May 23, 2007
Fostering the Truth about Lesbian and Gay Adoption
By Robert-Jay Green, PhD

When big-money conservative advocacy meets high-speed journalism, the truth is sometimes unwittingly sacrificed.  In an article from The Economist, the annual operating budget of Focus on the Family was recently estimated as $150 million.  Well-funded right-wing groups deceive the media on a regular basis with their authoritative pronouncements and scientific-sounding names like “Family Research Council” and “Family Research Institute.”

Such was the case in Monday’s (5-21-07) San Francisco Chronicle. In her article on efforts to encourage adoptions by same-sex couples in San Francisco, reporter Ilene Lelchuk sought a comment from conservatives and unsuspectingly stumbled onto Paul Cameron, one of the most infamous social scientists in the U.S.  In 1983, the American Psychological Association made the decision to terminate his membership based on misrepresentation of psychological research—an ethical violation.  He has been similarly censured by the American Sociological Association, and his Family Research Institute has been branded a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Should Lelchuk have been more wary of research cited by a known anti-gay advocacy group?

Cameron’s claims are so outrageous that they cry for correction. Lelchuk wrote “Cameron says gays and lesbians are unfit parents, are more likely to molest children of their same sex, switch partners frequently, have shorter life expectancies and cause their children embarrassment and social difficulties.” Rarely has there appeared a more concentrated dose of venom masquerading as science. How were Lelchuk and those reading her story to know that every phrase in this statement was false and had been refuted by years of research published in peer-reviewed journals?

Such distortions of the facts have been appearing in media all over the country. In December 2006, James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family, personally misrepresented research about same-sex parents in his essay on Mary Cheney’s pregnancy published in TIME magazine. TIME did not question Dobson’s “facts” until two of the scientists whose research he cited (Carol Gilligan at NYU and Kyle Pruett at Yale) cried foul, testifying that Dobson had misrepresented their findings.  Although TIME later published on its website a significant piece refuting Dobson’s claims, his original article in print had already done its damage.  The same is likely to happen with last Monday’s article in the Chronicle because it leaves the impression that one can pick one's science, neither side being clearly right or wrong.

To set the record straight on gays, a very large number of studies now show that children raised by lesbian and gay parents are turning out to be very similar to children raised by heterosexual parents on measures of mental health, peer relations, gender-related behaviors, and sexual orientation in adulthood.  This research is so substantial that the mainstream American Academy of Pediatrics and all of the major mental health associations have issued policy statements in favor of adoptions by lesbian/gay co-parents.

As for the inaccurate material provided by Cameron in the Chronicle, how did it creep into the news? Partly, it seems to be the outgrowth of reporters bending over backwards to present “both sides” of a controversial issue.  The problem in this case is that while there may be a legitimate theological debate over the status of homosexuality—with some religious groups viewing it as a sin and others not—there is no legitimate scientific debate over lesbian/gay parents and their children because all of the findings to date have been consistent across studies.  It seems the media in their quest for “balance” on controversial issues have often been hoodwinked into parroting antigay groups’ false scientific statements when the only real basis for controversy remains a philosophical or religious one.

Serious family researchers and the media must work together to better inform America about lesbian and gay issues.  The entire country would do well to follow San Francisco’s example, recognizing the profound needs of children in foster care and the same-sex couples who could be devoted to their well-being for a lifetime.
 

Robert-Jay Green PhD is executive director of the Rockway Institute, a national center for LGBT research and public policy, and Distinguished Professor at the California School of Professional Psychology, a graduate division of Alliant International University.