From my friend Wayne Besen at TruthWinsOut.com:
YALE PROFESSOR SAYS JAMES DOBSON ‘CHERRY PICKED’ HIS RESEARCH IN TIME MAGAZINE ARTICLE
Kyle Pruett, M.D., is Second Professor In Two Days To Challenge Dobson’s Use Of Research
Miami Beach, FLA. – Truth Wins Out urged Time Magazine today to renounce a guest column written by James C. Dobson in this week’s magazine after a second professor, Kyle Pruett, M.D. of the Yale School of Medicine, expressed concerns that the Focus on the Family leader “cherry picked” his work. In a letter to Time and Dobson, Dr. Pruett asked that Focus on the Family, “not quote from my research in your media campaigns, personal or corporate, without previously securing my permission.”
Yesterday, New York University Professor Carol Gilligan, PhD, also wrote a letter to Time and Dobson saying that her research was distorted and twisted.
“Time Magazine should take Dobson’s article off the web and pledge that they will never again use his group as a source on family issues,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “Focus on the Family has damaged its credibility and should stop misleading Americans by misquoting respected researchers.”
TODAY, Pruett wrote the following letter:
13 December 2006
Dr. Dobson,
I was startled and disappointed to see my work referenced in the current Time Magazine piece in which you opined that social science, such as mine, supports your convictions opposing lesbian and gay parenthood. I write now to insist that you not quote from my research in your media campaigns, personal or corporate, without previously securing my permission.
You cherry-picked a phrase to shore up highly (in my view) discriminatory purposes. This practice is condemned in real science, common though it may be in pseudo-science circles. There is nothing in my longitudinal research or any of my writings to support such conclusions. On page 134 of the book you cite in your piece, I wrote, “What we do know is that there is no reason for concern about the development or psychological competence of children living with gay fathers. It is love that binds relationships, not sex.”
Kyle Pruett, M.D.
Yale School of Medicine
Additionally, New York University educational psychologist Carol Gilligan, PhD, demanded an apology from Dobson yesterday and asked that Focus on the Family “cease and desist” from quoting her work in the future.
Truth Wins OUT is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the “ex-gay” myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org.
** TAKE ACTION **
James Dobson is a discredited political hack who has serially distorted research and twisted the truth to fit his right wing political agenda. He should never have been given a platform to discuss GLBT families in a respected major media outlet, such as Time Magazine.
The use of pseudo-science that aims to discriminate has no place in a publication like Time. Let's face it, they would never dare provide a similar platform for extremist groups to bash other minorities.
Tell Time, that it is way past time, to be giving a stage to Focus on the Family and other groups that blatantly and provably lie about gay life.
Memo to Time: "If the right can't prove it, Don't use it."
WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Time Magazine
Patrick_Smith@timemagazine.com
