As we noted last week, James Dobson recently took to the pages of Time Magazine to discuss the news that Mary Cheney and her partner are expecting a child. In attempting to make the case that “we should not enter into yet another untested and far-reaching social experiment, this one driven by the desires of same-sex couples to bear and raise children,” Dobson cited work done by New York University Professor Carol Gilligan that he claimed bolstered his argument.
Only, as it turned out, Gilligan was “mortified” by Dobson’s distortion of her work and demanded that he “cease and desist from quoting my research in the future.” (Video of Gilligan blasting Dobson can been found here.)
In his Time column, Dobson also cited a book written by Dr. Kyle Pruett of Yale Medical School to back his position – and now Pruett has stepped forward as well to blast Dobson for distorting his work as well:
Dr. Dobson, I was startled and disappointed to see my work referenced in the current Time Magazine piece in which you opined that social science, such as mine, supports your convictions opposing lesbian and gay parenthood. I write now to insist that you not quote from my research in your media campaigns, personal or corporate, without previously securing my permission. You cherry-picked a phrase to shore up highly (in my view) discriminatory purposes. This practice is condemned in real science, common though it may be in pseudo-science circles. There is nothing in my longitudinal research or any of my writings to support such conclusions.
In this piece, Dobson cited exactly two experts by name, claiming that their work supported his view that “the two most loving women in the world cannot provide a daddy for a little boy--any more than the two most loving men can be complete role models for a little girl.”
Both have now openly repudiated Dobson’s attempt to distort their work for this own discriminatory ends.
