National Organization for Marriage Is Now Pushing Paul Cameron's Discredited "Research"

If there were not already enough reasons to despise the National Organization for Marriage ("NOM"), now, in its rapid morphing into a full fledged anti-gay hate group, the organization is pushing the long discredited "research" of Paul Cameron. For those not in the know, Cameron was thrown out of every legitimate mental health and counseling association to which he belonged almost 30 years ago because he had falsified studies, distorted the work of others, and published outright lies. In one federal court case in which Cameron was a witness, the court in its opinion specifically called Cameron's testimony fraudulent. Yet Cameron is NOM's new "expert" of choice as it expands from "protecting marriage" to outright slandering and denigrating LGBT individuals. As noted before, I hope we soon find out who is backing NOM financially so that these new lies can be tied around the necks of these merchants of hate. Alvin McEwen has a good piece that looks at NOM's new low. Once again, the dishonesty of the "godly Christian" set is breath taking. Here are highlights:

You all knew that this would happen sooner or later. From Equality Matters:

Earlier today, Equality Matters reported that the National Organization for Marriage’s (NOM) Ruth Institute was endorsing a book that claimed, among other things, that gay parents are more likely to molest their own children than heterosexual parents.

Now, NOM appears to be doubling down on that claim – and this time on its main blog. In a December 8 blog post, NOM promoted an essay posted on the “Bad Catholic” blog titled “Two Lesbians Raised a Baby and This Is What They Got...” The essay – written by blogger Marc Barnes – is a response to a video of an Iowa man speaking eloquently in defense of his two moms, which recently went viral. Referring to the video as “false advertising,” Barnes attempts to lay out the case for why gays and lesbians aren’t fit to raise children:

Gay couples are less likely to stay together
Gay couples don’t want to get married
Gay relationships are more likely to be violent/abusive

Near the end of his essay, Barnes makes an argument which is apparently becoming NOM-dogma – gay parents molest their children at higher rates than heterosexual parents:

Similarly, the children of homosexual parents are much more likely to be sexually abused. The journal Adolescence reports that a “disproportionate percentage—29 percent—of the adult children of homosexual parents had been specifically subjected to sexual molestation by that homosexual parent, compared to only 0.6 percent of adult children of heterosexual parents having reported sexual relations with their parent…. Having a homosexual parent(s) appears to increase the risk of incest with a parent by a factor of about 50″ (P. Cameron and K. Cameron, “Homosexual Parents,” Adolescence 31 (1996): 772.).

That's right. Barnes - and NOM, since it is featuring Barnes' piece - is now pushing the work of the discredited Paul "gay stuff gerbils up their rectums" Cameron.

For those who are not in the know (and those who are regular readers of this blog really should be in the know), he is the man who, in the 1980s, came up with the idea of aggressively using science to prove that homosexuality is a "dangerous lifestyle." The problem is to do this, Cameron attained a reputation for either distorting legitimate science or distorting his own work to gain the conclusions he wanted from his "studies." He has also been discredited and censured by many group and individuals on the left, the right, and in the middle due to his bad research techniques.

[T]he Southern Poverty Law declared Cameron's group, the Family Research Institute, to be an anti-gay hate group. Cameron has been rebuked by many legitimate sources:

“(Cameron) misrepresents my findings and distorts them to advance his homophobic views. I make a very clear distinction in my writing between pedophilia and homosexuality, noting that adult males who sexually victimize young boys are either pedophilic or heterosexual, and that in my research I have not found homosexual men turning away from adult partners to children . . . I consider this totally unprofessional behavior on the part of Dr. Cameron and I want to bring this to your attention. He disgraces his profession.” - Dr. A. Nicholas Groth in 1984 after discovering that Cameron distorted his work.

"Paul Cameron (Nebraska) was dropped from membership for a violation of the Preamble to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists - American Psychological Association, 1983

The science and profession of psychology in Nebraska as represented by the Nebraska Psychological Association, formally dissociates itself from the representations and interpretations of scientific literature offered by Dr. Paul Cameron in his writings and public statements on sexuality. Further, the Nebraska Psychological Association would like it known that Dr. Cameron is not a member of the Association. Dr. Cameron was recently dropped from membership in the American Psychological Association for a violation of the Preamble to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists - Nebraska Psychological Association, 1984

Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism" - American Sociological Association, 1985

The Canadian Psychological Association takes the position that Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism and thus, it formally disassociates itself from the representation and interpretations of scientific literature in his writings and public statements on sexuality. - Canadian Psychological Association, 1996

NOM's decision to push Cameron's work - through nasty proxy - is significant because it proves something the lgbtq community and our allies have always known. NOM has never been interested in protect marriage. NOM's only goal is to demonize gays. The next time Maggie Gallagher whines about how her organization is being unfairly called "bigoted," just remind her of this little incident.

By pushing Cameron's long discredited work, Maggie Gallagher and her cohorts at NOM truly make tawdry prostitutes look virtuous in comparison. At least the prostitutes are honest.