Keith Ablow Worried Bullies Will Attack Him For Supporting Anti-Gay ‘Study’

Dr. Keith Ablow is worried that gay bullies will now attack him for penning a column today that supports an already debunked, flawed research paper which claims to find gays and lesbians make very bad parents. Dr. Ablow, a Fox News contributor and psychiatrist, just published a column, “Study finds host of challenges for kids of gay parents,” which, of course, attempts to whitewash the flawed methodology and support the subsequent flawed conclusions of the Mark Regnerus “study.”

In the safety of his Fox News space, Ablow writes:

I hesitated to write about this topic in an opinion piece. I didn’t hesitate because I think the topic frivolous. I didn’t hesitate because I think of Social Science Research as a meaningless journal (because it is anything but that).  I didn’t hesitate because funding for the NESS comes partly from conservative groups (because data are data, unless they can be refuted on objective grounds, and this study is painstaking, in many regards).  I hesitated because I worried about getting more of the threats and hate mail (by post and e-mail) I receive whenever I even mention the seemingly unspeakable issue of how social forces related to sexual orientation and gender identity might impact well being in children.  

Perhaps we should all apologize for having pointed out that Ablow in the past has said that transgender people are just like heroin addicts and anorexics. Or perhaps we should all apologize for having pointed out that Ablow in the past has said transgenderism is not a civil right. Or perhaps we should all apologize for having pointed out that Ablow in the past has equated pedophilia with sexual orientation. And perhaps we should all apologize for having pointed out that Ablow in the past has warned parents to not let their children watch Chaz Bono on Dancing With The Stars because watching Chaz Bono on Dancing With The Stars might make children transgender.

The brace Dr. Keith Ablow, however, of course didn’t succumb to his fears of being bullied by the LGBT community and our allies, even those with facts.

Yet, yielding to that worry would mean that being bullied way back when I was a school kid might have left me timid, and I just can’t abide that.  When I see a path of enquiry that might yield some bit of truth, I want to try to be the person who takes it, no matter how treacherous.  And, so, it is with this commentary, now in your good hands, to take or leave, to debate, to discuss—as Tennyson wrote, “to strive, to seek, to find…”

Ah. So noble.

Ablow does, however, correctly write of there Regnerus paper that the data “and it is data—does not indicate why these differences were found,” and adds, “After all, this study did not specifically address (as a separate group) the children born to gay couples who were married.” But he also adds, “the data should not be dismissed.”

Ablow, who quit the American Psychiatric Association after they made clear his professional views on gender identity were incorrect, has no problem cherry picking facts and data to suit his (in my non-psychiatric opinion) narcissistic personality. Don’t like what thousands of your peers have found via study after study? Quit the APA. Don’t liker that conservative and liberal researchers alike have debunked the Regnerus “study”? Ignore the facts and claim it’s “just data.”

Except it’s not. Flawed data is still flawed. any man of science should realize that.

“It was generated, after all, by academic leaders at major universities and published by an esteemed journal with no political agenda and an advisory board with representatives from about three dozen universities,” Ablow adds, ignoring the fact of who aid for the study. Two radically-right wing conservative think tanks with ties to the Mormon Church and NOM, the National Organization For Marriage.

Ablow, who last year co-authored a book with Glenn Beck, notes:

What we should avoid at all costs is silencing such research and such discussion because it is seen by some as politically incorrect. Where optimizing the well-being of children is involved, no stone should be left unturned.

Yes, where “the well-being of children is involved, no stone should be left unturned.” Unless they are stones created to make the lives and futures of the one million lesbian and gay parents and their two million children harder, more stigmatized, and more subject to attack — thanks to flawed research, then, yes, those fake stones, paid for to the tune of almost $800,000, should be left unturned.

 

Related:

Junk Science: Dr. Keith Ablow, Tony Perkins Spread Anti-Gay Hate On Fox

FOX’s Ablow: Lesbian Hilary Rosen Can’t Let A Man Be Comfortable Being A Man

Keith Ablow Demands You Declare War On Benetton For Its UnHate Campaign

Ablow: Transgender People Are Just Like Heroin Addicts And Anorexics