NOM's odd graphic implying children of same-sex parents do worse in school.

Anti-gay activists have been championing Mark Regnerus’ “family structures” study since its publication earlier this year, claiming that it provides evidence that same-sex parents are not good for children. An internal audit by the journal that published it found its findings to be “bullshit” because Regnerus’s method was to count any child whose parent had a same-sex relationship at any point in time as part of the sample. He has since admitted that his study wasn’t even about gay parenting since only one individual was actually raised by same-sex parents for their entire childhood, but now conservatives are trying to apply the same fraudulent standard to other studies.

The National Organization for Marriage is today promoting a new conservative analysis of a 2010 study that found children of same-sex parents experience no academic disadvantage. The analysis pulls the same trick Regnerus used by adding back all the children who lived in unstable households, but then making a generalized claim about the children of same-sex couples:

The 2010 study had excluded children who were not biologically related to the head of household and who were not in the same home for at least five years. This reduced “the sample size by more than one-half.” The 2012 study explains that putting the children who had been in unstable households (lived at the same address less than five years) back into the sample increases the sample “by more than 80 percent.” This fact alone seems important. The new study’s conclusion is that “children being raised by same-sex couples are 35 percent less likely to make normal progress through school.”

Like in the Regnerus study, there may be some very compelling evidence that the stability of a family unit can impact a child’s well-being, but that is a completely independent variable from the gender of the parents. This is a gross distortion of the data to conflate committed intact same-sex families with unstable, inconsistent family structures.

In many ways, this tactic mirrors claims more prominent in the past (though still heard today) that gay men are more likely to be pedophiles. In his debates with John Briggs in 1978, Harvey Milk pointed out that statistically, the overwhelming majority of pedophiles identified as heterosexual. Briggs still argued that children would somehow be safer if the gay teachers were removed from the equation, a claim with no logical justification other than anti-gay bias. Just as sexual orientation is not a predictor for pedophilia, studies consistently show that it is not a predictor for how effectively children will be raised. Using these unstable family samples to suggest otherwise is simply a new spin on an old classic tactic to demonize gays and lesbians and deny them equal protections.

This morning, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) introduced the Stop Harming Our Kids (SHOK) resolution, which encourages states to follow California’s lead and protect minors from ex-gay therapy:

It is the sense of Congress that sexual orientation and gender identity or expression change efforts directed at minors are discredited and ineffective, have no legitimate therapeutic purpose, and are dangerous and harmful.

Congress encourages each State to take steps to protect minors from efforts that promote or promise to change sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, based on the premise that homosexuality is a mental illness or developmental disorder that can or should be cured.

The resolution notes that all mainstream medical organizations condemn ex-gay therapy as ineffective and harmful. Introducing it, Speier said that “any effort to change sexual orientation is not medicine, it’s quackery, and we should not be supporting it with taxpayer dollars.” In addition to advancing the resolution, Speier is also investigating whether federal taxpayer funds have been spent on conversion therapy with minors through Medicaid or TRICARE reimbursements. So far, she has found two instances of mental health professionals who advertise such services and who appear to be eligible for federal dollars.

On Wednesday, conservative Evangelical Pastor Rick Warren expressed regret for instructing his congregation to support Proposition 8, California’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. During an interview with HuffPost Live’s Marc Lamont Hill, Warren attempted to downplay his endorsement of the provision, claiming that he intended to communicate his private support to church members and was not trying to take a “public” position on the issue. Warren expressed regret for ever backing the measure:

WARREN:  I never made a single statement on Prop 8 until the week before. In my own church, some members say, “Where do we stand on this?” I released a video to my own members. It was posted all over like it was an advertisement. [...]

HILL: When your have a church of 20,000 people and you have a book that 32 million people have read and that 60 million people have accessed, to say, “I was just giving a message”—

WARREN: You’re exactly right, Marc, and I learned a lesson from that. What I learned from that is that anything I say privately is now public. And I actually learned from that mistake… Everyone took that to mean I was pontificating to the whole world.

HILL: If you could do it again, would you not have made that statement a week before Prop 8?

WARREN: I would not have. I would not have made that statement. Because I wanted to talk to my own people. As a duty, as a shepherd, I’m responsible for those who put themselves under my care. I’m not responsible for everybody else.

During the interview, Warren reiterated his opposition to same-sex couples — arguing that “It’s not a sin to love somebody, it might be a sin to have sex with them” — and suggested that he still backs the spirit of Proposition 8, just as he did in 2008. Then, Warren published his “private” video on his “News & Views” website for all of his followers to see and his comments were unsurprisingly picked up by the American Family Association’s OneNewsNow. The video is still preserved thanks to The American Prospect and RightWingWatch. Here again is that “private” video supposedly intended only for his 20,000 church members, in which Warren says, “If you believe what the Bible says about marriage, you need to support Proposition 8″:

Warren seemed to back away from his endorsement in 2009, telling Larry King that he “never once even gave an endorsement” of the proposition. Now that a majority of Americans consistently support marriage equality, he regrets that people actually paid attention to his anti-gay views.