An email I just sent to seven academics:
Hello,
I would like to bring to your attention the use of your published research by a militant Christian attorney in a piece opposing same-sex marriage in California, on the grounds that gay parenting is “harmful” to children:
Given that research by other scholars has been misused by similar “Christian” opponents of gay rights in the past, most notably James Dobson of Focus on the Family, I thought you should be made aware of this use, and likely misuse, of your research.
(For co-authored pieces, please forward to your colleagues as appropriate.)
Thank you for your time.
–KipEsquire, A Stitch in Haste
I of course didn’t forward it to the “scholars” of the Family Research Institute, who were unsurprisingly cited multiple times.
If I get any responses, I’ll pass them on.
5 responses so far ↓
Link Windypundit // Jul 30, 2008 at 10:21 am
Great idea. I'm looking forward to seeing what answers you get.
Link KipEsquire // Jul 30, 2008 at 10:38 am
It was interesting to learn just how hard it can be to find the email address of an academic based only on a article citation. I would have thought that professors would want to be found by people who want to follow up with them.
Link Rick Moore // Jul 30, 2008 at 10:55 am
Kip — I'm with Rockway Institute in San Francisco. Our mission is to counter the misuse of research by right-wing groups and thus to help advance the LGBT movement. I would love to see the seven researchers names and, if you have it, citations for the articles, as well as citations for the right-wing publications that misused the research. Possible to share? (I'm moderating a presentation to the National Gay & Lesbian Journalists Association Aug. 22 in Washington, D.C. on that very topic. It would be helpful to have some recent examples. We know of many of them, but I hope you may have some new ones.)
Link KipEsquire // Jul 30, 2008 at 11:44 am
RM, just follow the original link, the citations are in endnotes at the bottom.
Mostly it's the same old thing: falsely extrapolating "two parent heterosexual households are better than one-parent heterosexual households" into claiming that "two-parent heterosexual are best and therfore better than homosexual households." With some bogus "gays are more likely to contract syphilis" claims thrown in for flavor.
Link Anti-Gay Bigots Hijack an Entire Law Review // Jul 31, 2008 at 6:14 pm
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