Gay 'Marriage' Data Faked to Support Homosexual Activists, Researchers Discover

Drew Belsky : May 22, 2015
LifeSiteNews.com

...three researchers were unable to reproduce LaCour's findings, instead discovering multiple "statistical irregularities" in the data.

A December 2014 study alleged that homosexual activists, in a twenty-minute conversation, can change the minds of those who oppose redefining marriage. Six months later, the data to support the study has been revealed as fraudulent, and the study itself has been retracted. (Photo: LifeSiteNews)

Titled "When contact changes minds: An experiment on transmission of support for gay equality," the study claimed that homosexual activists canvassing door-to-door in favor of redefining marriage could convert the people they spoke with—and that the interlocutors' epiphanies would not only last for a year, but also inspire members of their households to favor redefining marriage as well.

The study, published in Science magazine, was conducted by Columbia University political science professor Donald Green and UCLA grad student Michael LaCour. Green initiated the retraction after discovering that LaCour's work comprised "an incredible mountain of fabrications with the most baroque and ornate ornamentation."

In an extensive report, Buzzfeed News detailed that three researchers were unable to reproduce LaCour's findings, instead discovering multiple "statistical irregularities" in the data. Additionally, LaCour's claims of having received funding for the study from three organizations—the Ford Foundation, the Williams Institute at UCLA, and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund—have been denied by the organizations themselves.

Following Green's retraction, Science published an "editorial expression of concern..." "...to alert our readers to the fact that serious questions have been raised about the validity of findings in the LaCour and Green paper."

LaCour is standing by his findings. The graduate student tweeted on Wednesday that "I'm gathering evidence and relevant information so I can provide a single comprehensive response."

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) condemned the mainstream media for uncritically trumpeting the study and blasted the "questionable" methodology of studies purporting to show overwhelming social benefits from redefining marriage.

Read more here.