Family: who's do we focus on?

For many years growing up in a Christian family I've heard the quotes from James Dobson and focus on the family. Traditional family values and morals were encouraged, gender roles were clearly laid out and anyone who did not fit into that box was quickly demonized. In an effort to encourage the value of family he has done more to damage it than any other person. With his black and white thinking of what a family should look like he instantly negated the many different forms that it exists in. Every one should strive to have the traditional 2.5 children with Heterosexual parents and woe be to anyone who doesn't fit this mold. Except families have existed in different forms since the beginning of time. Having 2.5 children was not feasible in the farming era where infant death rate was common. That is just one example.

The term “Homosexual Agenda” was coined by the Family Research Council who's founder was none other than James Dobson creator of the Focus on the Family. This man has been a guiding leader to the Christian community for decades except he is a liar. For years he has cited research that claims children do better in homes with a Father and Mother. Except that the research he is quoting is grossly misinterpreted and twisted to fit his designs. Judith Stacey (whose research he has twisted) states, "Whenever you hear Focus on the Family, legislators or lawyers say, 'Studies prove that children do better in families with a mother and a father,' they are referring to studies which compare two-parent heterosexual households to single-parent households. The studies they are talking about do not cite research on families headed by gay and lesbian couples." Wait there is more! James Dobson cited the research of Kyle Pruett and Carol Gilligan in a Time Magazine guest article to “prove” two women could not raise a child. Gilligan penned a letter to Dobson demanding an apology and to cease and desist from citing her research. She said that she was, "mortified to learn that you had distorted my work...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...there is nothing in my research that would lead you to draw the stated conclusions you did in the Time article." Pruett also wrote a letter stating that Focus on the family, "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.” There is more folks: Elizabeth Saewyc wrote a paper regarding Teen suicide and states, "the research has been hijacked for somebody's political purposes or ideological purposes and that's worrisome", and that research in fact linked the suicide rate among LGBT teens to harassment, discrimination, and closeting. Here are some other researchers who have condemned Focus on the family for misrepresenting their work: Other scientists who have criticized Focus on the Family for misrepresenting their findings include Robert Spitzer, Gary Remafedi and Angela Phillips. So all in all James Dobson has falsified findings to support his personal beliefs which led to another groups he helped created such as Exodus International, NARTH (National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality), PFOX (Parents and friends of Ex gays), American College of Pediatricians, and Focus on the Family which used this research to try and convert Homosexuals to Heterosexuals. Many of the leaders of this conversion therapy have come forward to apologize for their harmful behaviour and gone back to embracing their Homosexuality. The vast majority of the people whom these organizations have “converted” aren't really converted. They are just leading celibate lives and admit that they orientation is not heterosexual but they abstain from homosexual behaviours.

Because of this man with his archaic views on family and falsified information the rate of suicides among GLBT youth have skyrocketed. For a man so very set on sustaining family values he has very little. As for the Homosexual agenda? This homosexual strives to protect the future children from abuse that organizations like this inflict. One has to ponder though, If you are falsifying records to serve your personal belief and feelings who really has the agenda?