It was a lively, spirited discussion.What’s funny is they called at the very last moment, giving me like 15 minutes to collect my thoughts on the matter.  You can listen here.

A concise summary of the some important and impressive new research.

It’s curious how conservative Christians who hold definite beliefs about Jesus and His church are denounced as unthinking and rigidly dogmatic. But here we have Newsweek giving Mr. Sullivan their front page to do just that. The issue features Portlandia Jesus standing in the middle of the street in Times Square looking like he’s staring at a huge Juicy Couture advertisement. Apparently Hipster Jesus wears his crown of thorns when he’s out and about on the town, and despite being all wise, doesn’t appreciate that standing in the middle of Broadway is not wise.

And Tina Brown, in her introduction to the story, also sets the record straight for all believers as to who Jesus is. She informs Jesus “never spoke of homosexuality and abortion.”  Indeed… except when he made it very clear in Matthew 19 that humanity is created male and female, each is for the other, and the man is to leave mom and dad and cling, not to his spouse generically, but to his wife. He doesn’t leave much room for homosexuality.  He also emphatically guided us on how we should think about abortion in Luke 17, saying that for anyone bringing harm to a little one, it would be better for them to be thrown into the sea wearing a large, cement necklace. Strong language. And abortion is designed to bring lethal harm the littlest of these.

Brown then wonders “why religion has been so thoroughly hijacked by political hucksters and ‘faith-based’ hypocrites bereft of basic humanity.” Bereft of basic humanity? Seriously?

• Does she mean all those churches who feed the poor and dispossessed every day in nearly every major city in the United States?

• Or those churches that responded to the victims of Katrina faster, better and more personally than anyone else, including the government?

• Or those churches that host various 12 Step programs for those struggling with addictions on any given evening in their classrooms?

• Or those that provide day schools for all manner of children, including the poor, and often at financial loss?

• Or perhaps she meant those crazy Catholics that run very efficient, effective medical care to the indigent through their wonderful hospitals in every major US city?

It is as if the new DailyBeast/Tina Brown Newsweek is telling orthodox Christians, “don’t read our magazine because we will only ridicule you and your faith in our pages.”

At least, that’s message I get.

This is from 1969, black and white. Of course, Ian Anderson is the main one to watch (check the craziest dance you have ever seen at 1:08), but also dig the bass player. Can’t wander too far from his amp for his short cord. And look a the audience, sitting there, minds blown, like they are at a orchestral concert. And check the name on the drum kit.

There’s never been anyone like Ian, and he’s only 22 here. (And he never did drugs!)

You can find the analysis here.

• Show 1 – Cohabitation: The New Normal

• Show 2 – Cohabitation: Good or Bad?

• Show 3 – Cohabitation’s Impact on the Family

They do not like that media channels have asked any of us about our views on anything having to do with homosexuality and that our answers do not line up with GLAAD orthodoxy. Therefore, they believe we should be silenced. They say their effort is only to hold commentators like us “accountable” for what we say, but nowhere on their site do they try to correct or refute anything that any of us have said.

Most of the comments by the folks they are targeting are just plain, everyday views that many, non-hateful, not-bigoted, good citizens hold about homosexuality and so-called same-sex marriage. GLAAD is upset that people would say such things out loud and any media source – liberal, conservative, mainstream, Christian, Jewish, whatever – might print them. Read their “smoking-gun” evidence listed under each targeted spokesperson for yourself and see how many of them are really a threat to civil society. A few might not demonstrate the smartest reasoning in the world, but if we ban all unrefined quotes in the media…

Most serve to demonstrate GLAAD’s unreasonableness. They take Jim Daly, President of Focus on the Family, to task for having the audacity to say some gay activists want to limit the speech of others. And yes, he did say it.

“Unfortunately, this is becoming a pattern for those that oppose Christianity. They want to control our speech in the public square… It really is a form of fascism.”

Imagine. Doubtful GLAAD fully appreciates the irony of their selection of this quote.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—
and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

-Isaiah 11: 1-5

Yes, baby's shirt: "I was hatched by a couple of chicks."

Here are two important research reports I’ve just completed on the most recent published literature on same-sex parented families. It reveals very important aspects of the research that serious students of the family should know about, but that major media outlets have missed by clearly doing journalism by press-release.

The two reports are also here and here.

1)      The first analysis looks at the current research (conducted by same-sex family friendly scholars) showing that girls raised by lesbian moms are dramatically more likely to report identifying as either bi- or lesbian than girls raised in heterosexual-headed households (49% vs. 7% respectively).  The most recent study explains “daughters of lesbian mothers were significantly more likely to have had same-sex contact” compared with peers from heterosexual-parented homes. Boys in a few studies were more sexually reticent.

Another study showed that 64% of young adults from lesbian homes ever considered same-sex erotic relationships, while only 17% from heterosexual families did.

The lesbian-parented girls are also remarkably more likely to have used emergency contraception (35% vs. 5%) indicating a higher prevalence of careless and opportunistic sexual activity.

Specifically, young adults raised by lesbian moms are:

• More than 2xs more likely to have s-s attraction
• 2xs more likely to identify as gay/lesbian/bi
• 3xs more likely to consider s-s relationships
• 7xs more likely to have considered s-s relationships in past
• 6xs more likely to have had s-s relationships

2)      The second analysis examines the background and methodology of the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS).  This is the longest, largest study of same-sex families to date, and most of the research on same-sex parenting coming out today issues from this study.

Therefore, it’s important to examine the methodological strengths and weaknesses of this study.  This makes for quite a story that’s not been told anywhere.  The methodology is disturbingly poor.

All the lesbian couples (representing 84 families) are, by design of the study, strongly connected to lesbian political culture, as they were all drafted into the study through admitted lesbian-activist channels, coming only from the Boston, DC, and San Fran areas.  Most are highly educated, 82% upper-to-middle class, and 94% are White.  Most were in their mid-thirties at start of study and the birth of the children of the home.  What’s more, 80% of the study participants said – when asked – they would choose to be lesbians if such a thing were a choice.

The study is structured so that the study population are highly politically-motivated mothers, knowing they are participating in an important lesbian study. And the methodology has the moms self-report much of their children’s well-being.  Given this, the study shows – and has been reported widely – that these children do better in many ways than children with mothers and fathers! And while the break-up rates of these mothers were much higher than mom/dad homes (56% vs. 36%), the moms report their children showed NO adverse effects from the family break-up!!  Of course, both of these findings are completely at odds with the larger body of literature on family form and child well-being.