Why is John Boehner Using Distorted Research to Defend DOMA?

That's the question raised by Alvin McKwen at Holly Bullies and Headless Monsters. The answer, of course is simple: all the credible research supports LGBT equality and parenting, so the Christian Right and now Paul Clement, Boehner's hired gun in the DOMA litigation, falsify and misquote legitimate research to deceive the court(s) and the public at large. As I've noted before, by filing briefs and materials that have been deliberately distorted or outright falsified, Clement is committing a fraud on the court and ought to be subject to sanctions by the court and disciplined by the state bar to which Clement is a member. Sadly, this incessant falsification of research is the norm, not the exception for the far right and the GOP. Here are highlights from what Alvin reports on this deliberate attempt to deceive the court:

In what amounts to a legal bombshell, Diamond maintains that Boehner's crack legal team misconstrued and distorted her writings. She stated, "They have completely misrepresented my research." From the Reply Memo filed today:

Professor Lisa Diamond, the author of two of the academic articles Plaintiff seeks to strike, has submitted an affidavit testifying that BLAG has in fact distorted her research and that she never would have agreed to testify to the propositions BLAG has advanced in its papers. It is hard to imagine a more concrete example of why the materials submitted by BLAG are not reliable. Had BLAG followed the rules and used as expert witnesses any of the authors it cites (as contemplated by the May 11 Scheduling Order), and had Plaintiff’s counsel then had the opportunity to depose them, Plaintiff would have been able to obtain similarly damaging testimony from them as well. How can anything else Clement wrote in his brief be trusted? He's trying to play by his own rules. But, even the "esteemed" Paul Clement can't just make things up,

Here is the interesting part about Diamond. She is a member of my list of 11 physicians and researchers who have complained about how the religious right and their allies distort their work.

If you go to the Americablog Gay page to read Diamond's affadavit, you will find Boehner's team distorted her study the same way in which NARTH did, i.e. making the case that sexual orientation can change.

Which leads me to ask a simple question - just who is Boehner and Clement working with to preserve DOMA? I sincerely hope that they aren't working with NARTH.

The most recent controversy involving NARTH occurred last year when a prominent board member, George Rekers, was caught coming from a European vacation with a "rentboy." This controversy led caused him to resign from the board.

While I am certainly not accusing Boehner or Clement of utilizing the services of this group, it seems odd that their team distorts a professor's work the same way NARTH did. There needs to be some questions answered here as to how our Speaker of the House is spending taxpayer money. Is he wasting it on a discredited anti-gay organization?

As I have said before, when a professional Christian or Christianist's lips are moving, it's a safe bet that they're lying. Now it seems the same holds true for Paul Clement and Boehner when it comes to filing fraudulent legal pleadings.