News
2006-06-23
Focus on the
Family accused of manipulating research
The right-wing
group Focus on the Family is being accused of manipulating
research on gays and lesbians in an effort to advance its
The right-wing
group Focus on the Family is being accused of manipulating
research on gays and lesbians in an effort to advance its
homophobic agenda. It all began when the Colorado
Springs, Colo.–based group released a statement
on its Web site refuting the results of a study on
lesbian teens conducted by Elizabeth Saewyc of the
University of British Columbia. Saewyc’s study
found that lesbian teens were more likely to attempt
suicide than their straight peers, but Focus on the Family
took an opportunity to use the findings to come up
with a different conclusion than what Saewyc found.
“Regrettably, [lesbian teens] think they have to
embrace homosexuality because pro-gay advocates told them
that they were born gay,” claimed Focus on the
Family spokeswoman Melissa Fryrear on the
group’s site. On Monday, Saewyc responded to Focus on
the Family’s claims by telling the Canadian
Press, “The research has been hijacked for
somebody’s political purposes or ideological
purposes, and that’s worrisome.” The
conservative group defended itself in the Canadian Press
article by bringing up a 2001 study on sexual orientation
conducted by Columbia University professor Robert
Spitzer. Spitzer said Focus on the Family was once
again distorting the facts. “Although a third of the
subjects in my study reported having had serious thoughts of
suicide related to their homosexuality, not one of
them blamed the gay rights movement’s
advocating a ‘born gay’ theory of
homosexuality as the cause of their suicidal
thinking,” Spitzer said. “Focus on the Family
should shut down its fib factory and start focusing on
the needs of real families,” said Wayne Besen,
executive director of Truth Wins Out, a pro-gay
advocacy group. “This group mocks science and
can’t tell a centrifuge from a centerfold or a
test tube from a boob tube. All they understand is the
science of spin, which got them into a lot of
trouble.” (The Advocate)
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