Rocky article uncritically repeated Dobson assertion regarding same-sex parenting

An article in the Rocky Mountain News repeated the dubious assertion by Focus on the Family's James Dobson that “children do best on every measure of well-being” when raised by a married mother and father. An American Psychological Association report indicates there are no psychological studies showing that children raised by gay or lesbian parents are significantly “disadvantaged” relative to children of heterosexual parents.

A February 20 Rocky Mountain News article by religion beat reporter Jean Torkelson about a protest at Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family uncritically repeated founder James Dobson's dubious statement that “children do best on every measure of well-being” when raised by married, heterosexual parents. In fact, as Colorado Media Matters has noted (here and here), a study of lesbian and gay parenting by the American Psychological Association (APA) concluded that there are no studies finding that the children of lesbian or gay parents are “disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents.” The News also mischaracterized one expert's objection to Dobson's distortions of the expert's research.

As the News reported, “A lesbian couple faces trespassing charges following a protest Monday at Focus on the Family over founder James Dobson's views on same-sex parents. Robynne Sapp and Dotti Berry, of Blaine, Wash., said they wanted to see Dobson and demand that he 'publicly recant' what they called false statements he made in an essay in a December issue of Time magazine.” The News further reported:

Dobson's essay in Time, “Two Mommies Is One Too Many,” addressed the announcement by Vice President Dick Cheney's pregnant daughter that she intends to raise her child with her lesbian partner.

In it, Dobson said that “children do best on every measure of well-being when raised by their married mother and father.”

[...]

The women also object to Dobson's reference in the essay to a book by Yale professor Kyle Pruett, Fatherneed: Why Father Care is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child.

Pruett also has protested Dobson's use of his book because he doesn't reach the same conclusions about families as Dobson.

After quoting Sapp as saying Dobson's message “diminishes us,” the article reported Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger's comment that "[w]e don't believe standing up for traditional families diminishes (anybody)." Schneeberger also said that “it's standard procedure to quote research data without asking permission,” according to the News.

The News failed to note, however, that the APA concluded in a 2005 study of lesbian and gay parenting that "[n]ot a single study has found children of lesbian or gay parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents." The study also found that “the evidence to date suggests that home environments provided by lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those provided by heterosexual parents to support and enable children's psychosocial growth.”

Furthermore, contrary to the News' contention that Pruett objected to Dobson's use of his research because he didn't “reach the same conclusions,” Pruett and other experts in fact have accused Dobson of “cherry-pick[ing]” and misusing their research to denounce same-sex parenting, as noted by Colorado Media Matters. As the weblog Truth Wins Out noted, Pruett stated in a letter responding to Dobson's essay in Time:

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. On page 134 of the book you cite in your piece, I wrote, “What we do know is that there is no reason for concern about the development or psychological competence of children living with gay fathers. It is love that binds relationships, not sex.”

The News also reported that Schneeberger “challenged the women to come up with anything in Dobson's writings that shows him to be negative toward gay people.” As Media Matters for America has documented, Dobson once predicted on his syndicated radio show that allowing same-sex marriage in the United States would lead to “group marriage,” “marriage between daddies and little girls,” or “marriage between a man and his donkey.”

From the February 20 Rocky Mountain News article by Jean Torkelson, “Lesbian pair escorted from Focus property: Couple protests Dobson's essay on same-sex parents”:

COLORADO SPRINGS -- A lesbian couple faces trespassing charges following a protest Monday at Focus on the Family over founder James Dobson's views on same-sex parents.

Robynne Sapp and Dotti Berry, of Blaine, Wash., said they wanted to see Dobson and demand that he “publicly recant” what they called false statements he made in an essay in a December issue of Time magazine.

The women said they took a guided tour of the Focus grounds, hand in hand, but then sat down on the floor of the lobby and refused to leave until they saw Dobson. Colorado Springs police were called, and the women were escorted off the property, said Focus spokesman Gary Schneeberger.

[...]

Dobson's essay in Time, “Two Mommies Is One Too Many,” addressed the announcement by Vice President Dick Cheney's pregnant daughter that she intends to raise her child with her lesbian partner.

In it, Dobson said that “children do best on every measure of well-being when raised by their married mother and father.”

His message “diminishes us,” Sapp said. “Dr. Dobson has been misrepresenting gay and lesbian families, claiming we're sinful and not fit to raise children and dangerous and not worthy of equal protection under the law.”

The women also object to Dobson's reference in the essay to a book by Yale professor Kyle Pruett, Fatherneed: Why Father Care is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child.

Pruett also has protested Dobson's use of his book because he doesn't reach the same conclusions about families as Dobson.

Schneeberger, however, challenged the women to come up with anything in Dobson's writings that shows him to be negative toward gay people.

“We don't believe standing up for traditional families diminishes (anybody),” Schneeberger said, adding that it's standard procedure to quote research data without asking permission.