Leave a Comment Sagesse
Flawed Study on Gay Dads
June 19, 2012
By Matt Baume
A new study tries to show that the kids of gay and lesbian parents are worse off than the kids of straight parents. We’ll take a look at all of the problems with that study, and there’s a lot of them. Montana Democrats endorse marriage equality, while Montana Republicans call for throwing gay couples in jail. But now a major GOP donor is throwing his support — and his money — to a drive to elect more LGBT-friendly Republicans.
Following President Obama’s lead, there’s growing consensus within the Democratic party for supporting marriage equality. This week party leaders in two conservative states — Texas and Montana — confirmed their support for marriage. Texas Democrats will send a record number of LGBT delegates to the convention in September.
There’s growing Republican support for the freedom to marry as well. Paul Singer is a prominent Republican donor and a major supporter marriage equality projects like AFER’s Prop 8 case. He’s announced a new political action committee to elect GOP candidates who support marriage equality. Singer has pledged one million dollars to start what he’s calling the “American Unity PAC.”
But not every Republican has taken notice of the 13 national polls that show a majority of Americans support marriage equality. This week ten Republican Senators and two former attorneys general filed briefs in support of DOMA, the federal ban on marriage recognition. And in Montana, where the Democratic delegates recently endorsed marriage equality, the Republican party platform still calls for imprisoning gays and lesbians.
The 2012 legislative session has ended in Rhode Island, with no vote on bills to legalize marriage. Rhode Island currently has civil unions, but very few couples have expressed an interest in the severely watered-down protections that civil unions offer. Meanwhile, across the country, officials in Washington have confirmed that the state’s marriage equality bill will be on the ballot this November.
A new study out last week purports to show that the children of LGBT parents suffer when compared to the kids of straight parents. But the study is so riddled with problems that it actually doesn’t show anything of the sort. The study was funded by two major anti-gay organizations: The Witherspoon Institute and The Bradley Foundation. It also doesn’t really compare stable gay parents to stable straight parents. Instead, it lumps all kinds of unstable relationships into the “gay parent” category. They only examined parenting that occurred decades ago, before parents could even hope to be married. And the study didn’t consider the length of relationships. That’s a big deal, because when you look at the data, you see that only 2 percent of respondents reported having lived with a gay father for longer than 3 years.
The editor of the journal that published the study says that the raw data may be released this fall. At that point, independent researchers will be able examine the findings more closely. In the mean time, a wide range of organizations have issued statements in support of LGBT parenting. That includes the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, Child Welfare League of America, American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, The American Psychiatric Association, North American Council on Adoptable Children, Canadian Psychological Association, and the Australian Psychological Society, among others.
And finally, an anniversary. Forty-five years ago last week, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Loving versus Virginia, overturning state laws that prohibited interracial marriage. Years later, Mildred Loving herself stated, “I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving [the case], and loving [each other], are all about.”
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12 Comments Leave a Comment
1.
Seth from Maryland | June 19, 2012 at 10:09 am
Montana Republican Party Drops Call to Criminalize Homosexuality:
The GOP had held the position seeking to criminalize homosexuality since a 1997 Montana Supreme Court case striking down similar state laws. The party had been criticized in recent years for continuing its request to criminalize homosexuality.
But party executive director Bowen Greenwood says the decision to drop the language came as part of a larger effort to simply shorten a 31-page platform. He says there was no specific discussion on the matter.
The Party retained at item making it clear it supports only marriage between a man and a woman. Montana Democrats added marriage equality to their plank this year.
Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2012/06/montana-republic…
2.
Sagesse | June 19, 2012 at 10:22 am
@
3.
EricKoszyk | June 19, 2012 at 10:47 am
PPP Poll WA State Ref 74
Approve 51%
Reject 42%
Un 07%
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/06/m…
The percent of Washingtonians who support marriage equality keeps climbing. Measure 74 is definitely winnable, with a lot of money and hard work.
4.
Steve | June 19, 2012 at 11:36 am
The problems with the "study" isn't just with the interpretation. The data itself is next to useless. It's a truly randomized sample, which is a rare thing in a sociology study. But it goes downhill with the questions asked. The main criteria is "Has one of your parents had a same-sex relationship since you were born". That's it. There isn't any more information on the details or circumstances of that relationship. So the value of the raw data is questionable as well.
5.
Seth from Maryland | June 19, 2012 at 11:52 am
fundraising in Minnesota:June 19, 2012 – St. Paul, MN – In the midst of announcing a major summer launch at the Twin Cities Pride Festival, Minnesotans United for All Families announced today that it has raised $4.6 million from more than 19,000 individual donors since the beginning of the campaign. Since the last reporting deadline in January, the campaign has taken in an estimated $3.1 million from more than 16,000 individual donors, with more than 90 percent from within Minnesota.
6.
Carpool Cookie | June 19, 2012 at 12:29 pm
It's so sad that people (professionals, yet!) make the choice to spend their lives manufacturing this deceitful, hateful cr@p. I was reading one person's prediction that Marriage Equality will win out among Americans, because it's on the (sentimental) side of Love. And that's what most people like to associate with.
Why people would want to associate with Hate is a much murkier motivation to untangle.
Gross.
7.
RightthingtodoTX | June 19, 2012 at 1:54 pm
Thanks to you Steve, I will now use quotes around the word study whenever referencing this thing.
8.
Reformed | June 19, 2012 at 2:48 pm
Who is behind this study?
9.
Reformed | June 19, 2012 at 2:49 pm
That is to say, who got what they paid for?
10.
Steve | June 20, 2012 at 7:05 am
Two right-wing think tanks. The Bradley Foundation and the Witherspoon Institute. The co-founder of NOM sits on both of their boards. He also sits on the editorial advisory board of the Mormon propaganda paper Deseret News, which first gleefully reported the "study".
11.
Colleen | June 25, 2012 at 5:10 am
My question is, who published it? Was it in a peer- reviewed journal?
12.
Steve | June 25, 2012 at 6:25 am
Check out BoxTurtleBulletin. It has all the behind the scenes stuff dissected in great detail. The journal doesn't appear to be that well known. And it's editor is another right-wing theocrat who has written books and articles with other anti-gay activists. Also, the peer-review process appears to have been unusually swift, even compared to other articles there. The whole thing was rushed.
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