BREAKING!!! Anti-gay parenting study a false manipulation from the start

Mark Regnerus

This is huge.

According to the American Independent, via The Huffington Post, the Regnerus study - which cause a huge controversy because it said that children raised by same-sex families encounter problems - was created specifically to sway Supreme Court decisions on marriage equality. And the funders of the study knew what the study would "prove" before the work on it began:

The conservative funders who bankrolled a flawed and widely cited academic study that's critical of gay marriage choreographed its release in time to influence “major decisions of the Supreme Court,” documents show.

The documents, recently obtained through public-records requests by The American Independent and published in collaboration with The Huffington Post, show that the Witherspoon Institute recruited a professor from a major university to carry out a study that was designed to manipulate public policy. In communicating with donors about the research project, Witherspoon’s president clearly expected results unfavorable to the gay-marriage movement.

The think tank’s efforts paid off. The New Family Structures Study came out just in time for opponents of gay marriage to cite it in multiple federal cases involving marriage equality – including two cases soon to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

James Wright, editor of Social Science Research, which published the study’s findings last summer, said he was not aware of the funders’ intentions to use his academic journal to sway the Supreme Court.

“So far as the Supreme Court is concerned, I consider marriage and adoption rights for GLBT people to be a matter of civil rights, i.e., a legal question, not something to be ‘resolved’ by empirical research, and I resent having social science data and research drawn into such debates,” Wright, a University of Central Florida sociology professor, said in an email.

In a study slammed for its methodology, funding, and academic integrity, University of Texas associate sociology professor Mark Regnerus found that children who grew up in households where one parent had a same-sex relationship (regardless of whether the children lived with that parent or that parent’s supposed same-sex partner) were more likely to experience negative social, psychological, and economic outcomes than children raised by a married heterosexual couple

Records show that an academic consultant hired by UT to conduct data analysis for the project was a longtime fellow of the Witherspoon Institute, which shelled out about $700,000 for the research. Documentation about University of Virginia associate sociology professor W. Bradford Wilcox’s dual roles contradict Regnerus’ assertions that the think tank wasn’t involved with how the study was designed or carried out. 

To put a long story short, before this study was even put to paper, those funding it had already decided what it would "prove" and how they would "use" it. Many of us lgbtq bloggers and activists (i.e. myself, Scott Rose, Jeremy Hooper, Wayne Besen, Rob Tisinai, and a vast number of others) knew something was phony about the Regnerus study at the time in which it was publicized. And now the Huffington Post and the American Independent confirms it:

 . . .when Regnerus first published his New Family Structures Study in the July 2012 issue of Social Science Research, he made a point of saying that his conservative funders had not played a role in designing the research or analyzing the data.

“The NFSS was supported in part by grants from the Witherspoon Institute and the Bradley Foundation,” he wrote. “While both of these are commonly known for their support of conservative causes — just as other private foundations are known for supporting more liberal causes — the funding sources played no role at all in the design or conduct of the study, the analyses, the interpretations of the data, or in the preparation of this manuscript.”

He reiterated this statement in his follow-up analysis of the study, again writing that “[n]o funding agency representatives were consulted about research design, survey contents, analysis, or conclusions.”

Regnerus’ assertions come into question in light of revelations last year that Wilcox had been hired on contract by UT to assist Regnerus with the data analysis of the study. During part of that time, Wilcox was also the director of Witherspoon’s Program on Family, Marriage, and Democracy, out of which the study was conceptualized and Regnerus was recruited. Wilcox had been a fellow with Witherspoon from 2004 to 2011, and he has said that he worked as a paid consultant on the study from October 2010 to April 2012. 

The excerpts above only scratch the surfaces. Go to this link, read the article, and prepare to be PISSED!

Know Your LGBT History - Outing

Outing is the controversial practice of revealing someone's sexual orientation without their permission. It's usually done to celebrities and politicians. It's controversial because some feel that it is an invasion of privacy while others feel that it is necessary to bring more visibility to the problems of lgbts forced in the closet or combat the hypocrisy of secretly gay lawmakers who publicly and actively campaign against lgbt equality. After watching these videos, tell me what you think:



 

 

Past Know Your LGBT History posts:

'Homophobe claims not to know how gays 'consummate' marriage' and other Friday midday news briefs

Love this! Had to post it! The photo is from an anti-gay marriage equality rally yesterday in Minnesota

In other news briefs:


LaBarbera: 'How Do Two Guys Consummate Their Marriage? Yuck.' - When I read this, I just HAD to put it in the briefs. As much gay porn that 'Porno' Pete LaBarbera is rumored to have as "research," I think he knows the answer to his question.  

Ernie Banks, other Chicago sports legends back marriage equality - Not bad. Not bad at all.  

Insurance Agency Reverses, Agrees To Cover Transgender Student’s Treatment - Kudos and special thanks to the young man's fraternity who at the time was raising money to cover his part of his gender transition surgery when he was initially denied by the insurance company. Say what you will, this story destroys almost every negative stereotypes out there about fraternities.

 Tebow at Liberty University; Fox says facts are 'bullies' - Awwww! Fox News gets angry at lgbts when we bring facts out about anti-gay organizations and universities. I guess they miss the scared lgbts. 

 FRC’s Tony Perkins Lies His Ass Off About ENDA In Fundraising Appeal - A point-by-point take down of anti-ENDA lies. Although between u and me, the words "Tony Perkins" and "ass" in the same sentence makes me nauseous.  

Family Research Council clearly lying about scientific evidence and gay parenting - Speaking of Perkins' group, the Family Research Council, I am including a post I wrote last night because it's just unbelievable to me that these folks thought they could lie about the scientific evidence of gay parenting and not get called out about it. I mean just BRAZEN!

Black university proves arguments against marriage equality, interracial marriage are similar

Those who complain about how the lgbt community is unfairly comparing itself to the African-American community in terms of the struggle for equality are probably not going to be happy to hear this news, so I want to tell it as soon as possible.

Howard University - a historically black college - made a very interesting comparison between the laws against interracial marriage and those against marriage equality. The university said arguments used to justify laws against interracial marriage (which were struck down by Loving vs. Virginia) and arguments used to justify laws against marriage equality are "strikingly similar."

Lawyers for the university made the connection in a recently submitted brief to the Supreme Court for the upcoming Prop 8 trial. According to Think Progress:

The brief goes on to highlight five distinct arguments that transcend the debates between marriage equality for interracial couples and marriage equality for same-sex couples:

• SOCIAL ORDER: Marriage equality is a threat to the social order and would “introduce a form of pollution to marriage.” 

• SEXUALIZATION: The people who want to get married have relationships that are purely sexual, promiscuous, and “deviant.” 

• PSEUDOSCIENCE: Researchers have distorted research to raise fears about supposed consequences of marriage equality. 

• JUDEO-CHRISTIAN VALUES: The Bible forbids recognizing these relationships. 

• CHILDREN: These relationships will cause physical and psychological damage to the children they raise.

Think Progress continues with an excellent summation of the Howard University brief.

No doubt the National Organization for Marriage and others who want to exploit the alleged black vs. gay divide will most likely ignore this briefs and the facts put out in it.

I say we don't let them.

Family Research Council clearly lying about scientific evidence and gay parenting

Kenneth Blackwell of the Family Research Council

I've said it once and I will say it again. Once the religious right finds a factoid or meme to use against the lgbt community, they will continue to repeat it even though the factoid or meme has been refuted.

 Earlier this week, I wrote about how the Family Research Council was repeating a lie that the Obama Administration declared war on mothers in its Supreme Court brief against the California anti-marriage equality law, Prop 8.

Yesterday, FRC took that lie further via an employee, Kenneth Blackwell, in a recent piece he wrote, Obama Drops His Family Friendly Mask:

Last week, President Obama dropped the family friendly mask. He sent his Solicitor General, Donald Verrilli up the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court with a simple message:

Dump Dads. Lose Moms.

That's because the Solicitor General speaks for the President. In the most august and formal way, it is this officer who carries the President's deepest convictions to lay them before the nation's High Court. What the Solicitor General actually said was this:

"As an initial matter, no sound basis exists for concluding that same-sex couples who have committed to marriage are anything other than fully capable of responsible parenting and child-rearing. To the contrary, many leading medical, psychological, and social-welfare organizations have issued policy statements opposing restrictions on gay and lesbian parenting based on their conclusion, supported by numerous scientific studies, that children raised by gay and lesbian parents are as likely to be well adjusted as children raised by heterosexual parents."

"The weight of the scientific literature strongly supports the view that same-sex parents are just as capable as opposite-sex parents."

Actually, the weight of scientific evidence proves no such thing. All the work of the Marriage and Religion Research Institute (www.marri.org) shows that children do best in a family where mother and dad are married and where the family worships regularly.

As for children raised by two adults of the same sex, the most extensive study ever done was that of Dr. Mark Regnerus. Dr. Regnerus of the University of Texas conducted the largest, most rigorously controlled study in history. Here's what the U.T. study found:

The results of the NFSS [National Family Structures Study]research revealed that the "no differences" claim -- the claim that children raised by parents in gay or lesbian relationships fared no worse and in some cases better than children raised by intact biological parents -- was not true. On the contrary, the children of these households, on average, did worse than children raised by their biological, still-married parents.

The weight of scientific evidence -- as opposed to Donald Verrilli's politically correct posturing -- shows that his statements before the High Court are "not true. Remember, we are talking about the well-being of the children, not whether the adults in these relationships are well-satisfied with their domestic arrangements.

Mr. Blackwell omits a lot of truth to reach the point of this passage.

He said the weight of scientific evidence does not prove that same-sex parents are just as capable as opposite-sex parents in the raising of children. 

Mr. Blackwell conveniently forgets that the Obama Administration brief he tears down clearly cited both the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics as well as the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry as proof that same-sex parents are just as capable as opposite-sex parents in the raising of children (page 21 of the brief).

Furthermore Mr. Blackwell did not mention that independent from the Obama Administration brief, the APA submitted another brief to the court saying the same thing (i.e. same-sex parents are as capable as opposite-sex parents in the raising of children). And joining them in this brief was the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the California Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychoanalytic Association and the National Association of Social Workers.

Finally, it is very ironic that Mr. Blackwell cites the Regnerus study as proof that his scientific proof that same-sex parents are not just as capable as opposite-sex parents because of the following simple fact:

The American Sociological Association condemned the Regnerus study in its brief submitted to the Supreme Court. In the brief, the ASA also said that same-sex parents are just as capable as opposite-sex parents when it comes to the raising of children.

So when Mr. Blackwell says that the weight of scientific evidence does not prove that same-sex parents are as capable as opposite-sex parents in the raising of children, he is clearly not being truthful. Not even a little bit.

Do me a favor, folks. Don't shake your head, suck your teeth and go "there they go again" at yet another time you have seen the Family Research Council blatantly lie about the gay community. Demand that more time and knowledge be invested in uncovering how organizations like FRC distort science or push blatant lies against the lgbt community.

Organizations like the Family Research Council don't rely on truth. They rely on repetition. They repeat a point while deliberately ignoring the simple fact that the point has been refuted by those who know better.

And they also rely on the gay community and others becoming blase or jaded about their constant lying.  The Family Research Council and other so-called "pro-family" groups can't use facts against the gay community, so they hope to beat us down through the constant repetition of lies.

It's not necessarily the Christian thing to do, but I guess they figure God will turn a blind eye because they feel that they are lying on His behalf.

You see, this is the problem. This is the reason for the lgbt community's anger towards groups like FRC who claim to uphold  their version of Christian values. It's not that we are intolerant of their beliefs or views.

We are just intolerant of their lies.

'Meet one of the youngest married gay couples in America' and other Thursday midday news briefs

David Harris And Tre'Darrius Anderson May Be The Country's Youngest African American Gay Couple To Marry - Meet the youngest African-American gay couple to marry and it begs a good question which will hopefully come up more in the future in the lgbt community. Is 19 an appropriate age for anyone to marry?

Ever-deceptive FRC twists 50+ yr old hit piece into supposed battle plan - This is low even for the Family Research Council. More desperation. LOL 

 Opposition To Marriage Equality Concentrated Among Elderly, Evangelicals, And Non-College Educated - Opposition getting smaller and smaller. 

Vocal on Gay Issues, Dean Goes Beyond Classroom - Who says gays can't hold top positions?

Here is some black gay comedy to lift you up

After last night's "filibuster," I am in a mood for something a bit more loose and different (especially seeing that the religious right has jumped on the "we love civil liberties" bandwagon. Where the hell were they when the Patriot Act was passed? Hell, if they are for civil liberties, then why are they giving lgbts to so much hell) So I apologize to folks who may not appreciate the following videos, but they are of one of my favorite comedians, openly gay Sampson. Definitely not safe for work and he may be a bit offensive: