aware of this blog and my upcoming book, Mr. Wilson just repeated what is known as a "headless monster."

A "headless monster" is an opinion that has been refuted continuously but continues to be repeated as truth; either due to the ignorance or the stubborness of the person repeating it.

In Mr. Wilson's case, I will chalk his repeititon of the lie that gay men have shorter life spans than heterosexuals to ignorance.

So I will correct him.

There are no legitimate studies that say that gay men have shorter life spans than heterosexual men. The Centers for Disease Control does not collect statistics on the life spans of gay men:

"[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." - Ronald Valdiserri, deputy director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, Weird anti-gay science, The Washington Blade, June 17, 2005

Now there was a 1997 Oxford study that made a hypothetical claim about the life span of gay men. But in 2001, the six researchers who conducted the study went on record saying that their work was being distorted by the religious right - http://ije.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/full/30/6/1499

The only person who has attempted to make an unadulterated claim about the life span of gay men is our friend Paul Cameron. Cameron is hardly a legitimate researcher, as referenced by this link.

Mr. Wilson's claims would be funny if not for the fact that his nonsense was published on a "Christian" web page. I have to seriously ask how many Christians already believe his lies and how many more will be taken in by his falsehoods?

Wayne Besen strikes again!
Meanwhile, James Dobson is trying to get his followers to do his dirty work for him

Wayne Besen is on the ball.

Not only did his organization, Truth Wins Out, film a video featuring Carol Gilligan rebuking James Dobson for distorting her work (see past posts) but he has also found yet another researcher who claims that Dobson is distorting her work:

JAMES DOBSON REBUKED ON VIDEO FOR DISTORTING RESEARCH OF NYU PROFESSOR CAROL GILLIGAN

Renowned Author/Researcher, England’s Angela Phillips, Condemns Focus on the Family’s Leader For ‘Seriously Misrepresenting’ Her Work'

Miami Beach, FLA. – Truth Wins Out released an exclusive video today featuring celebrated New York University educational psychologist Carol Gilligan, PhD, who upbraided Focus on the Family leader, James C. Dobson, for misrepresenting her research in a guest column he wrote in last week’s issue of Time Magazine.

Additionally, Angela Phillips, the renowned author of “The Trouble With Boys” also sent a pointed letter to Dobson today accusing him of “seriously misrepresenting” her work and asking him to publish her letter “prominently” on Focus on the Family’s website. Last week, Kyle Pruett, M.D. of the Yale School of Medicine, also expressed concerns that the Focus on the Family leader "cherry picked" his work.

“This is a revolt of serious scholars who are revolted by the way James Dobson has unethically incorporated their research to fit his political aims,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen.

“Three researchers have now come forward in just one week to take Dobson to task. The media should finally realize that Dobson lacks the academic integrity and moral authority to talk credibly on family issues.”

In the video, filmed for Truth Wins Out by videographer Lisa Darden, Dr. Gilligan expressed her extreme displeasure with Dobson and how she was “mortified” by his use of her work.“I was stunned to hear that James Dobson had quoted me in TIME Magazine. I had no idea. I was mortified, frankly,” Dr. Gilligan, author of several books including, In A Different Voice, said in the video.

TO WATCH VIDEO CLICK HERE

“It was a completely distorted and unfounded use of my work…it is such a simplification and caricature of my work…for someone who represents morality and the family it is disrespectful.”

Earlier today, Professor Angela Phillips, author of “The Trouble With Boys,” echoed Drs. Gilligan and Pruett in a letter to Dobson, obtained exclusively by Truth Wins Out. TWO received a tip that Phillips’ work had been misquoted by Ray Foster, a concerned citizen who wanted the truth to be told.

In her letter, Phillips, a journalist and professor at Goldsmiths College in London, asked that Dobson print the following letter “prominently” on his organization’s website.

Dear James Dobson:

It has come to my attention that my book "The Trouble with Boys" has been seriously mis-represented in writings by James Dobson. Having read his newsletter; "How Boys Learn to Become Men" on the Focus on the Family web site I was incensed to find that I have been quoted as a source for suggesting that:

" The high incidence of homosexuality occurring in Western nations is related, at least in part, to the absence of positive male influence when boys are moving through the first crisis of child development."

I certainly agree that boys suffer from a lack of positive men in their lives but I am at pains to point out that positive men are often as much lacking in two parent households as they are in lone mother (or two mother) households. I do not suggest that lack of positive male role models leads to homosexuality (or indeed that it would be problematic if it did). My concern is that boys without positive men around them are more likely to be violent, angry and lacking in self control.

I have never heard that these are characteristics that are associated with homosexuality.

Dobson goes on to say: " One of the primary objectives of parents is to help boys identify their gender assignments and understand what it means to be a man.My concern is that boys are currently learning, either from their fathers, or in the absence of fathers, from the women who rear them, and the men they encounter, that the most important thing about being a man is being: "not gay", "not gentle" and not "girlie".

While adult men are afraid to demonstrate that it’s okay to be gentle and caring how are boys to learn anything positive about what it means to be a man?I would be grateful if you could publish this letter prominently on your website.

I look forward to a swift acknowledgement.

Yours sincerely
Angela Phillips
Author of The Trouble with Boys

“The media is the great enabler that continues to offer a platform to James Dobson to tell his lies, malign gay people and mock science,” says Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen.

“It is time the media be held accountable for journalistic standards, the same way Dobson is now finally answerable for his misleading propaganda.” Truth Wins OUT is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the “ex-gay” myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org.

Dobson has given no comment regarding the claims that he distorted legitimate research.

Meanwhile, one of the American Family Association's new rags, Baptist Press News, has featured Dobson's column.

It half heartedly addresses the claims by Pruett and Gilligan that Dobson cherry picked and distorted their work:

"Focus on the Family sent an e-mail to supporters asking them to send a "brief, polite note" to Time editors thanking them for publishing the column. Homosexual activists, Focus said, are asking their supporters to write Time and tell the magazine Dobson's column was inaccurate."

The fact of the matter is that this is not the first time Dobson and company have distorted a legitimate researcher's or professor's work. I have nine examples in my upcoming book and in private conversations with one of my sources, there have been others.

God don't like ugly, Mr. Dobson. Especially if it is done in his name.

Boot camp starts

As of yesterday, a copy of my manuscript, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, has been sent to my copy editor.

And I am hoping that he will be as harsh as possible.

I am not one of those writers who think that I am so infalliable that my work can't stand a bit of correction. I value the opinion of a ruthless copy editor.

He should be sending me his thoughts by the end of this year.

I can't wait!

By the way, James Dobson still has not spoken out about the claims of Dr. Kyle Pruett and Carol Gilligan that he cherry picked their work in his Time magazine column.

Just thought I would mention that.

Two for Two
or
Doggone it Wayne Besen! You are making me jealous!

YALE PROFESSOR SAYS JAMES DOBSON ‘CHERRY PICKED’ HIS RESEARCH IN TIME MAGAZINE ARTICLE

Kyle Pruett, M.D., is Second Professor In Two Days To Challenge Dobson’s Use Of Research Miami Beach, FLA. – Truth Wins Out urged Time Magazine today to renounce a guest column written by James C. Dobson in this week’s magazine after a second professor, Kyle Pruett, M.D. of the Yale School of Medicine, expressed concerns that the Focus on the Family leader “cherry picked” his work.

In a letter to Time and Dobson, Dr. Pruett asked that Focus on the Family, “not quote from my research in your media campaigns, personal or corporate, without previously securing my permission.”Yesterday, New York University Professor Carol Gilligan, PhD, also wrote a letter to Time and Dobson saying that her research was distorted and twisted.

“Time Magazine should take Dobson’s article off the web and pledge that they will never again use his group as a source on family issues,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “Focus on the Family has damaged its credibility and should stop misleading Americans by misquoting respected researchers.”

TODAY, Pruett wrote the following letter:

13 December 2006

Dr. Dobson,I was startled and disappointed to see my work referenced in the current Time Magazine piece in which you opined that social science, such as mine, supports your convictions opposing lesbian and gay parenthood. I write now to insist that you not quote from my research in your media campaigns, personal or corporate, without previously securing my permission.You cherry-picked a phrase to shore up highly (in my view) discriminatory purposes. This practice is condemned in real science, common though it may be in pseudo-science circles. There is nothing in my longitudinal research or any of my writings to support such conclusions.

On page 134 of the book you cite in your piece, I wrote, “What we do know is that there is no reason for concern about the development or psychological competence of children living with gay fathers. It is love that binds relationships, not sex.”

Kyle Pruett,
M.D.Yale School of Medicine

Additionally, New York University educational psychologist Carol Gilligan, PhD, demanded an apology from Dobson yesterday and asked that Focus on the Family “cease and desist” from quoting her work in the future.

Truth Wins OUT is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the “ex-gay” myth and educates America about gay life.

For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org

** TAKE ACTION **

James Dobson is a discredited political hack who has serially distorted research and twisted the truth to fit his right wing political agenda. He should never have been given a platform to discuss GLBT families in a respected major media outlet, such as Time Magazine.

The use of pseudo-science that aims to discriminate has no place in a publication like Time. Let's face it, they would never dare provide a similar platform for extremist groups to bash other minorities.

Tell Time, that it is way past time, to be giving a stage to Focus on the Family and other groups that blatantly and provably lie about gay life.

Memo to Time: "If the right can't prove it, Don't use it.

"WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Time MagazinePatrick_Smith@timemagazine.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kudos to Wayne Besen for exposing another anti-gay industry attempt to use bad research in order to lie about the gay community.

This is not the first time the anti-gay industry has distorted Dr. Pruett's work for their own purposes.

An excerpt from my upcoming book:

In November 2004, Dr. Kyle Pruett, a clinical professor of psychiatry in the Yale Child Study Center and School of Nursing, complained that a local anti-same sex marriage group incorrectly used one of his studies.

He said that Oregon’s Defense of Marriage Coalition claimed that a study of his said that infants just eight weeks old could already detect the difference between male and female interaction. This, the group claimed in a flyer, says that the role of a mother and father are not interchangeable when it comes to raising children.
Dr. Pruett said that first of all, the research was not his. The citation in question was another researcher’s work he mentioned in a book he authored. However, Pruett said, secondly, there is no research in his book that can be used to criticize same sex marriage.

“They were cherry picking research,” he told The Yale Herald, “for their own purposes . . . In my book, I talk about how gay and lesbian marriage is not currently thought to place children at risk.”

According to the same article, Michael White, the executive director of the Defense of Marriage Coalition, denied Pruett’s claim. He also said he was surprised by the controversy because many organizations have been using Pruett’s research for years.
“We get a lot of stuff from the organization Focus on the Family,” he said, “and they’ve printed Pruett’s stuff for years.”

I think that there should be some clearity as to what needs to be done. Those of us who are trying to expose the lies of the anti-gay industry are not out to bash Christians or any other persons of faith. If one's faith teaches that homosexuality is an abomination, then that is okay. You should have that right to believe this.

This is not about telling people that they cannot believe what they want. This is about exposing groups who are spreading propaganda designed to reinforce negative stereotypes about the gay community.

The phony studies spread by Dobson and company are no different than the lies the Nazis spread about Jews or the Ku Klux Klan spreads about African-Americans. In the historical context of things, we need to establish this point and hammer it home time and time again.

At the end of the day, victory will not come to the gay community through pleadings for tolerance. We will win through cold hard facts. Luckily we have them on our side.

We need to start using them.

BUSTED!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes, certain things happen that bring a smile to my face, like the following:

JAMES DOBSON SLAMMED BY PROFESSOR FOR DISTORTING HER RESEARCH IN TIME MAGAZINE ARTICLE ON MARY CHENEY’S PREGNANCY

'I was mortified to learn that you had distorted my work,' NYU Professor Carol Gilligan Tells Focus on the Family Leader in Blistering Letter

Miami Beach, FLA. - New York University educational psychologist Carol Gilligan, PhD, today slammed Focus on the Family leader, James C. Dobson, for "twisting" and "distorting" her research in a guest column he wrote in this week's issue of Time Magazine. Dobson misrepresented her work in an effort to smear gay families while discussing Mary Cheney's pregnancy. In a pointed letter to Dobson, Gilligan demanded that he apologize and "cease and desist" from quoting her work in the future.

"Dobson's group is a fib factory that should change its name to Focus on the Fallacies," said Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen. "This organization habitually lies and shamelessly mangles research to support its anti-gay agenda. Time Magazine should immediately withdrawal Dobson's column because it is so riddled with scientific errors that it is essentially fiction."

In a letter to Dobson, obtained exclusively by Truth Wins Out after the group contacted Gilligan and informed her of the Time article, Gilligan expressed her dismay and demanded that the right wing leader apologize. According to the letter:

Dear Dr. Dobson:

I am writing to ask that you cease and desist from quoting my research in the future. I was mortified to learn that you had distorted my work this week in a guest column you wrote in Time Magazine. Not only did you take my research out of context, you did so without my knowledge to support discriminatory goals that I do not agree with. What you wrote was not truthful and I ask that you refrain from ever quoting me again and that you apologize for twisting my work.

From what I understand, this is not the first time you have manipulated research in pursuit of your goals. This practice is not in the best interest of scientific inquiry, nor does bearing false witness serve your purpose of furthering morality and strengthening the family.

Finally, there is nothing in my research that would lead you to draw the stated conclusions you did in the Time article. My work in no way suggests same-gender families are harmful to children or can't raise these children to be as healthy and well adjusted as those brought up in traditional households.

I trust that this will be the last time my work is cited by Focus on the Family.

Sincerely,

Carol Gilligan, PhD
New York University, Professor

"No reputable media outlet should continue using Focus on the Family as a resource because they are chronically dishonest and lack credibility," said Besen. "James Dobson should start to wonder if there is something inherently wrong with his stance on gay issues if the only way he can support his positions is outright lying."

Truth Wins OUT is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the "ex-gay" myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org.

This is yet more proof that the anti-gay industry is lying about our community. This rebuke will go in my upcoming book as the 9th example of a professor or researcher going on record crying foul over the distortion of their work by Dobson and company.

Keeping our focus

I took a visit to Freeperland today.

From time to time I will hold my nose and read the comments on the forum having to do with the "homosexual agenda." Today was interesting.

There was a young man on one of the post who was sure that he had the right idea about what the "homosexual agenda" actually was. He kept posting links that supposedly proved all sorts of negatives things about the gay community.

I don't think that I have to tell anyone that those links encompassed "research" and "studies" done by Paul Cameron, Timothy Dailey of the Family Research Council, as well as other bits of propaganda issued by other groups such as the American Family Assocation.

Meanwhile a lot of our attention seems to be paid a ridiculous article on the World Net Daily site where some writer actually said that soy was turning America's children gay. His piece is ludicrous, so ludicrous in fact that I have seen it mentioned on several sites.

Then there is the "Wedding Wars." The "Wedding Wars" is an upcoming movie starring John Stamos that takes a comedic look at the marriage equality argument. I am sure the makers mean to entertain and take a satirical look at the issue of gay marriage.

I have not only seen many bloggers talking about the soy makes children gay articles, but I have received emails inviting me not to forget when the John Stamos movie is airing.

This mindset reveals something I don't like about my community. We tend to worry about public media events that are a lot of hot air, but don't pay attention to issues that could in the long run mean our survival or destruction. Pointing out the ridiculousness of one right-wing author or enjoying a movie with a "hot guy" with a message about gay marriage sounds like fun, but they are a waste of time.

Meanwhile, this young man on Free Republic and others who will buy into the lies of the anti-gay industry will repeat those lies. They will organize themselves on web pages, in groups, and in front of school boards. They will repeat those lies over and over again in front of legislative bodies.

How can we combat this if we are distracted by other things?

A John Stamos movie is cute but it is a waste of time unless it can refute the lies that we molest children at a high rate. Pointing out the inanity of a right wing column is momentarily empowering but unless it can refute the lie that we have a shorter life span due to promiscuity and disease, I don't want to waste my time commenting on it.

There has been an organized campaign to dehumanize the gay community and devalue our lives and we all must combat it head on, detailing and refuting every lie.

But yet we continue to lie to ourselves, thinking that our circle of friends, our distractions (i.e. the "Wedding Wars" et. al.), or our pursuit of material possessions will insulate us from the fact that the anti-gay industry is determined to devalue our lives with lies more scurrilous than those the Nazis said about the Jews or the Klan has claimed about African-Americans.

An old saying says that evil prospers when good men do nothing.

In that same spirit, propaganda does a lot of damage when those who can expose it allow themselves to be distracted by transitory things.