Tag Archives: Family Research Council

June 15, 2012, 3:40 pm

Social Science, Gay Parents, and the Myth of Objectivity

There is a lot of shock and anger that the rather flawed social science produced by Mark Regnerus “proving” that gay parents are bad parents got published in a respectable social-science journal. Social Science Research is now being asked to explain how this work was rushed through in record time and why the outside reviewers didn’t balk at the clear ideological biases of both the research design and its spurious conclusions or, if the reviewers did balk, why their concerns were not taken into account and the article revised. A colleague tells me about a letter that is circulating demanding the journal explain itself. I agree with the sentiment, but remain pessimistic about the future of social science.

I am not one who believes that social science can ever truly manage some objective point of view via some supposedly flawless methodology. Many people in mainstream sociology actually …

May 10, 2012, 3:35 pm

I Do. I Don’t.

By Laurie Essig

Fifteen years ago, Obama supported gay marriage, then he started “evolving” on the issue, and then yesterday he came out in support of gay marriage with a powerful statement that

At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.

Needless to say, this statement is incredibly important. As Richard Socarides wrote over at The New Yorker,

President Barack Obama’s announcement today that he fully supports marriage equality for gay and lesbian Americans is historic. It will certainly go down in record books with events like Stonewall as an important milestone in the equal-rights movement.

Whatever made the President change his mind, there is little doubt that coming out in favor of gay marriage is a political risk. How much of one remains to be seen, but the Right…