Conservapedia's unbelievable defense of the discredited Paul Cameron

My prayers are with the Kennedy family in the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy. He was an intelligent and strong advocate for the rights of all people, including lgbts. History dealt him a nasty blow with the death of his brothers. But like all men of destiny, Kennedy rose above it to make the world a better place for us all.

He will be missed.

I was reading an excellent piece in Newsweek as to why some people were quick to believe the lie about health care death panels even after they were informed of the truth:

Some people form and cling to false beliefs about health-care reform (or Obama's citizenship) despite overwhelming evidence thanks to a mental phenomenon called motivated reasoning, says sociologist Steven Hoffman, visiting assistant professor at the University at Buffalo. "Rather than search rationally for information that either confirms or disconfirms a particular belief," he says, "people actually seek out information that confirms what they already believe." And God knows, in the Internet age there is no dearth of sources to confirm even the most ludicrous claims (my favorite being that the moon landings were faked). "For the most part," says Hoffman, "people completely ignore contrary information" and are able to "develop elaborate rationalizations based on faulty information."

And naturally my mind began thinking about those lovely individuals and groups concerned with supposedly winning "America for Christ, " colloquially known as the religious right.

Specifically, my mind began thinking about a certain conservative bastardization of the popular site Wikipedia.

I've written about Conservapedia before; about how the site used repeated and bad information to claim that "gay bowel syndrome" is an actual medical term rather than an antiquated term used to denigrate the lgbt community.

Well this new thing I found on the site tops that one.

This is what Conservapedia says about discredited researcher Paul Cameron:

Dr. Paul Cameron, Ph.D. is a scientist who has presented disturbing information about homosexual behavior in the United States. Professional associations have responded by making vague, unsupported accusations about his personal character.

. . . The APA and ASA have issued statements denouncing Cameron for holding positions contrary to theirs. They have not, however, pointed out any specific flaws in his published peer-reviewed scientific papers. So it is patently obvious that they are trying to suppress his findings for political reasons.

Conservapedia's explanation is extremely inaccurate.

The APA (American Psychological Association) dismissed Cameron for not cooperating when the group began investigating his research methodology. Various psychologists complained about how he was distorting their data.

I sincerely doubt that Conservapedia did any research into the matter, so to help the site out, I've attached the link of the letter from the APA officially dismissing Cameron.

And the (ASA) American Sociological Association denounced Cameron because of his bad research techniques. The group was concerned that Cameron was inaccurately being labeled as a sociologist.

The ASA's statement came after a task force looked at Cameron's history and techniques. You can read the findings here. And I might point out, the ASA task force did point to specific flaws regarding Cameron's work and specific complaints made about him.

The irony of Conservapedia's whitewash of Cameron is felt when one takes into account one of the guidelines of the site:

Everything you post must be true and verifiable.

I found a bigger irony when I looked over the list of Conservapedia Administrators. A good many of them have on their profile that they "have accepted Jesus Christ as his/her Lord and Savior."

Apparently they love their version of Christian principles so much that they are willing to lie for them.

Editor's Note - APA letter and ASA report taken from the webpage of Dr. Gregory Herek.

Mike Huckabee - definitely not 'pro-sodomy' but extremely 'pro-ignorant'

I'm on a Mike Huckabee tear today. So sue me already.

The fact that former Arkansas Governor and talk show host Mike Huckabee will be attending a conference in which a workshop on combating the so-called homosexual agenda is to be co-led by a SPLC designated hate group shouldn't be surprising.

Also, the fact that he has aligned himself with former SPLC hate group, the Illinois Family Institute also is not shocking.

That is if you are aware of Huckabee's ugly history of stigmatizing the lgbt community.

In 1992 when he ran for Senate, he advocated quarantining AIDS patients. Huckabee was answering an Associated Press survey when he said the following:

"If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague," he wrote. "It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents."

In 2007, Huckabee was confronted with his past statements when he ran for president. According to an ABC News article, he chalked up the statement to being ignorant in regards to how AIDS is spread:

"Fifteen years ago, the AIDS crisis was just that, a crisis," he said. "There was still a great deal of, I think, uncertainty about just how widespread AIDS was, how it could be transmitted. So we know more now than we did in 1992, all of us do -- hopefully."

However, the same ABC News article brings up this fact:

Four years before Huckabee's statement, however, President Ronald Reagan's surgeon general, C. Everett Koop, sent out a brochure about AIDS to American homes in which Koop wrote, "No matter what you may have heard, the AIDS virus is hard to get and is easily avoided. You won't just catch AIDS like a cold or flu because the virus is a different type. The AIDS virus is transmitted through sexual intercourse, the sharing of drug needles or to babies of infected mothers before or during birth."

In that same 1992 survey, he said the following about homosexuality:

"homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk."

In the ABC News article, Huckabee maintained that what he said about homosexuality was still his belief except for the part about it being a health risk.

But if you want get a good indication as to where Huckabee stands on the lgbt community, check out this 2009 exchange on his talk show between him and guest Ann Coulter (starting at 4:00):



Huck to Coulter: I am not, as you characterize me in one article, pro-gay and pro-sodomy -- that is SO not me.

Coulter: Yes, there was a Supreme Court decision you agreed or disagreed with...yes, I got you on that one Mike Huckabee...

Huck: Nope, you didn't. I am definitely not pro-sodomy -- I promise, scout's honor. There are many things I might be but that is not one of them.

I've watched how Huckabee manuevers through the talk show circuit and parses his comments into feel good soundbites. The problem is that no one, except for that ABC News article, has really confronted him with his statements and especially not his allegiances.

And I wonder if anyone ever will.

Big hat tip to Pams House Blend.

What's with Mike Huckabee's fascination with anti-gay hate groups and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Huckabee Hearts the Illinois Family Institute - Is there any extreme group with whom Mike Huckabee won't associate himself with? (Editor's note - see earlier post about Huckabee and anti-gay hate group Mass Resistance)

Insurgent congressional candidate Anthony Woods' life story reads like Aaron Sorkin wrote it—he's a gay, black Iraq veteran with a Harvard degree. - Bet you if he wins, he won't make the cover of Ebony or Jet. I also bet you they won't talk about him on BET.

CA: Arnold takes his inductees with Milk - Another well-deserved honor for Harvey Milk!!

I Wonder What Chris Buttars Thinks His "Sexual Orientation" Is - Not this so-and-so again!

Love That Dares to Tweet Its Name Sparks Web Series - This is going to be interesting for those who love soap operas.

Mike Huckabee and Congressional leaders to attend conference with hate group

The anti-gay Massachusetts group Mass Resistance is in a bragging mood.

Apparently its leader, Brian Camenker, has been asked to co-run a workshop on How to counter the homosexual extremist movement during the conservative "Take Back America" conference next month.

You do know Mass Resistance, don't you? One of the officially designated anti-gay hate groups as deemed by the Southern Law Poverty Center.

Mass Resistance is the group behind the David Parker situation (in which they and Parker orchestrated a phony moral panic against Estabrook Elementary School) and the fallacious "Fistgate" mess that came back to haunt President Obama appointee Kevin Jennings; unsuccessfully I might point out.

Co-hosting this workshop will be a perennial favorite of mine, The Holy Bullies and Headless Monster Misinformer of the Year for 2008 Matt Barber.

Barber, employed by the anti-gay Liberty Counsel, has done so many things to "endear" himself to the lgbt community.

Originally, he was fired from AllState Insurance for anti-gay columns he wrote. Although Barber claimed to have written them on his own time, it was alleged that he used company equipment to do so. Also he did involve the company in his nonsense by listing the fact that he was an employee in his columns.

Barber parlayed that furor into becoming a spokesman for Concerned Women for America, where he scrapped with folks like Wayne Besen and Keith Boykin on coast to coast television, despite often times being in way over his head. And now, he has this position at Liberty Counsel as the director of Cultural Affairs.

Barber's attacks on the lgbt community have bordered on fanatic and loony, including (information taken from Sourcewatch):

A January 2007 column on gays in the military: "Move over National Guard and Green Berets – make way for the avant-garde and Lavender Berets."

A March 2007 column bashed "left-wing storm troopers" and referenced a "6-foot-4-inch homosexual linebacker who likes to wear lipstick and high-heels."

A May 2007 WorldNetDaily article quoted Barber describing cross-dressers as people who "get their jollies from wearing a dress, high heels and lipstick."

Barber asserted that former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey "admitted in his memoirs that he fancied doing the toilet bowl tango with strange men at truck stops."

In a column, Barber told the story of a "burly truck driver" who "got twitterpated by the way pantyhose felt against his skin and eventually made the self-determination that he was, in fact, a woman trapped in a man's body," which somehow means that "parents may well be forced to explain to Junior why Ms. Johnson at parochial school has a five o'clock shadow, calves like Schwarzenegger, an Adam's apple the size of a golf ball and is stuffed into a miniskirt like a 10-pound turkey in a 5-pound bag." He further asserted that a federal ban on discrimination against gays and transsexuals means that female employees will be "forced to share bathroom facilities with any male employee who got his jollies from wearing a dress."

Then there was this column comparing lgbts and progressives in general to idol worshippers and child sacrificers of Biblical times.

For comedic purposes, I would love to be at that workshop held by Camenker and Barber.

The two will be telling such conservative dignitaries as Mike Huckabee, Phyllis Schafly,Rick Scarborough, Mat Staver, Rep. Tom McClintock, Rep. Michele Bachmann, and others how to lie on the lgbt community.

As if these folks really needed any urging or help in that department.

But one has to wonder why how do they feel about attending the same conference as an officially designated hate group.

I don't think Huckabee has any problems with that.

According to him, lgbts aren't having our civil rights violated because we haven't had our heads sufficiently cracked in.

Editor's note - Before anyone gets it twisted, the Southern Poverty Law Center does not deem groups as anti-gay hate organizations simply because said organizations work from the belief that homosexuality is a sin. The SPLC site clearly says:

Anti-gay groups are organizations that go beyond mere disagreement with homosexuality by subjecting gays and lesbians to campaigns of personal vilification.

Related articles:

Mike Huckabee - definitely not 'pro-sodomy' but extremely 'pro-ignorant'

'Fistgate' and President Obama - religious right pushes a pitiful attempt of guilt by association

The legend of the Mad Dad of Massachusetts or how to distort a situation religious-right style

The 2008 Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters Misinformers of the Year Awards

The Freepers want to see President Obama's 'manhood,' transgender woman fights discrimination, and other Monday afternoon news briefs

Freeper birthers want to see the wingwang of the POTUS - Help me, Jebus!

2 teens charged in beating of gay Portage teen - This has gotta stop!

The Gender Police Strike Again - I almost missed this story. It's a shame and a disgrace how some folks are treated just because some want them to conform to their stupid ideas of normalcy.

Utah Transgender Woman Takes Action Against Workplace Discrimination After Losing Job - Good for her!

Anti-Obama article reveals depth of Christian corruption

Allow me to forego today's news briefs for the time being. Something I read this morning has been on my mind. And you know when that happens, I have to write about it.

Anti-gay phony news service One News Now has been doing all it can to help various groups derail President Obama's idea for health care reform.

But a recent "article" reveals more about the nature of One News Now and it's "Christian" audience than it does about the President.

The piece Healthcare for illegals part of Dems' plan, lays out the assertion that the President supports healthcare for illegal immigrants. The article does admit that Obama has said that his health plan does not support illegal immigrants.

But then the article says the following:

However, he also said during a radio interview that he has no problem with illegal immigrants receiving emergency room care in certain situations under his plan.

The article then quotes Congressman Spencer Bachus (Republican of course) taking the President and the Democrats in Congress for this position.

So the President thinks that illegal immigrants should be allowed to receive emergency room care in certain situations. What in world is wrong with that?

Would any self-respecting physician turn anyone away needing emergency room care? I don't think any physician would do this and I think that all reasonable people would agree with the position that anyone needing emergency room care should receive it.

But then again, this "article" is standard fare for One News Now.

One News Now articles generally aren't geared to showing both sides of an argument but to reinforce a position of exclusion.

And yet this news service is supposed to speak for the American Christian community?

So it's come to this. From "thou shalt love your neighbor as you would thyself," to the Good Samaritan stooping down to ask the man robbed and beaten on the lonely road his "legal" status before administering health care.

Really this isn't about the President's position, "illegal immigrants," or even health care in general. It's about how One News Now embraces an ugly form of Christianity in this country; a form that no one wants to talk about.

There is much spotlight on the most extreme nature of Islam, i.e. those who think that the religion advocates violence. And this is a good thing. However, I would like to see some attention devoted to just how some political/religious leaders have corrupted Christianity in this country.

Granted, they don't endorse violence, but their actions are insidious. They reduce Christianity to a coldblooded clique that embraces the desire to be the majority and also the desire to "take America for Christ."

This form of Christianity embodies megachurches full of precisely coiffed people in expensive suits who mistake wealth and position as evidence of God's favor rather than His grace.

It embodies having the "right" political and social affiliations, where people are brainwashed to think that there is a verse in the Bible saying "And Jesus said pick up your cross and follow me and I will give you a nice car, a nice house, 2.5 kids and a Republican President and Congress."

This form of Christianity not only embraces but encourages the use of the Bible as a weapon for passing judgement, explaining away blatant hypocrisies, and covering up lies told about various communities who are not the approved "chosen people."

It's this bastardized form of Christianity that gives all Christianity a bad name. If people have a negative view of the religion, it's not the fault of President Obama "illegal immigrants," the lgbt community or the other supposed forces of " Godless humanism."

It's the fault of organizations like One News Now and those whom the phony news service speaks to and whose causes it embraces.

It's time for One News Now and its allies (i.e. the religious right organizations, conservative bloggers, and various so-called pro-family spokespeople) to stop blaming everyone else for what they are causing.

The Bible itself tells Christians "no weapons formed against you shall prosper."

But it also says that "pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."

If you ask me, Christianity in this country has entered a freefall.

Anti-gay Peter LaBarbera proves 'trash is as trash does'

This weekend, "our friend" and reliable anti-gay crusader Peter LaBarbera seems to be on a tear about the bisexual community. On his Americans for Truth webpage (which is the biggest oxymoron in the history of the world), LaBarbera is focusing on the recent BiSummit, which was held downtown in Chicago in conjunction with the 2009 National LGBTI Health Summit.

The purpose of the summit was to "shed light on the alarming health disparities this large segment of the GLBT community faces."

Unfortunately, in the hands of LaBarbera, the information coming from the summit as well as the summit itself will be used to bash bisexuals and by extension, the lgbt community as a whole.

A perfect example is his absolutely ridiculous (I'm sorry but that's the word that comes to mind) interpretation of the following sentence:

The day began with an overview of the current research on bisexual health. Research shows that bisexual people—who make up about half of those who identify as GLB—face huge health disparities.

Now to LaBarbera, that sentence gives him license to put out this headline - Half of Homosexuals are Bisexual: Homosexual Newspaper.

It's a total inaccuracy that's only enhanced by his intentional omission of the passage that follows:

According to bisexual health researchers Cheryl Dobinson and Stewart Landers, compared to both gays, lesbians and heterosexuals, bisexuals report higher rates of alcohol and tobacco use, substance abuse, depression and anxiety, suicidal thoughts, physical and sexual abuse and self harm, among other issues.

With LaBarbera, it's not even funny anymore how he will distort information in his crusade against the lgbt community.

No doubt he will take other information from the summit and twist it to suit his purposes.

And it's sad that in the hands of a supposed Christian, information gathered to help a community will be used to hurt it.

From the Archives: Jesse Dirkhising and Mary Stachowicz : Pawns in the game

From July 18, 2007 :

In 1999, a 13-year-old boy by the name of Jesse Dirkhising was raped and murdered by two men

In 2002, mother of four, Mary Stachowicz, was viciously raped and murdered.

These two crimes are terrible in and by themselves but the repercussions continue to be felt by people who had nothing to do with the cases.

You see, the men who killed Dirkhising were gay. And the man who killed Stachowicz was allegedly gay. Supposedly he killed her after she continued to question his orientation.

There is no excuse for the murders of Dirkhising and Stachowicz. Having lost my father to violence, I know the grief and pain of having a murdered love one. I know that no matter how many years passes, these emotions never go away.

But like I said in a past column, I would be angry if my father's death was used to distort world views. And unfortunately, since my father's murderers were African-American (like he and myself), I am sure that there are some racists out there who have used his murder to denigrate black people on the whole.

When Dirkhising was murdered, he became a cause celebre to the anti-gay industry.

Rather than focus on the fact that a child was murdered, they focused on the orientation of the murderers.

They claimed that because the murderers were gay, the media were hesitant to pursue the story. This was a lie of course, but when have you ever known the anti-gay industry to be truthful about our community.

Our friend Peter LaBarbera had field day with the case, even devoting a special web page to the sordid affair, complete with a picture of Dirkhising.

Please bear in mind that since Dirkhising's death, there have been several high profile cases of murdered children, including that of Samantha Runnion and Dantrell Davis; the latter one happening when Davis was caught in gunfire while walking to school.

Strangely enough, the anti-gay industry did not talk about these stories.

Probably because the perpetrators weren't gay.

Nor is it known whether or not they have pushed for laws that would protect children from predators, whether these predators are gay or heterosexual.

And I definitely know that none of them have vocal on gang violence, except for that recent ridiculous moral panic on "lesbian gangs."

But just as he hysterically pushed the Jesse Dirkhising case as an example of the "gay menace" towards children, LaBarbera is claiming that Mary Stachowicz murder proves that lgbts should not be added to hate crimes legislation.

Never mind that the case had nothing to do with hate crimes, but of a young mentally ill young man who took his aggression out on an innocent women.

But who cares about the facts when you have something you can exploit.

And what else can you expect from a man who has a page on his web site devoted to the "Victims of Homosexuals Murderers."

Don't forget to ask for donations, Peter.

It's sad when someone's life is taken away due to violence.

It's even worse when someone uses those crimes to attack people not even involved.

And it's equally sad that lgbts are not judged by our contributions to society but by the criminal behavior of a few who share our orientation.

Hateful Arizona pastor calls for execution of gays, President Obama, Barney Frank

This is Pastor Stephen Anderson from Arizona's Faithful Word Baptist Church. He doesn't particularly like gays and lesbians.

This sermon exposes the queers for what they really are. All examples of the queers in the Bible they are raping people. In Sodom & Gomorrah they wanted to rape the angels, right off the Ark Noah was raped by his queer son, etc... The truth is God hates the queers & the Bible makes it clear they are reprobates who have lost their chance to be saved.

Leviticus 20:13 "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."
The truth is our government should follow the Bible & enforce the death penalty for the queers & this world would be a much better place.

Now on this blog, I rarely talk about extreme nuts (such as Fred Phelps) who go about calling us names and such.

Usually, the point of this blog is to examine the intricate and covert ways religious right groups demonize the lgbt community.

But every now and then, I run across something that is so disturbing that I simply must post about it so as to make more people aware.

This man astounds me to the point of nausea.

And people wonder why lgbts sometimes seem to be too pushy or strident in pursuit of our rights. It's not just our rights that we are concerned about; it's our safety.

It really doesn't matter if he is speaking to an empty church or a full church. It doesn't matter if he is speaking to five people or five hundred people. What the hell is wrong with America when any nut can masquerade as a pastor?

This is the real "Gathering Storm," Maggie Gallagher.

And it's definitely food for thought the next time members of the religious right whine about "the gay agenda."

And just so you know, Anderson also called for the execution of President Obama and Congressman Barney Frank.

What he says about Barney Frank:

"The sodomites are recruiters and you know who they are after? Your children. They are being recruited by the sodomites. They are being molested by the sodomites. They recruit through rape, they recruit through molestation, they recruit through violation"

"Our country is run by faggots. You know who was the man who was the architect of the bailout? His name is Barney Frank, he is a pedophile..."

"That's who just sold our country into fascism. That's who just sold our corporations to the government. That's who sold out our country, a faggot!"

What he says about President Obama because his stance on reproductive freedom:

"God Hates Barack Obama, I hate Barack Obama. I hate Him. God wants me to Hate Barack Obama." "Someone who commits murder should get the death penalty."

The standard for being a Christian in America seems to be low these days.

A BIG hat tip to Pam Spaulding and Jeremy from Goodasyou.org for their covering this awful man and his nonsense and for supplying me with information.

Log onto their sites if you want more information about him. Have your barf bag in hand.

Know your lgbt history - Blazing Saddles

I've tried and tried to get angry but I simply can't get offended by Blazing Saddles.

It's the most offensive, most politically incorrect, and the funniest movie I have ever seen. So that makes it a favorite of mine.

Blazing Saddles, directed by legendary comedian Mel Brooks, is a takeoff of Western movies. In a nutshell, it tells the story of a town, Rockridge, and its African-American sheriff (Cleavon Little) who has to fight the forces of corruption looking to evict town residents so that a railroad can be built.

And through telling the story of the struggle between the two parties, Mel Brooks manages to make fun of racism, black people, white people, homophobia, gays, rape, foreigners, Hitler, movie musicals, violence, interracial relationships, women, etc. etc.

There are so many anecdotes connected with this movie, but for the purpose of this blog, let's focus on the huge scene at the end where the climactic battle between the forces of corruption and the townspeople crash a studio lot where a movie musical is being filmed.

Don't ask. Just watch. And I repeat, try as I might, I simply cannot get offended by this because it's too hilarious. Please don't hold it against me:



Past Know Your LGBT History postings:

Know your lgbt history - Sanford and Son

Know your lgbt history - In Living Color

Know your lgbt history - Cleopatra Jones and her lesbian drug lords

Know your lgbt history - Norman, Is That You?

Know your lgbt history - The 'Exotic' Adrian Street

Know your lgbt history - The Choirboys

Know your lgbt history - Eddie Murphy

Know your lgbt history - The Killing of Sister George

Know your lgbt history - Hanna-Barbera cartoons pushes the 'gay agenda'

Know your lgbt history - Cruising

Know your lgbt history - Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones

Know your lgbt history - I Got Da Hook Up

Know your lgbt history - Fright Night

Know your lgbt history - Flowers of Evil

The Jeffersons and the transgender community

Protecting our lgbt children, my little piece about President Obama's approval numbers, and other Friday midday news briefs

LGBTs are being bullied. 'Pro-family' denialists are aiding and abetting - Our lgbt children need to be protected. Period.

Tobias Wolff (and Lou Dobbs!) slay NOM's Gallagher on DOMA - Twilight Zone time. Lou Dobbs helps the lgbt community. Calling Rod Serling!

Arizona pastor's sermons call for execution of gays, Barney Frank and the President -We've got too many stupid people in the pulpits.

Fox Nation Thread About McDonald’s Black Website Generates More Racism And Ignorance - How dare McDonalds reveals the fact that black people contributed to the greatness of America!

Faith In Obama Drops As Reform Fears Rise - I'm sorry for this not being lgbt-related per se but I felt the need to put this in here so that I can comment on it's stupidity.

Obama has had a very rough August; the Republicans with their disinformation blew him away on health care reform and it seems that he was taking a wishy-washy approach, but I must remind people that HIS FIRST YEAR AS PRESIDENT ISN'T EVEN UP YET AND ALREADY YOU DUMB ASSES ARE SOUNDING THE SHOFARS (it's a Jewish term, look it up). FOR GOODNESS SAKE, GIVE THE MAN SOME SLACK.

Do you think progress is ever going to be easy? If it were, everyone would be doing it. Sometimes I think the biggest problem of progressives is our need to second guess everything at the first sign of trouble. If you aren't happy with Obama, put a fire under his butt. But for God's sake, sit on your butt just making smarmy comments and grousing about how he is "hurting our causes."

Religious right tries to smear the American Psychological Association

Not happy with the American Psychological Association (APA) coming out against reparative (ex-gay) therapy, some religious right members are now accusing the organization of bias and "approving of pedophilia."

Religious right online publication Lifesite News has come out with a piece, The Psychological Profession and Homosexuality: Lunatics Running the Asylum?, which I guess is supposed to "nail" the APA.

Well I'm sure it does to those not informed enough to look at some of the charges. Those who are informed enough can see several errors with Lifesite News' wannabe smear piece.

Let's see if I can break this down. The piece says the following:

The APA's latest report, done by a task force composed of psychologists with long records of homosexualist activism, also claims as "scientific facts" that "same-sex sexual attractions, behavior, and orientations per se are normal and positive variants of human sexuality-in other words, they are not indicators of mental or developmental disorders" and "no empirical studies or peer-reviewed research supports theories attributing same-sex sexual orientation to family dysfunction or trauma."

These unbelievable statements fly in the face of more than a century of scientific, peer-reviewed studies and clinical observation that indicate that much homosexual behavior originates in deficient family relationships and is associated with a wide range of diseases and pathological behaviors.

A century of scientific and peer-reviewed studies? Hardly.

If one would click on the link, it would take him (or her) to one source: What Research Shows: NARTH's Response to the APA Claims on Homosexuality.

NARTH stands for National Association for the Research & Therapy of Homosexuality and the piece in question comes from NARTH's Journal of Human Sexuality.

According to the online publication Box Turtle Bulletin:

The Journal of Human Sexuality is actually a booklet published by NARTH themselves. In fact, it’s structured more like a book than a journal, with only one article whose title matches the title on the front cover. This journal is billed as “volume 1,” and was, according to its acknowledgment, conceived back when Joseph Nicolosi was still president at NARTH. At this rate, I would expect volume 2 to show up sometime in 2011.

This is very similar to another stunt pulled by George A. Rekers in 1996. He too created a one-off journal, also called The Journal of Human Sexuality which seems never to have made it to a second volume. It looks like NARTH decided to recycle Rekers old idea.

And as for this new journal’s “peer reviewed” status? Well, I guess when you have a paper written by an anti-gay activist posing as a therapist, and you send that paper off to other anti-gay activists posing as therapists, all of whom are members of your tight little NARTH club with no possibility of an actual independent review taking place, then maybe I would have to concede that the effort was “peer reviewed.” Unfortunately, that’s not the definition accepted by the scientific community.

This publication is not a dispassionate study of changes in sexual orientation. It is a cannon-blast of anti-gay animus in a long 94-page screed, a veritable anti-gay propaganda omnibus touching on all sorts of unrelated subjects including HIV/AIDS, alcohol and drug abuse, violence, psychiatric disorders, and “promiscuity as the new social norm.” As far as anti-gay propaganda goes, there’s little that’s missing here.

So that's distortion number 1.

Distortion Number 2:

The Lifesite News piece also says:

Studies have shown that homosexuals disproportionately come from families in which sons or daughters lack a healthy relationship with one or both of their parents, or in situations in which the homosexual was the victim of child sex abuse by a same-sex adult.

Homosexual behavior is also statistically associated with a host of diseases, disorders, and pathological behaviors, including venereal and other diseases, promiscuity and unstable relationships, anxiety disorders, depression and suicide, alcoholism and drug abuse, domestic violence, pederasty, and early death.

Notice that the Lifesite report includes links to all of these claims. However, many of these links are to dubious sources:

The "unstable relationships" link connects to an inaccurate Family Research Council piece, Comparing the Lifestyles of Homosexual Couples to Married Couples. I broke down the flaws of that piece, including unfair comparisons between unmarried lgbt couples and married heterosexual couples and a reliance on outdated work, here.

The "pederasty" link connects to a NARTH report on a book published in the late 1970s, The Gay Report.

The Gay Report cannot be considered as indicative of the sexual habits of the lgbt community for a number of reasons that I laid out in this link, including the fact that the authors of The Gay Report were only working with 5,400 responses from questionnaires they sent out regarding lgbt sexual habits.

They even said so themselves:

We agreed at the outset not to pretend that these percentages represented the practices and views of all gay people—they reflected only our respondents.

The "depression and suicide" and "early death" links connect to work by discredited researcher Paul Cameron.

Distortion 3:

Even when the Lifesite News piece does connect to legitimate sources, it leaves out crucial details as to what these sources are actually saying:

Even the homosexual Gay and Lesbian Medical Association admits that homosexuals suffer disproportionate rates of disease and self-destructive behavior.

The link in question, TEN THINGS GAY MEN SHOULD DISCUSS WITH THEIR HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS, also says:

Following are the health issues GLMA’s healthcare providers have identified as most commonly of concern for gay men. While not all of these items apply to everyone, it’s wise to be aware of these issues.

GLMA's piece also places the blame of certain behaviors on society' s homophobia towards lgbts, like in the case of depression and anxiety:

Depression and anxiety appear to affect gay men at a higher rate than in the general population. The likelihood of depression or anxiety may be greater, and the problem may be more severe for those men who remain in the closet or who do not have adequate social supports. Adolescents and young adults may be at particularly high risk of suicide because of these concerns. Culturally sensitive mental health services targeted specifically at gay men may be more effective in the prevention, early detection, and treatment of these conditions.

Distortion 4:

The Lifesite piece also refers to the study by Dr. Robert Spitzer as proof that reparative therapy works:

Dr. Robert Spitzer, who has been been called the "architect" of the American Psychiatric Association's normalization of homosexuality in the 1970s, provoked outrage from the homosexualist establishment when he admitted in 2001 that his own investigations had convinced him that sexual reorientation therapy can work.

His study, published in the peer-reviewed Archives of Mental Health in 2003, found that a majority of his sample of 247 people had developed heterosexual urges or had ceased to be predominantly homosexual after only one year of therapy. None of the subjects said that they had been harmed in the process.

After presenting his paper before the American Psychiatric Association in 2001, Spitzer said: "I'm convinced from people I have interviewed...many of them...have made substantial changes toward becoming heterosexual. I came to this study skeptical. I now claim that these changes can be sustained."

Of course Lifesite omitted the following:

In 2001, psychologist Robert Spitzer published a controversial study that seemed to claim that small number of people can change their orientation from gay to heterosexual.

In 45-minute individual telephone calls with 143 “ex-gays” and 57 “ex-lesbians,” Spitzer asked them 60 questions dealing with their feelings and behavior before and after they allegedly changed their orientations. They also talked about their strategies, feelings and motives for changing. Many of these individuals were referred to Spitzer by “ex-gay” groups.

When Spitzer’s findings were made public, the anti-gay industry lauded him, making sure to mention that he was one of the principle people who led the American Psychiatric Association’s 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

Spitzer himself went on record declaring that he was “appalled” at how his work was being simplified. He also published a column in the May 23, 2001 edition of The Wall Street Journal. He said that “complete change is uncommon.”

In addition, in a 2006 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Spitzer said that he now believes that some of those he interviewed for his study may have been either lying to him or themselves. - Ex-Gays Seek a Say in Schools, Los Angeles Times, May 28, 2006

In addition to all of these distortions, the Lifesite piece also attacks one Dr. Theo Sandfort for research he conduted, calling him a supporter of pedophilia The piece also links Sandfort to the APA by calling attention to the fact that he has been a "fellow" of the organization since 2002.

Now I am not aware of the research that was conducted by Sandfort and I have emailed him on clarification as to what in the world is Lifesite talking about.

I have had correspondence with Dr. Sandfort before regarding religious right distortion of his work.

I find it ironic that the religious right is attacking Dr. Sandfort seeing that in the past, various groups (including PFOX) has distorted his work to claim that homophobia does not play a part in the bad life choices that some gays make.

So all in all, rather than using credible information, Lifesite relies on smears and distorted science to make the case against the APA.

Unfortunately to some people, those smears and distorted science will go a long way.

Related posts:

Another professor cries foul over religious right misrepresentation of research

How religious right groups distort legitimate research to demonize the gay community

Another flawed piece of work courtesy of the Family Research Council

More homophobic lies from the Paul Cameron Poland tour

Videos, blogs key to exposing religious right lies

You've probably already seen this video by Rob Tisinai on how the Traditional Values Coalition manipulates numbers on hate crimes.

If you haven't, take a look because it's an awesome breakdown. If you have, take a look again and jot down some notes.

Not just on what Rob is saying but on what he is doing.

It's the key to what I have been talking about. In exposing the lies of the religious right, we need to break it down on a level that calls attention to how they distort data.

When we appeal to the emotional or religious level, we give them an out. It's easy for the religious right to say "we don't hate you, just your sin."

But very few times (if any at all) have they been confronted with the facts on their reliance on junk science or the manipulation of studies.

And the point is not to convince them that they are wrong. I'm sure many religious right organizations intentionally distort facts and figures.

The point is to bring attention to what they are doing. The point is to put it in the public eye. When I write on my blog, when Rob creates his videos, when the rest of us bloggers and youtubers do our thing to bring attention to the lies of the religious right we aren't doing it for their courtesy or benefit but to put something out there to counter their nonsense.

It's like I have said before: sometimes we think that responding to their lies is beneath us. And this frame of mind has allowed them to go unchallenged as they have built up a wall of lies about the lgbt community.

Now we've got to break down that wall - all of us.

I would love to see more efforts like Rob's video. You can view his entire collection here.

Maine Equality ad rules!!!, Fox News thinks that Barney Frank is a meanie, and other Thursday midday news briefs

Now THIS is a good ad:



Court upholds Boseman adoption - Good news out of North Carolina regarding lgbt adoption rights.

Anti-gay group to fight marriage efforts in D.C. - Where the hell is the National Organization for Marriage getting their funding?

Fox thinks it's "quite rude" to slam anti-Obama Nazi attacks - What Congressman Frank did was NOT rude. Now THIS is rude - FOX NEWS CAN KISS MY !*@% . . . on second thought, never mind. Why should Fox News be rewarded for being such biased nicompoops?

Lutherans adopt more open view on homosexuality - Look out because here comes the whine from One News Now. I want you to pay attention to a particular comment this article received. It may not be on the site later:

"You know who should be the only ones commenting on issues like this?? LUTHERANS. If this isn't your particular flavor of Christianity mind your own business. Try to remember how you feel when someone from outside passes judegement on YOUR particular faith. The world doesn't always bend to your will. Sometimes you have to share real estate with those of many different beliefs and ideaologies. "

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.