A representative of one of the nation’s largest organizations opposed to same-sex marriage learned, as the U.S. Senate and the entire nation watched, to be careful what studies you cite – because someone might actually read them.
U.S. Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota caught Thomas Minnery, vice president of government and public policy for Focus on the Family, blatantly mischaracterizing a government study on the benefits to children of being raised by two married parents as referring to opposite-sex parents, when the report itself drew no such distinction. It was the latest in a relentless campaign of misrepresentations, half-truths and outright lies in recent years that have defined anti-gay Christian right organizations intent on opposing equal rights and common dignity for LGBT people.
Testifying today at a Senate hearing on a bill that would repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act, Franken said, “Mr. Minnery, on page eight of your written testimony, you write, quote, ‘Children living … with their own married biological or adoptive mothers and fathers were generally healthier and happier, had better access to health care, less likely to suffer mild or severe emotional problems, did better in school, were protected from physical, emotional and sexual abuse, and almost never live in poverty compared with children in any other family form.’ You cite a Department of Health and Human Services study that I have right here from December 2010 to support this conclusion.
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Complete article at SPLC : http://bit.ly/pYeqjS
