Scientists and Editors are Standing Firm amid Attacks, after Publishing "Negative" Study on Homosexuality

Fr. Mark Hodges : Oct 13, 2016
LifeSiteNews.com

On Monday, the editors of the New Atlantis responded to the gay attack in a must-read publication entitled "Lies and Bullying from the Human Rights Campaign."

(Baltimore, MD)—[LifeSiteNews] Editors of the New Atlantis, a scholarly journal "devoted to science and technology issues and their relation to social and political affairs," are defending two authors against an onslaught of gay accusations. (Photo via LifeSiteNews.com)

A review of research studies and scientific literature on homosexuality summarized by Dr. Lawrence S. Mayer and Dr. Paul R. McHugh, entitled "Sexuality and Gender: Findings from the Biological, Psychological, and Social Sciences," has come under vehement condemnation by the pro-homosexual advocacy group, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

Dr. Mayer is a scholar in residence in the Department of Psychiatry and Dr. McHugh is University distinguished professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

According to its website, the Human Rights Campaign is "the largest national lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer" (LGBTQ) gay activist organization and political lobbying group in the United States, claiming 1.5 million members and a budget of $49 million annually.

In August, the New Atlantis published Mayer and McHugh's study, which "examin(ed) research from the biological, psychological, and social sciences" and concluded that "some of the most frequently heard claims about sexuality and gender are not supported by scientific evidence."

Merely calling into question the foundations of sexual orientation rhetoric unleashed a firestorm of condemnation from leaders in the gay community. The HRC responded to the New Atlantis by publishing a criticism of the research review, characterizing Drs. Mayer and McHugh as "Anti-Trans All-Stars," and "anti-LGBTQ" promoters seeking to "marginalize" and mock people. They accuse the conservative authors of intentional "misleading statements" and "biased interpretations."

On Monday, the editors of the New Atlantis responded to the gay attack by delineating where the HRC got it wrong, in a special publication entitled "Lies and Bullying from the Human Rights Campaign."

"The Human Rights Campaign repeatedly distorts our recent New Atlantis report," the editors wrote in the brief introduction. "Most of the HRC document is an exercise in distortion."

The editors then tackled some of the HRC's distortion. 

To the HRC accusation that the New Atlantis report "falsely implies that children are 'encouraged to become transgender,'" the editors responded, "The report states that there is 'no evidence that all children who express gender-atypical thoughts or behavior should be encouraged to become transgender.'" Rather, the New Atlantis report cites the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and advises physicians and family members caution in assuming that gender-non-conforming children are in fact transgender.

Ironically, the HRC accusations later include insisting—contrary to an American Psychological Association top researcher Dr. Lisa Diamond, co-editor-in-chief of the APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology—that "therapy can't change sexual orientation" and gender transition for children "is a crucial step towards well-being."

Click here to continue reading the editors scathing comebacks to criticism.