Researchers slam Dobson for 'distorting' their work

[ck4829]

Gay rights advocacy groups hosted a teleconference with social scientists this week to denounce what they call a “disinformation campaign” by the religious right.

Jeff Lutes, executive director of Soulforce, a gay religious group, and Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, which seeks to counter the “ex-gay” movement, hosted the panel. Lutes said the most recent example of research distortion by religious conservatives came in the form of a Time magazine guest column by James Dobson, founder of anti-gay evangelical group Focus on the Family. The column, in which Dobson commented on Mary Cheney’s pregnancy, was published in December.

“Those who oppose civil equality for gays and lesbians are actively distorting, cherry-picking and misrepresenting the social science research in their attempts to justify discrimination,” Lutes said. “The problem is the general public reads articles like Dobson’s and believes mistakenly that the research supports discrimination against same-gender parents and their children.”

Besen said groups like Focus on the Family start with a conclusion and manipulate the research to make it fit their beliefs.

http://www.washblade.com/2007/3-2/news/national/10104.cfm

[tanyev]

1. Not surprising, really, coming from a man who has no problem with

distorting, cherry-picking and misrepresenting the Bible, a book he supposedly holds sacred.