Speaking Out: Junk Science
Delegate Bob Brink
Point of personal privilege
February 16, 2005

Mr. Speaker, several times during this session I've risen to speak lightheartedly about matters before the house. Today, I hope that the members will indulge me for a few moments on a serious matter that goes to the very integrity of this body's deliberative process.

On February 7, during third reading on House Bill 2921 - the "gay adoption" bill -- we heard some alarming statistics. The patron of the bill told us, quote, "there is data that indicates that 29% of the adult children of homosexual parents had been specifically subjected to sexual molestation by that homosexual parent, as compared to about point six percent of adult children of heterosexual parents. That is an increased risk of incest with a parent of a factor of about fifty times."

Because we were on third reading, we had to take the statement at face value. There was no way to question, rebut, or debate that assertion - in football, that would be penalized as a late hit.

Now, I'm certain the patron of the bill sincerely thought he was bringing useful social science information to the attention of the body. But the fact is that the so-called data lacks credibility, and even at this late date, we need to set the record straight.

Mr. Speaker, this statistic originated a few years ago in an article by a man named Paul Cameron. Since then it has been bouncing around the internet, gaining legitimacy by its repetition.

Who is Paul Cameron? He runs an outfit called the Family Research Institute, which has made a cottage industry of taking anti-gay political positions, gussying them up with footnotes and bibliographic references and other trappings of academic research, and passing them off as objective social science.

But Cameron's professional standing as a social scientist is utterly lacking, and his credentials have been thoroughly debunked. In 1983, the American Psychological Association expelled him from membership on ethics charges. In 1986, the American Sociological Association went so far as to pass a resolution "officially and publicly stating" that Cameron was not a sociologist, and condemning his "consistent misrepresentation of sociological research."

Now, what about the "research" that underlies Cameron's reports? The data that was cited on the floor last week was drawn from a study survey that Cameron conducted in 1983 and 1984. An independent review of that study identified "at least six serious errors" in its sampling techniques, survey methodology, and interpretation of results. The review went on to say, quote, "the presence of even one of these flaws would be sufficient to cast serious doubts on the legitimacy of any study's results. In combination, they make the data virtually meaningless."

Putting it in layman's terms, Paul Cameron's research is a crock. It's junk science.

Mr. Speaker, throughout history disfavored minorities have been depicted as preying on the vulnerable, with tragic consequences. The medieval claim that Jews used the blood of Christian babies for their Passover celebration was a pillar of the anti-Semitism that still plagues the world. In the south in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the vicious canard that black men were animals who lusted after white women was used as a tool to perpetuate segregation and suppression.

That brings us to Virginia in the year 2005 and the current disfavored minority: homosexuals. Recall the words we heard last week. We were asked to believe that some of our fellow citizens, solely by virtue of their sexual orientation, are predisposed by a factor of 50 to 1 to molest their own kids - their own kids. On the basis of this bogus statistic, generated by junk science, we are urged to stigmatize homosexuals in the adoption process. And this is all done in the name of "protecting the children."

Mr. Speaker, Winston Churchill once observed, "a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." And that was before the internet. I apologize for trespassing on the body's time, but we need to stop this particular lie in its tracks, and give the truth a fighting chance to catch up.