December 13, 2013

The following excerpts are from the article “Wayne ‘It’s Ok to Have Sex with Aids Infected Partners’ Besen Launches Junk Science Website” on the Voice of Voiceless website: “Friday the 5th of December 2013 marked a new low in the pursuit of scientific research on LGBT issues. Wayne ‘It’s OK to Have Sex with AIDS-Infected Partners’ Besen, the founder and creator of the hilariously named hate group Truth Wins Out, announced yet another creative effort to promote “scientifically proven truth” concerning LGBT issues. His new website, LGBTscience.com, also touts the “harmful” and “unscientific” nature of reparative therapies.”

… “Considering Mr. Besen’s stated efforts, it is astonishing that he and his researchers offer only one point of view on their new website. They appear to have made a common error seen in many overly biased research efforts. They only consider and promote research that concludes that sexuality is naturally inborn and unchangeable. Besen and his colleagues never once consider an opposite point of view, or the thoughts, beliefs, and feelings of ex-gay clients who have written many authentic testimonies of actual therapeutic change, not do they acknowledge the 100 years of scientific research that shows that some men and women do experience change, and that efforts to help them do not invariably result in harm.”

“Besen and his ‘researchers’ violate one of the most fundamental and sacrosanct standards of truth in scientific research; the open-minded consideration of all sides of an issue and consideration of all applicable past and current evidence. In fact, they discount and condemn all research that does not align with their pre-existing conclusions. A credible researcher would equally consider both sides of an issue without forcing the goals of their agenda onto the scientific community or the public in order to arrive at preconceived conclusion.”

… “I cannot help but be reminded of similar scientific errors within one of the world’s most prestigious professional organizations. The methods of LGBTscience.com represent exactly the kind of scientific performance that has become common within the American Psychological Association (APA).”
‘The APA entered into a scientific blunder several years ago when attempting to consider evidence of the efficacy of sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE). In their 2009 Task Force Report on SOCE, the APA selected task force committee members to evaluate all the research on SOCE over the past five decades. Every single one of these selected task force members were gay, (with the possible exception of one who is non the less a gay-affirmative therapist). By any scientific standard of sound research practices, this conscious disallowance of any committee member holding an opposite viewpoint represents gross bias, especially when considering such a significant and complex issue as sexuality. When this kind of research and reporting takes place, scientists become politicians with an agenda, and the science becomes mythology.” …