SPLC Sued By Hate Group Angry Over Exposing of Its Anti-Gay Agenda

Cover page of Coral Ridge Ministries  endorsed anti-gay magazine

The Southern Poverty Law Center ("SPLC") is perhaps the premier U.S. non-profit organization that monitors the activities of domestic hate groups and other extremists – including the Ku Klux Klan, the neo-Nazi movement, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads, black separatists, anti-government militias, Christian Identity adherents, radical Christian extremists and others.  It currently tracks more than 1,600 extremist groups operating across the country. It also publishes investigative reports, works to train law enforcement officers and share key intelligence, and offer expert analysis to the media and public. Each year since 1990, it has released an annual census of U.S. hate groups.  Its founder, Morris Deas, who I met years ago, helped push for the prosecution of the KKK members who lynched Michael Donald when I lived in Mobile, Alabama.  Among the groups SPLC has certified as hate groups are a number of organizations that parade around as "Christian family values" organizations which disseminate deliberate and often grotesques lies and untruths about the LGBT community (they often also have white supremacist and/or white nationalist tendencies).  Much of their anti-LGBT propaganda is modeled on the Nazi propaganda against the Jews and does little more that change the word "Jew" to "gay."

The positive results of SPLC's work is that increasingly the mainstream news media has stopped giving platforms to leaders of these organizations.  A prime example if Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council who has documented ties to several white supremacy groups and who has pushed vicious lies about LGBT people.  Now, some of these groups are suing SPLC because it has rightly exposed them for what they are.  While they whine that they are being "persecuted for their religious faith" their real complaint is that they have lost influence and even more importantly, they have lost income as donors have come to recognize their deceitful lies.  A piece in Huffington Post by a blogger friend helps to underscore the true viciousness and dishonesty of these organizations and they fact that hate is their main stock in trade.  Here are excerpts:

A ministry currently suing the Southern Poverty Law Center for being designated as an anti-LGBTQ hate group may soon learn the lesson about past actions coming back to bite.

First, a little background:

D. James Kennedy Ministries, based at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, has filed a federal lawsuit in Alabama against the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center for calling the ministry a hate group. The lawsuit was filed Aug. 22 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama in Montgomery. The lawsuit alleges that the SPLC ‘illegally trafficked in false and misleading descriptions of the services offered by DJKM and committed defamation against DJKM arising from the publication and distribution of false information that libels the ministry’s reputation and subjects the ministry to disgrace, ridicule, odium, and contempt in the estimation of the public,’ according to a statement by the ministry. 

The Southern Poverty Law Center has made it clear that anti-LGBTQ hate groups are designated so because they demonize the LGBTQ community in the most lurid, inaccurate terms:

The religious right in America has employed a variety of strategies in its efforts to beat back the increasingly confident LGBT rights movement. One of those has been defamation. Many of its leaders have engaged in the crudest type of name-calling, describing LGBT people as ‘perverts’ with ‘filthy habits’ who seek to snatch the children of straight parents and ‘convert’ them to gay sex. They have disseminated disparaging ‘facts’ about gays that are simply untrue — assertions that are remarkably reminiscent of the way white intellectuals and scientists once wrote about the ‘bestial’ black man and his supposedly threatening sexuality. And that brings up to the late James Kennedy. The D. James Kennedy Ministries has a huge section dedicated to his life and his work.  One thing it doesn’t have is when Kennedy endorsed . . . . [a] 1986 comic book [the cover is at the top of this post] . . . . his endorsement is the first one on the back cover, with his official title as “Senior Minister, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church.”

Kennedy said the following in his endorsement:

Dick Hafer [the comic book’s author] has produced a very accurate portrayal of homosexuality and the problem it poses to our nation and civilization. This unique book deserves an open-minded reading by all Americans, and especially by those who serve in leadership capacities. Kennedy calling this book “unique” is a rather interesting description. If you want, you can go to this link  and this one to see the book in its entirety. But I’m warning you now. It’s not pretty. . . . read the list of endorsers again [see image below]. They include a former Congressional leader and another right-wing organization still present in D.C.

[T]he “research” from this book comes from the discredited researcher whom I have mentioned on so many occasions: Paul Cameron.  SPLC has an extensive file on him and the anti-LGBTQ hate groups who still cite his junk science.

So, basically breaking this down, there are questions which need to be answered by the D. James Kennedy Ministries before it goes about declaring that it is being “persecuted for its religious beliefs” by SPLC. Most specifically, I’m curious to know if the ministry shares the opinion “expressed” by its namesake when he endorsed that awful booklet.  If the ministry doesn’t, then I would recommend that it publicly denounces Kennedy’s past actions. If the ministry doesn’t want to do that, then I guess that answers a lot of questions as to its “hate group” status.

Paul Cameron deliberately falsified his "research" and was thrown out of every professional association to which he had belonged because of his fraudulent studies and utterly false publications.  The organizations that routinely cite his work, many of which have earned their own hate group designations, include Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, American Family Association, Traditional Values Coalition, here in Virginia, The Family Foundation, and, of course, Coral Ridge Ministries.  Perhaps most disturbing is the fact that many of these organizations have tax exempt status since they pretend to be "educational organizations."  In short, every U.S. taxpayer is indirectly subsidizing them. This needs to end.

Discredited Paul Cameron Continues to Depict Gays as Predators

One thing that has continually amazed me is that among the "godly folk" one can be an "expert" or "researcher" even though one has absolutely no credentials to legitimize ones claims.  Worse yet, one can have been thrown out of numerous reputable associations for fraudulent work and the dissemination of out right lies, yet still be heralded as a respected "expert" by Christofascist circles.  A case in point? Paul Cameron who was thrown out of every legitimate association he had belonged to almost 30 years ago and who was found by one federal judge to be pushing fraudulent research.  Right Wing Watch looks at the lies and poison Cameroun continues to peddle, including the claim that gays prey on children.  Here are excerpts:

The “Pray In Jesus Name” program on Tuesday featured the first segment in a multi-part, in-person interview that host Gordon Klingenschmitt conducted with notorious anti-gay “researcher” Paul Cameron of the Family Research Institute and it turned out to be every bit as crazy as one would expect an interview between an anti-gay exorcist and an advocate for executing gays to be.

Klingenschmitt, who is currently the Republican nominee for a seat in the Colorado state legislature, asked Cameron if gay people “use molestation as a recruiting tool,” and Cameron assured him that they most certainly do.

“Homosexuals, from the get-go, as long as we have recorded history, have used the molestation of boys as a way to recruit to homosexuality,” Cameron declared, claiming that his “studies” have found that sixty percent of boys who reported that their first sexual experience was a same-sex experience grow up to be gay.

“So this is a tremendous recruitment tool,” he said. “If a gay can get to your son first, the chances are about 50-50, as near as we can tell, that your son is going to be a practicing homosexual to some degree.”

As I have said before, no on lies like the "godly Christian" crowd.

Feel the Love: Christofascist "Expert" Paul Cameron "Open To" Gay Death Penalty

The true horror and moral filth of the Christofascists continues to reveal itself in things as diverse as the "turn the gays away" bill in Arizona, Uganda's "kill the gays" law, and the constant deliberate lies and untruths disseminated against LGBT individuals.  Aiding and abetting these horrors are the faux experts who generate false and untrue "research" and "studies" to justify calling gays "diseased," "pedophiles," and "treats to children." Few faux experts have a more foul history than Paul Cameron who was thrown out of every legitimate professional association that he had belonged to  almost 30 years ago.  Yet time and time again we see "family values" organizations and "Christian" organizations disseminating his manufactured lies and fraudulent studies and anti-gay smears.  Now, with Uganda's enactment of a horrific anti-gay law that includes prison sentences of up to life imprisonment, Cameron says that he is "open to" death penalties for gays.  The Bilerico Project has details.  Here are excerpts:

Crackpot doctor Paul Cameron -- possibly the only anti-LGBT "researcher" in the United States more thoroughly discredited than Mark Regnerus -- went on the David Pakman Show today to endorse Uganda's new Anti-Homosexuality Law.
Host David Pakman summarizes the interview thusly:

Dr. Paul Cameron of the Family Research Institute said today that he not only favors the Ugandan anti-gay law which indicates prison as a punishment for homosexuality, he added that he consulted with Ugandan officials on the law, and that he would be open to the idea of the death penalty as a punishment for homosexuality. Cameron refused to answer, however, the logistics of how he would carry out and administer death sentences for LGBT individuals.

As I've written previously here at The Bilerico Project, Cameron is a certified wackjob. He was kicked out of both the American Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association for peddling virulently anti-gay junk science; the Southern Poverty Law Center calls him an "infamous anti-gay propagandist" and lists his organization, the Family Research Institute, as a hate group.
Cameron is best known for the thoroughly debunked lie about the supposed "health risks" of homosexuality -- you know, the one about how gay men, on average, live only half as long as their heterosexual counterparts. In a 2012 appearance on a Christian talk radio show, Cameron made the wild-eyed claim that "the long term goal of the homosexual movement is to get every little boy to grab his ankles and every little girl to give it a try." Last year, the Russian government flew him in to spread his anti-LGBT propaganda at a Duma roundtable on "family values."
And now Paul Cameron is "open to the idea" of killing gay people.

Read more at http://www.bilerico.com/2014/02/researcher_paul_cameron_open_to_gay_death_penalty.php#4MZtYECkfV4qIKWL.99

Crackpot doctor Paul Cameron -- possibly the only anti-LGBT "researcher" in the United States more thoroughly discredited than Mark Regnerus -- went on the David Pakman Show today to endorse Uganda's new Anti-Homosexuality Law.

Host David Pakman summarizes the interview thusly:

Dr. Paul Cameron of the Family Research Institute said today that he not only favors the Ugandan anti-gay law which indicates prison as a punishment for homosexuality, he added that he consulted with Ugandan officials on the law, and that he would be open to the idea of the death penalty as a punishment for homosexuality. Cameron refused to answer, however, the logistics of how he would carry out and administer death sentences for LGBT individuals.

As I've written previously here at The Bilerico Project, Cameron is a certified wackjob. He was kicked out of both the American Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association for peddling virulently anti-gay junk science; the Southern Poverty Law Center calls him an "infamous anti-gay propagandist" and lists his organization, the Family Research Institute, as a hate group.

Cameron is best known for the thoroughly debunked lie about the supposed "health risks" of homosexuality -- you know, the one about how gay men, on average, live only half as long as their heterosexual counterparts. In a 2012 appearance on a Christian talk radio show, Cameron made the wild-eyed claim that "the long term goal of the homosexual movement is to get every little boy to grab his ankles and every little girl to give it a try." Last year, the Russian government flew him in to spread his anti-LGBT propaganda at a Duma roundtable on "family values."

And now Paul Cameron is "open to the idea" of killing gay people.

Cameron is nothing short of a monster - as are those who use his lies and untruths to  denigratee gays and deprive us of equality under the civil laws.  In short, these are NOT nice or decent people and the larger public needs to come to the realization that it is not gays who are sick and "inherently disordered," but rather their opponents, especially the "godly folk."

Completely Descredited "Researcher" Paul Cameron Addresses Russian Duma

If one wants to truly understand the lengths American Christofascists are going to in their quest to export anti-gay hate and lies overseas, events in Russia continue to be most educational.  No lie and untruth seems to be too much and shockingly Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church seem only too happy to parade outright liars, charlatans and frauds "experts" to legitimize their anti-gay jihad.  Things have now reached a new low as the Russian Duma - the Russian equivalent to Congress - have welcomed Paul Cameron as a "researcher" on homosexuality.  As long time readers know, Cameron was thrown out of every legitimate association to which he was a member over a quarter of a century ago.  Why?  Because he deliberately falsified research results and deliberately skewed his "research" to reach predetermined results to slander and denigrate gays.  In one court case, a federal judge opined that Cameron was a fraud.  The Bilerico Project looks at Cameron's appearance before the Duma.  Here are highlights:

Want to know how dangerously, rabidly anti-LGBT the climate in Russia is getting? This one report from BuzzFeed encapsulates it in perfect, chilling detail:

Russia's parliament invited an American anti-gay psychologist whose work has been widely discredited to give expert testimony where he suggested that a third of LGBTs support pedophilia, according to a participant in the meeting.

Family Research Institute founder Paul Cameron, who has been censured by the American Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association for distorting statistics in efforts to block LGBT rights, spoke at a Duma roundtable on "family values," according to tweets from lawmaker Alexander Sidyakin.

BuzzFeed translates this tweet as follows: "[Cameron] cited statistics of a survey of homosexualists: 27% engage in sex with children from 15 to 18, 15% with children under 15; 32% think such sex is OK."

Of course, there is absolutely no legitimacy to these "statistics," or any other "facts" cited by this "researcher." Cameron was kicked out of both the American Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association for peddling virulently anti-gay junk science; the Southern Poverty Law Center calls him an "infamous anti-gay propagandist" and lists his organization, the Family Research Institute, as a hate group.

Cameron is best known for the thoroughly debunked canard about the supposed "health risks" of homosexuality -- you know, the one about how gay men, on average, live only half as long as their heterosexual counterparts. It's a lie that's been discredited for years, but it still surfaces in legislative testimony, city council hearings, and public comment forums across the country. Cameron's bogus "research" is also still cited by major anti-LGBT hate groups like the American Family Association, the Concerned Women for America, and until recently, the Family Research Council.

He's also, to put it simply, a crackpot. In an appearance on a Christian talk radio show last year, Cameron made the wild-eyed claim that "the long term goal of the homosexual movement is to get every little boy to grab his ankles and every little girl to give it a try." He also told nationally-syndicated progressive radio host David Pakman that he knows President Obama to be gay, the heinous crimes of Jerry Sandusky were caused by American acceptance of homosexuality, and that over half the children in Afghanistan and Pakistan are molested by their teachers because of the "fair degree of prominence" homosexuality has in those societies.

Seriously. And this is the man Russian parliamentarians are consulting as an "expert" on homosexuality. If that doesn't send chills up your spine, I don't know what will.

Russia wants to be regarded as a world leader and super power.  Allowing charlatans like Cameron appear before the nation's highest legislative body does nothing to further this ambition.  Indeed, it makes Russia and Russians look like laughing stocks.

"Ex-Gay" Batshitery Stephen Bennett Style

Some years back I had a run in with "ex-gay" Stephen Bennett (pictured at left) who like most of the "ex-gay" crowd preys on the parents of gays who are embarrassed to have gay children and as a result will subject their children to "conversion therapy" horrors so that the parents can feel better about themselves.  At the time of my run in with Bennett, he was linking his website to utterly false and discredited work by Paul Cameron.  Naturally, when confronted, Bennett feigned ignorance.  As Joe Jervis notes, Bennett is still selling the same nasty snake oil to parents who lack the spine and moral fiber to place their children a head of religious brainwashing and anti-gay hate.  As Joe notes, like most of the "ex-gay for pay" crowd, Bennett is a former alcoholic and drug dealer - problems that Bennett would blame on his homosexuality.  Here a sampling of the bullshit from Bennett's website: 

Why don't you take the time to pray, gather your thoughts, and write your story about your loved one or situation in a private letter, and personally address it to Stephen Bennett. As a man who once struggled with the homosexual lifestyle for many years, and now has been completely set free through Jesus Christ, Stephen personally reads and responds to every letter he receives. With your letter, please feel free to include a photo of your loved one. Your photo and your letter will remain completely private and confidential here at SBM. SBM will commit to fervently pray. Prayer changes everything!

Candidly, in my opinion, a nasty prostitute has more integrity than Mr. Bennett and those like him who do incalculable harm to LGBT youth who are submitted to fraudulent conversion programs.  As for parents who place their children in such programs, in my view they need to be prosecuted for felony child abuse.

Christian Post Provides Platform for Anti-Gay Charlatan Paul Cameron

There are many anti-gay organizations that work over time to depict LGBT individuals as mentally ill if not outright disease ridden.  Organizations like - some rightly registered as hate groups - Family Research Council, American Family Association, Mission America, and Focus on the Family drip with malice in the vileness of their false and fabricated propaganda.  Organizations like these knowingly  and deliberately use and/or repackage the long discredited and fraudulent "research" of Paul Cameron (pictured at left), a true charlatan in my opinion.  Thus, one would have thought that a arguably legitimate outlet like the Christian Post would avoid giving a false legitimacy to Cameron and his bogus works.  Here's the headline carried by the Christian Post: "Research Group Claims Gays Have Mental, Physical Problems."   Worse yet, here is a sampling of the batshitery contained in the article:
  

The Family Research Institute (FRI), an organization driving research into questions relating to the traditional family unit, has challenged a widely approved and circulated study accepted in many psychological circles that claims to prove that homosexuality is not a mental disorder.

"The main motivation is that if you look across the data sets you see that homosexuals have a host of mental problems, disproportionate physical problems, they don't live as long, and they are disproportionately involved in drug abuse and criminality," Dr. Paul Cameron of FRI, who led the analysis, told The Christian Post on Tuesday. "That would seem to indicate that that is a lifestyle that may reasonably be considered mentally disturbed – [a] disorder. Yet, it isn't."

FRI's investigation concerns a 1957 study of 30 male homosexuals conducted by Dr. Evelyn Hooker that used a number of psychiatry tests to determine whether homosexuality can be considered a mental problem. Hooker's research was claimed to show that it cannot, eventually prompting the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973.

FRI's close research, however, led the organization to believe in a different outcome.  .  .  .  .  "It is surprising that such a wildly defective study, and one that actually proved the exact opposite of what it claimed to have proved has survived so long," he concluded.

What the Christian Post fails to note is that Cameron has been expelled from every legitimate association that he ever belonged to for either unethical conduct or falsifying research.  In fact, in more lawsuit where Cameron was used by anti-gay forces, the court's opinion notes that both Cameron and his testimony was fraudulent.   Timothy Kincaid at Box Turtle Bulletin has a great take down of Cameron and ultimately the Christian Post for providing a total charlatan the cloak of legitimacy.  Here are excerpts:

They should know better. They really should know better.  By this point, everyone in media from Mother Jones to the National Review, from the Catholic Register to the American Atheist Magazine, everyone should know that quoting Dr. Paul Cameron will bring embarrassment and make you the subject of public ridicule.

After Cameron was booted from the Nebraska Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association for distorting the research of others, it should have been obvious. After Bill Bennett stupidly relied on Cameron (and had to publicly apologize), it should have been obvious. After the Lincoln police called his bluff about a “four-year-old boy who has had his genitals almost severed from his body at Gateway [mall] in a restroom with a homosexual act”, it should have been obvious. After making a complete fool of himself in Sacha Baron Cohen’s mockumentary film Brüno, it should have been obvious.

I guess it isn’t obvious. Or not to the Christian Post. They think that Cameron has discovered that gay folks are mentally ill.

A three minute Google of Hooker would illustrate just how distorted that statement is from reality. Another three minute Google of Cameron would illustrate just how dishonest (and perhaps deranged) that Cameron’s claims have been over the years.  They really should know better.

Kincaid is right - everyone should know that Cameron is a liar and fraud.  Yet time and time again, the "godly Christian" folk feign ignorance.  Once I even had Robert Knight and Peter LaBarbera make this type of  ridiculous claim.  I sent them detail information and documentation on Cameron and what did they do?  They went on deliberately lying and disseminating utterly fraudulent anti-gay propaganda.

Scottish Political Leader Challenges Catholic Church on Claims That Gays Die Early

The Roman Catholic Church is engaged in literally a world wide anti-gay jihad which spans the globe from Australia, to America to the Scottish highlands.  Two things mark the Catholic Church's anti-gay agenda: (i) the Church hierarchy will resort to any and all lies and deceptions to further its cause and (ii) constant explosions of new sex abuse scandals litter the path of the hierarchy, especially of late in Australia.  By I digress.  In Scotland where the government plans to move forward with same sex marriage legislation, the Church leadership seems to be often blindly quoting the long discredited works of Paul Cameron.  Patrick Harvie (pictured at left), co-convenor of the Scottish Green Party, seems to have at last lost patience with the Church's incessant lies and has challenged a Church spokesman to back up his Cameron based lies.  While the Church claims that it will respond to the challenge, it truth it cannot - because there is no credible research to back up claims that gays die 12-20 years younger than their straight counterparts.  Here are highlights from The New Civil Rights Movement:

A prominent lawmaker in Scotland is demanding the Catholic Church prove its allegations that gay people die 12-20 years earlier than straight people. Patrick Harvie (image, right), co-convenor of the Scottish Green Party, challenged Peter Kearney, spokesperson for the Catholic Church in Scotland after Kearney’s flagrantly false and offensive comments last week.

“There is a link between same-sex sexual practice and early death,” Kearney said, according to a Pink News report in which Kearney added:

“That’s not something that the Catholic Church believes; there is an overwhelming body of medical evidence to suggest that. One study has shown that the life expectancy of a practising homosexual man will be reduced by something between 12 and 20 years.

Harvie, in an open letter to Kearney, writes:

“Whether this line of argument has any bearing on the same sex marriage debate is unclear; I am sure you were not implying that poor health should be a legal barrier to marriage or civil partnership for anyone, regardless of their sexuality.

“However it is important that those of us in the privileged and powerful position of speaking on these issues in the national media don’t confuse proper scientific evidence with some of the distortions which circulate online or in the wilder imaginations of some campaigners in the very polarised debate in the US.

“I am sure that you will be aware of some of the studies which have been misused in this way. The work of the avowedly anti-gay campaigner Paul Cameron for example, has been thoroughly discredited by the American and Canadian Psychological Associations and by the American Sociological Association.

Pink News, which notes the Catholic Church has promised a response next week, adds:

Jack Drescher, a member of the World Health Organisation’s Working Group on the Classification of Sexual Disorders and Sexual Health told the Scotsman: “There are no reputable scientific studies that show gay men, in general, die earlier than heterosexual men. Unfortunately, there are individuals known to oppose gay civil rights who create their own ‘data’ and reach questionable conclusions about gay men’s lifespans. 

APA Blasts Biased Wingnut Funded Report on Gay Parents

Since its release the far right funded "study" on gay parenting has been increasingly ripped apart for its flawed methodology and bizarrely fabricated "sample" of children of LGBT parents.  Like many of the right wing funded faux studies, it seemed to decide what it wanted to conclude and then cooked the data to support the preordained result.  Box Turtle Bulletin has another good take down on the "report" and the American Psychological Association ("APA") has joined the fray and slammed the study and rejected its conclusions.   First, these highlights from The Advocate on the APA's slamming of the biased report:

A recent study called into question the ability of gay parents to raise well-rounded children, but the report has been widely blasted as biased, manipulative, and agenda-based. Now the American Psychological Association has stepped in to reiterate its belief that gay parents are just as good as straight parents.

"On the basis of a remarkably consistent body of research on lesbian and gay parents and their children, the American Psychological Association and other health, professional, and scientific organizations have concluded that there is no scientific evidence that parenting effectiveness is related to parental sexual orientation," the APA announced on its website earlier this week. "That is, lesbian and gay parents are as likely as heterosexual parents to provide supportive and healthy environments for their children. This body of research has shown that the adjustment, development, and psychological well-being of children are unrelated to parental sexual orientation and that the children of lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those of heterosexual parents to flourish."

The APA was responding to the "New Family Structures Study," which called into question the effectiveness of gay parenting.  .  .  .  .  . for the most part, the paper doesn't even look at same-sex couples raising a child together in a longterm committed relationship."

Many of the study's children considered to be raised in gay households were not being raised by parents in a committed same-sex relationship, whereas many of the children in heterosexual households had two married parents. Children of parents who had at one time in their lives been in a same-sex relationship were considered to be part of a "gay household." 

It comes as no surprise that NOM and the Mormon Church have jumped on the flawed study as support for their demonizing of LGBT individuals and families.   As noted, Box Turtle Bulletin looks at the study's author as he proves unable to refute the blistering attacks.  Here are excerpts:

Children whose “moms had a lesbian relationship” weren’t necessarily “raised in a same-sex household” — the children might have never even met their mother’s lesbian partner, much less have been raised by her. Jim Burroway has done some great work pointing this out, and I’d like to extend it. In fact, I’d like to go so far as to show that Regnerus himself admits that he has, well, nothing.

Regnerus’s team interviewed 15,058 people. Few of them had a gay parent; even fewer lived with their gay parent’s partner for a significant time; and fewer still came from what Regnerus calls a “‘planned’ gay family.”

A couple points:

• Regnerus is fond of talking about “lesbian mothers” and “gay fathers,” but he defines them as adults who have ever had a same-sex romantic relationship, even if it only happened once, even if it only lasted a few days.

• Regnerus has no data on “planned gay families.” He derived those numbers from looking at “respondents who claimed that (1) their biological parents were never married or lived together, and that (2) they never lived with a parental opposite-sex partner or with their biological father.” The numbers are a guess.

Back to those numbers, though. Regnerus obviously can’t draw any conclusions male same-sex parenting based on a sample of less than 1. How about lesbian same-sex parenting? Is his sample of 30-45 respondents enough to significantly describe the broader population?  No. Not unless the total nation-wide population of adults raised by two lesbian parents is about 50 or fewer.

Now here’s why this is so ugly.

• In the study’s introduction, Regnerus frames it as an examination of same-parenting and a corrective to flaws in earlier, positive studies on same-sex parenting.

• But Regnerus’s data on same-sex parenting contains the same sample-size flaws for which he which criticized those other studies.

• So once he leaves his introduction and enters analysis, he abandons all pretense of studying same-sex parenting and focuses instead on parents who have ever had a same-sex romantic relationship, regardless of whether they raised a child with that same-sex partner.

• Nevertheless, he does not correct his introduction in order to frame the issue properly.

• And finally, he grants interviews to conservative outlets, claiming that his study shows the harm of same-sex parenting, even though his own words, in his own study, demonstrate that he knows his sample size is just too damn small to say anything with confidence.

Indeed, Regnerus' work is reminiscent of the biased crap that Paul Cameron has churned out over the years to provide the anti-gay Christofascists with faux expert "studies" to support their unrelenting campaign of anti-gay hate and bigotry.  One has to in fact wonder how a reputable university could allow a faculty member to turn out a report that will result in little but embarrassment and derision.

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.

Minnesota Family Council Demonstrates Why Christianity Is Becoming Synonymous with Hate

The other day I noted how Jim Daly of Focus on the Family seemed to (1) admit that the Christianists had likely "lost the battle for marriage" and (2) advised that FOTF and other extremist groups needed to reevaluate their place in the culture. Apparently, that message hasn't been received by much less embraced by the hate merchants at the Minnesota Family Council - a FOTF affiliate. The Minnesota Family Council not only pushed for the GOP backed same sex marriage ban ballot initiative but it's been pulling out all of the foulest anti-gay lies and untruths as it prepares to try to saturate the Minnesota media. Frankly, it's beyond ugly. And the irony is - at least to me - that it is precisely this type of unmitigated hate that is turning the younger generations off to both Christianity and institutional religion. Jeremy Hooper at Good As You has details of the lie and untruth filled propaganda of the Minnesota Family Council which seems to be striving for a registered hate group designation. Here are some highlights:
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[W]e thought we'd take a second and show you what the MFC's agenda is really all about. Because surprise, surprise: We've once again found an overarching war that goes WAAAAAAAAAAAAY beyond just gay people's ring fingers.
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Let's begin.
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We'll start with three documents that MFC has posted to its website and legislative handbook under the "Homosexuality" section. In these documents, MFC staffers come right out and admit that they see us as abnormal and disordered:
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Then there's this section where they liken our lives and loves to "shocking" practices like bestiality . . . . . even more bestiality comparisons, but this time with incest and pedophilia and adultery thrown in for fun.
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But of course all of this cockamamie had to come from some sort of skewed, agenda-laden source. With MFC it comes from the top dog, most discredited source of them all: The resoundingly condemned Paul Cameron's Family Research Institute.
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Plus you can couple all of the above nonsense with the blatant "ex-gay" advocacy that MFC proudly hosts on its "Homosexuality Resources" page.. . . . This is not some fringe group devoid of press or a following. This is MInnesota's big time "family group," who just last week hosted both Newt Gingrich and Congresswoman Bachmann at a fancy shmancy fundraising dinner. This is LSO Minnesota's most prominent voice of "marriage protection" -- a voice that will take on new prominence now that the GOP-controlled state legislature has passed a marriage discrimination bill. This is the team that is working right there, side by side with NOM and the Catholic Church to put discrimination into the state constitution.

The Christian Right Continues to Disseminate Paul Cameron's Discredited Lies

It will soon be thirty (30) years since the American Psychological Association revoked Paul Cameron's membership because of his ethical violations (Cameron is pictured at right). Later, in 1986, the American Sociological Association passed a resolution condemning his "research" work - because it was fraudulent and falsified. And those in the leadership of Christian Right/anti-gay hate groups cannot help but be well aware of the thoroughly discredited nature of Cameron's anti-gay propaganda. Yet they continue to quote from it and disseminate it to the ignorant and uninformed in an obvious effort to breed hatred and contempt towards LGBT individuals. It's amazing how those in the Christian Right and individuals like Maggie Gallagher believes that they somehow have a special dispensation from abiding by the Commandment against lying and bearing false witness. Brady's Notes & Scribbles has a piece on Cameron's extremely vile "Medical Consequences of What Homosexuals Do" which is still in wide circulation. In the instance that prompted the reference post, the brochure was being disseminated at an information counter at a local Christian school in Reno, Nevada and is likely made available in many other venues. Here are some highlights on this toxic piece of propaganda:
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I never expected to find out that “Medical Consequences of What Homosexuals Do” is not only still in print, but widely, and I do mean widely used and quoted. . . . His “research” and “facts” are still being told over and over and used as proof by other “Christian family” groups and churches . . .
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A further simple google search for only 2010 lead me to a vast number of sites and organizations that post, quote, link and publish in full Mr. Cameron’s work and deem it as scholarly and scientific. These groups include: pro-family groups in multitudes of countries, ProLifeBlog, The Road to Emmaus, countless churches in many denominations in the US and worldwide, Aryan Nation/White Supremacist groups, people running for political offices in the US, Life & Liberty Ministries, BibleBelievers.com, and American Family Association, The Family Research Council, the Illinois Family Association, Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, Concerned Women for America and Coral Ridge Ministries.
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[I]t is extremely important to bust these myths wide open. Here at home, in places like Uganda and in places where Mr. Cameron has and is spreading his poison. As you read it, remember, this is being presented as scientific fact today.
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The tract is broken down into sections:
•Oral sex and the “fact” that almost all homosexuals “verge on consuming raw human blood”. Delightful, Paul.
•Rectal sex with carrots, bottles and even gerbils. Yup, gerbils. I even heard Mr. Cameron say it in a talk in a 2010 video.
•Fecal sex. Hey, did you know that 80% of gays “admit” to ingesting “medically significant accounts
•The medical consequences of homosexual sex and the effects on lifespan. Did you know less than 2% of gay men make it to “old age”? And they are 116 times more likely to be murdered and 18 times more likely to die in car accidents. Could I possibly make this stuff up?
•The “gay legacy” of AIDS will destroy most gay people.
•The “biological swap meet” of saliva, urine, feces, blood across country borders will be exported by this “drunken and high” uber-traveling population.
•Watch out for “the pattern of infection” of not only HIV/AIDS, but scarlet fever too (which, by the way, is not a sexually transmitted disease.)
•“Genuine compassion” must be shown to this group of people who are “troubled people engaging in dangerous activities”.
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This is dangerous stuff. This divides families and churches, this alienates people, this kills others, this poisons the minds of those that think they are “protecting the family”. This is utter deception and demonization and completely non-Christian.
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Un-Christian is an understatement. Cameron and those who peddle his trash as "science" are despicable hate merchants. They make a very strong argument for walking away from Christianity if they now embody what it represents. I'm 100% with Anne Rice on that point.

Christian Dominionist Wants Government Regulation of Gay Sex

A rash of gay teen suicides and what do the Christianists do? They go into overdrive with gay bashing and disseminating the tired lies that set the stage for the suicides in the first place. The latest gay bashing bigot to exhibit diarrhea of the mouth is Christian Dominionist David Barton of Wallbuilders. For the record, Christian Dominionist want to overthrow the U.S. Constitution and in its place institute a Bible based theocracy. That's right, they basically want to commit treason and overthrow the government. In putting forth his batshitery, Barton - in addition to a selective reading of the Bible - recites the same discredited and fraudulent anti-gay propaganda put out by Paul Cameron. The same Paul Cameron who was thrown out of every legitimate medical and mental health related association he belonged to over 25 years ago. Barton proves yet again that when a far right Christian's lips are moving , the odds are that he/she is lying. Right Wing Watch has details. Here are some highlights:
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Barton: We have a Department of Health and Human Services; we have health care bills; we have health insurance and we’re trying to stop all unhealthy things . . . to tell you how to live a healthy lifestyle. So if I got to the Centers for Disease Control and I’m concerned about health, I find some interesting stats there and this should tell me something about health.
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Homosexual/bi-sexual individuals are seven times more likely to contemplate or commit suicide. Oooh, that doesn’t sound very healthy.
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Homosexuals die decades earlier than heterosexuals. That doesn’t sound healthy.
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Nearly one-half of practicing homosexuals admit to five hundred or more sex partners and nearly one-third admit to a thousand or more sex partners in a lifetime.
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I mean, you go through all this stuff, sounds to me like that’s not very healthy. Why don’t we regulate homosexuality?
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there was a study done back in the 1920s and it looked at eighty-some odd nations and those rejected sexual regulation like with homosexuality, none of them lasted past the third generation from the time that they embraced it. So how ever many it looked at …
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As more and more studies are confirming, the higher gay suicide rate tracks to the vile lies and persecution that gays face due to people like Barton. This diatribe is yet another example of the persecutor blaming the victim. Barton and those like him are a clear and present danger to both civil law under the Constitution and the freedom of religion that the Constitution promises to others.