CNN, Cameron & Crazies

I had a brief chat with John Aravosis of AmericaBlog, and he pointed me to the Sunday CNN segment about the Texas law prohibiting gays from being foster parents (which the Texas House supported, and which now faces opposition in the Senate). That led me to the Thusday segment, which made the rounds on the blogs because of the unfortunate graphic CNN chose during a debate between a representative of the Texas Eagle Forum and the Texas Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby, which included the following exchange.

PHILLIPS: …Cathie, let me ask you this. I think what made me gasp just a bit was hearing in the piece that led into this debate was the fact that individuals are coming out and saying an orphanage would be better than being with gay parents. And — wow, I mean, that’s a pretty bold statement. I’ve been into some orphanages that are pretty despicable and heartbreaking. Yet I’ve seen some really good ones, too. But it’s hard for me to imagine that an orphanage could be better than being with two loving partners, whether gay or straight.

ADAMS: Well, I think, very clearly, that the issue here is what is best for children, to train them up in a home with a mother and a father, both genders. But we also have got to look at research that does show that children in same-sex couple homes are 11 times more likely to be abused sexually. And I think that that is not an issue that can be ignored. It is a proven fact and that was a research study done in the state of Illinois that has not, as the state of Texas has not, even asked that question. Who are…

ELLIS: That research is completely uncredible and it is completely absurd. I think…[strong]

Notice how she gets in mention of the study and the 11 percent figure, but leaves out mention of Paul Cameron? Most likley she figured the gay guy would be all over her if she mentioned Cameron, because he’d know the details of how Cameron’s quackery have been revealed time and time again. I’ll say this for her, she’s a smart lady. A bigot, sure, but a clever one.

Mrs. Eagle Forum brings up the study again. And once again, she doesn’t mention Cameron.

PHILLIPS: Cathie, I just — but I want to know from you, how do you know that a gay couple isn’t providing a healthy and a normal home? I just want to know from you how you know that.

ADAMS: Well, I think that I am not making the claim that there is not the possibility of a child not being abused. I said that they have an 11 times greater chance of being abused in the homosexual home than they do in a heterosexual home. But I think that what we have got to look at is not a politically correct, homosexual lifestyle. What we’ve got to look at is what is best for these children? Not what is good in politics, but what is good for these children? [strong]

Carol Lin chimes in at the end.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, now I have some opinions about that story. You and I are going to share them during the commercial break.

PHILLIPS: We’ll be talking about it, that’s for sure.

LIN: Whoa.

“Whoa” is right. In a way I’m a little late with this story, and in a way I’m not. Everyone was talking about the “A Fit Parent” title used under Adam’s mug during the broadcast, but I didn’t see much mention anywhere of the study she cited during the segment, which—if you ask me—sounds like a pretty big deal. But maybe, as a gay dad, I’m hypersensitive to this stuff. The segment, I’m told, was featured on The Daily Show last night (Jon Stewart was the next guest up), though I’ve yet to see a video.

It’s not so much that reasonable intelligent people are going to take this study seriously. First of all “psychologist” Paul Cameron‘s involved and, for anyone who doesn’t know, this guy truly a king among loonys. Man has been completely discredited, and there’s a wealth of information out there about the many times and many ways he’s been discredited. He’s been out of the news for a while, but John pointed out to me that “they’re bringing him back,” most likely to lend a veneer of respectability to their bigoted agenda. After all, out of sight, out of mind. It’s been long enough that plenty of people probably haven’t heard of Cameron and don’t know what a quack he is.

ChgoRed points out, and I’m aware, that the news article I cited earlier is from “right-wing wackjob central HQ.” But I think that’s the most telling part of the story here. This study is nowhere in the news except right wing media and websites. An admittedly unscientific Google search show that it’s on the radar of conservative news organizations, bloggers, etc. Problem is, it doesn’t seem to show up anywhere else in the news, which is why people like the Eagle forum representative are able to mouth off about it and toss out numbers that leaves our side and the media sputtering for an answer. How many people heard that figure, and absorbed it, without hearing anything to counter it?

Bottom line: we can’t counter what we don’t know about. And if we can’t counter it, that gives them time to convince more people. Once people are convinced, they’re harder to unconvince. And the more people they persuade, the harder our life gets for us and our families.

Maybe it’s time I started collecting RSS feeds of right wing sites/blogs and started tracking them, just to keep up with the chatter. It won’t do my blood pressure any good, but it looks like something that desperately needs doing.