Truth Wins Out, a
gay rights advocacy group, launched a campaign Thursday
protesting the recent nomination of Focus on the Family
founder and president James Dobson to the Radio Hall
of Fame.
"It is
outrageous and insulting that James Dobson would be
nominated," Wayne Besen, executive director of
Truth Wins Out, said in a press release. While the
Hall of Fame criteria for nominees does not address
content or character, the LGBT advocacy group is demanding
that Dobson's name be removed from
consideration because of homophobic and antigay
comments made in articles, books, and on the air.
"I'm not surprised," Besen said of
Dobson's nomination. Besen is, however,
outraged: "[Dobson] is a very accomplished
broadcaster, but I think it's offset by the
fact that he's a very accomplished liar."
Truth Wins Out also maintains that Dobson has a history of
distorting scientific research to defend his
faith-based claims.
Several instances
of misinformation occur in a guest article Dobson
authored for Time magazine in December 2006. In
"Two Mommies Is One Too Many," Dobson
commented on the announcement that Mary Cheney, Vice
President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter, was
expecting a child with her partner, Heather Poe.
"The majority of more than 30 years of
social-science evidence indicates that children do best on
every measure of well-being when raised by their
married mother and father," Dobson wrote.
Dobson went on to
cite the parenting book of child psychologist Kyle
Pruett, Fatherneed, as supporting Dobson's
claim. In a video clip posted on Truth Wins
Out's website, Pruett decried Dobson's
citation of his book. "I was disappointed, I
was dismayed, and frankly, I was...mortified that
my work would be in paragraphs of the conclusion that
[Dobson] drew," Pruett said, adding, "There is no science
that says those children [who are raised by gay or
lesbian couples] are at risk."
Dobson also
referred to the work of Carol Gilligan, a professor at New
York University's School of Law, in the article.
Dobson portrayed her as siding with his criticism of
Mary Cheney and her partner. Following the publication
of the article, in a direct letter to Dobson, Gilligan
wrote, "Not only did you take my research out
of context, you did so without my knowledge to support
discriminatory goals that I do not agree with.... What
you wrote was not truthful."
While Dobson
insists in his 2004 book Marriage Under Fire that
"I have never said anything hateful about
homosexuals on our broadcasts, and I do not condone
violence or disrespect for anyone," he predicted in a
2005 on-air broadcast that the legalization of same-sex
marriage would lead to "group marriage,"
"marriage between daddies and little girls,"
and "marriage between a man and his donkey."
Dobson concluded in the same broadcast that same-sex
marriage "will bring the destruction of this
nation and many others."
Dobson also
lamented California's recent legalization of same-sex
marriage on the Focus on the Family website: "Chalk
up another disastrous loss for the defenders of
morality and the family."
The National
Radio Hall of Fame did not return calls for comment. (Hannah
Clay Wareham, The Advocate)
