NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, today jumped all over an anti-gay “research” paper and posted a thoroughly false graphic purportedly taken from a Washington Times article on the paper. The graphic — which does not as of this writing appear in the misrepresenting Washington Times article — absolutely misconstrues both the facts and conclusions of the flawed research paper, which was authored by Mark Regnerus, an associate professor in Texas who constantly writes about sex and marriage, and was privately-funded by conservative think tanks.
The graphic, above, titled, “Two Moms vs. Mom And Dad,” is false. It claims:
“A study released Sunday finds that adult children (ages 18-39) of lesbian mothers are more likely to report negative outcomes in several categories than adult children raised by married mother-father parents.”
Absolutely false.
The paper, titled, “How Different are the Adult Children of Parents Who Have Same-Sex Relationships?,” does falsely suggest children of gay parents are not as emotionally and physically healthy or successful as their peers raised in intact biological (read: heterosexual) families. Decades of research proves purported “findings” taken from the Regnerus paper to be untrue.
READ: NOM Founder And Mormon Church Tied To First Report Of New Anti-Gay Parenting Paper
And to anyone who actually reads the paper, what it actually does is compare biological adult children of opposite-sex married couples to adult children who stet that at any point in their growing up, before the age of 18, either of their parents had some sort of same-sex relationship.
The paper does not compare adult children adopted at birth and raised by same-sex couples, rather the paper actually examines the effects of a disrupted household on children.
NOM, by suggesting this graphic is from the Washington Times article, is falsely suggesting the allegations in the graphic are true. They are not.
This is yet another of NOM’s lies, which are becoming more prevalent as they lose the war on same-sex families.
“Only two of the 175 subjects who reported having a mother in a lesbian relationship spent their whole childhood with the couple, and no children studied spent their entire childhood with two gay males,” a conservative author who writes at the National Review, where NOM co-founder Maggie Gallagher pens a regular column, states, after reviewing the Regnerus paper.
NRO’s Charles C. W. Cooke writes that “most of the children studied spent only a few years with their same-sex parents, which makes it likely that their family arrangement changed more than once and, thus, that their childhood was unstable.”
Moreover, given that the study is a snapshot of a time period that predated legalization of gay marriage (in some states), one might speculate that social stigma played a role in Regnerus’s data, and that such stigma will have a smaller effect in future surveys. Indeed, one should concede that people could legitimately employ Regnerus’s study to justify gay marriage on the grounds that societal disapproval of unmarried gay parents leads to the very instability that causes their children to experience negative outcomes: Marriage between gay partners will enhance the family’s stability and therefore be good for the children. I consider this to be a step too far — the high rate of divorce among gays does not suggest that same-sex households will soon be a model of stability — but it is worth consideration.
For NOM to post a false graphic is tantamount to an attack on the millions of same-sex parents in America, the vast, vast majority of whom are doing an amazing job raising children, as study after study after study has proven.
If same-sex couples were raising children with so many problems, as this chart claims, don’t you think there would be daily news reports about these “problems”?
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NOM is the most prolific spewer of anti-gay hate outside of FRC and the RCC. They are election fraud criminals and as such, nothing they publish is credible.
This whole anti-gay study is from NOM's Robert George. It was funded by The Witherspoon Institute and the Bradley Foundation; George is on both of their boards. It was first promoted by the Deseret News; George is on its editorial board. It is now being promoted on NOM blog; George is listed among current NOM personnel.
The Washington Times is a cult reich wing newspaper that deserves as much attention as diaper rash.
Notice that NOM left out the most important identifier. They left out the incomes. In this study we are comparing rich white married heterosexual couples to poor unmarried lesbian couples. Straight married couples have access to employment protections, marriage protections and adequate heath care. Whereas Lesbian couples tend to be poorer due to the lack of these protections. Here is an excerpt I pulled from a website:
According to his findings, children of mothers who have had same-sex relationships were significantly different as young adults on 25 of the 40 (63%) outcome measures, compared with those who spent their entire childhood with both their married, biological parents. For example, they reported significantly lower levels of income, more receipt of public welfare, lower levels of employment, poorer mental and physical health, poorer relationship quality with current partner, and higher levels of smoking and criminality.
Lower income is the first issue listed. (NOTE NOM LEFT THIS OUT OF THEIR GRAPHIC) All lower income couples, be they straight married couples or lesbian couples experience more problems simply due to access issues.
Additionally the study is done by a paid fundamentalist christian. Here is an excerpt from Professor Mark Regnerus' bio:
Mark Regnerus is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin (PhD, 2000, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and a faculty associate at the university’s Population Research Center. Author of over 30 published articles and book chapters, his research is in the areas of sexual behavior, religion, and family.
Religion and family are his primary research areas!
Maggie Gallaghers was using these talking point two weeks ago meaning they received a prepublished copy of the report.
Also note that there are nearly 50 studies out there showing that the children raised in lesbian household are equal to or exceed children raised by traditionally married couples.
If you actually notice the groups in the study they are comparing straight married couples to broken home families where one parent is either gay or lesbian. They are not comparing married straight couples to married Gay or Lesbian couples. Another crap study being touted by the National Organization for Marriage.
Dr. Regenerus's Respondents were raised in a MIXED ORIENTATION MARRIAGE (MOM), or a MIXED ORIENTATION SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP. A MOM is where one spouse is gay and one spouse is straight. That is who responded to this survey people who had parents in a MOM. Regnerus confirms that he found only a few Respondents who were raised in a straight up lesbian or straight up gay home. Here is part of his e-mail to me which he asked me to post.
[snip]"By the way, one of the key methodological criticisms circulating is that–basically–in a population-based sample, I haven’t really evaluated how the adult children of stably-intact coupled self-identified lesbians have fared. Right? Right. And I’m telling you that it cannot be feasibly accomplished. It is a methodological (practical) impossibility at present, for reasons I describe: they really didn’t exist in numbers that could be amply obtained *randomly*. It may well be a flaw–limitation, I think–but it is unavoidable. We maxxed Knowledge Networks’ ability, and no firm is positioned to do better. It would have cost untold millions of dollars, and still may not generate the number of cases needed for statistical analyses.[end snip] You can read the full e-mail exchange here- http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2012/06/11/45557
We know that only 1/3 of Mixed Orientation Marriages attempt to stay together after disclosure and of that 1/3, only half manage to stay together for 3 years or more (and it goes really down hill after 7 years).
FWIW I agree with Dr. Regnerus Mixed Orientation Marriages (or Mixed Orientation Sexual Relationships) that produce children are VERY BAD for the children. And that is what his study proves. It does not attempt and does NOT assess the outcomes of children raised by 2 loving moms or 2 loving dads. It.Does.Not.
This pic below is the perfect depiction of this research. I know Rob Tsinai who drew it, he will let you re-post. This should be the graphic for your article. http://wakingupnow.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/20…
Dr. Regenerus's Respondents were raised in a MIXED ORIENTATION MARRIAGE (MOM), or a MIXED ORIENTATION SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP. A MOM is where one spouse is gay and one spouse is straight. That is who responded to this survey people who had parents in a MOM. Regnerus confirms that he found only a few Respondents who were raised in a straight up lesbian or straight up gay home. Here is part of his e-mail to me which he asked me to post.
[snip]"By the way, one of the key methodological criticisms circulating is that–basically–in a population-based sample, I haven’t really evaluated how the adult children of stably-intact coupled self-identified lesbians have fared. Right? Right. And I’m telling you that it cannot be feasibly accomplished. It is a methodological (practical) impossibility at present, for reasons I describe: they really didn’t exist in numbers that could be amply obtained *randomly*. It may well be a flaw–limitation, I think–but it is unavoidable. We maxxed Knowledge Networks’ ability, and no firm is positioned to do better. It would have cost untold millions of dollars, and still may not generate the number of cases needed for statistical analyses.[end snip] You can read the full e-mail exchange here- http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2012/06/11/45557
We know that only 1/3 of Mixed Orientation Marriages attempt to stay together after disclosure and of that 1/3, only half manage to stay together for 3 years or more (and it goes really down hill after 7 years).
FWIW I agree with Dr. Regnerus Mixed Orientation Marriages (or Mixed Orientation Sexual Relationships) that produce children are VERY BAD for the children. And that is what his study proves. It does not attempt and does NOT assess the outcomes of children raised by 2 loving moms or 2 loving dads. It.Does.Not.
This pic below is the perfect depiction of this research. I know Rob Tsinai who drew it, he will let you re-post. This should be the graphic for your article. http://wakingupnow.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/20…
I have an honest question. I'm not trying to start an argument, it is just a question that I'd like answered. I am not woman, raised by a mother only, no father, but a father figure on occasion. I believe that each sex offers something different to a child, be it nurturing from the mother, or rough housing from a father. I think this is the design from God. When there are two moms or two dads, how do you think that affects a child in the long run as far as the different approaches each sex brings to a child?
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