Bad Journalism

This is yet another entry regarding homosexuality and the ongoing debate. I know my blog was supposed to contain a greater variety of topics, but I am apparently stuck on this one. So yes, bear with me once again.

This topic isn't something that came to me recently and I am sure it isn't new to anyone with a brain. This entry's aim is to acknowledge the problem that occurs on both sides of a debate: the problem of bad journalism leading to misinformation.

I was reading one of the Catholic Online articles (I want people to know that I have stopped my consistent visits to the publication, mostly due to what I write about in this note). I was upset. My angst was not due to the arguments the author was making. It was from the comments that people made following the article. The content of the article was not really controversial. What people were saying most definitely was.

The following is an excerpt from what I read:

As one of our people here has pointed out to me.

Same Sex attraction has been put on the "disorder" list again yet the Same Sex Community is in denial of this.
Doesnt this also say that maybe it wouldnt be a good idea to marry since it is not in the same league as one man one women marriage?
We do meet same sex folks at the website: Courage Apostolate.
We do love you and we do learn from this sight.
Maybe you should take a look at this sight?

The Courage website does not encourage anything.
I suggest you look at this website.

You will not succeed in your endeavors.
Why is it the same sex community is so defensive of the possibility that they might be wrong about this because they are disordered after all?

Just a suggestion on my part.

Here is another comment from that same person:

What I gather being Same Sex is still considered a disorder.

How come they sugarcoat this fact?
So the question hasnt been answered yet. Therefore marriage equality isnt even on par with marriage.
I hope someday we get the real facts on the issue of same sex attraction medically and scientifically someday.
Right now we dont have real clear answers other than those found at Courage Apostolate.
Also Father John Harvey wrote an excellent book The Catholic Church clear answers to difficult questions.
I think its been helpful to me understanding our brothers and sisters who suffer this dilemma or disorder.

The comments above are from a woman whose writings I've seen before. I actually like her a lot, and she seems to have an interest in obtaining the truth, and not just the Catholic truth. However, her search for truth is enveloped by the teachings of the Catholic Church. She had written that she believed homosexuality to be a disorder, because everything she had read on the subject pointed in that direction. She does usually end her posts by saying that she wanted to hear other ideas, except not in the ones above.

First off, if everything this woman is reading is declaring homosexuality a raging disorder, then she is obviously not reading EVERYTHING. A person would have to be sheltered to a great extreme to not realize there are other pieces of literature out there that view homosexuality in a completely different way. Perhaps some of these people are THAT sheltered that they really cannot comprehend that. However, I do not believe this particular woman, and most people in general are that removed from society's grasp that they are not able to hear or read other viewpoints. Basically, what it comes down to, in my opinion, is biased selection and willful blindness towards these other viewpoints and facts.

This is where I find myself to be most contemptuous of the Catholic Online and other religious publications. They are dealing out opinions as facts, they are lacking in their research and they are making biased, unsubstantiated conclusions without looking at other facts.

As an aside, I want to make it clear that I do not stoop to entertain the whole homosexuality-as-disorder debate. I think it is old, fatigued, and has been proven over and over again to be false. It might not be the norm to be gay, but abnormality does not equal disorder. Honestly, whenever I encounter a person who asserts something like that (I rarely do, because I think that viewpoint is really that dead), I tell them that I can't argue against a point that is not worthy of debate, that is so unsubstantiated and so carelessly projected. If a person really believes something so ridiculous, they are beyond the ability to have a reasoned discussion on the matter. Why? Because their facts are whacked.

However, unfortunately, there are those rare few (they all seem to flock to Catholic Online) that continuously assert these ridiculous positions that have no basis in science or fact. Yes, they have basis in their religion, but religion can never really be unbiased, especially a religion as old and as poorly moderated as the Catholic Church.

What shocks me is that people are so quick to support their conclusions with what I see as factually shaky support. What shocks me even more is that these people are finding words out there, published words, that make these edgy and ridiculous statements.

This is what gets me. I understand that people have a a desire to learn and discover new information. This day in age, there is literature out there that supports any viewpoint and it is easily disseminated via the internet. Of course, anytime a piece of literature is read for information's sake, one must ask the question: how reliable is this?

I took it upon myself to do a little research into what this woman was saying. In all honesty, I was a little concerned because I hadn't read any scientific studies regarding homosexuality and I was fearful that maybe this woman was right. Maybe they did put homosexuality back on the so-called "disorder list." My research showed no such shift. From what I know, the APA is still the major psychological organization that most doctors and therapists follow. I don't know how that works exactly, because I know there are other academic and professional publications out there.

From what I can tell the above commentator was horribly confused. After reading some of the stuff on her cited websites, I was also confused. She gets her information from the website of the Courage Apostolate (CA from here on) which is an organization with Vatican recognition and also the National Assoc. for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH).

CA is not considered, and it does not consider itself, a reparative therapy group. From what I can tell, and from what I have heard from other people there is no "changing" gays and lesbians into heterosexual. Further, I have read elsewhere that the Catholic Church does consider homosexuality to be changeable to a certain degree (it should be noted, however, that this is in part due to the fact that CA does not believe in using the terms "gay" or "lesbian" or "homosexual" because they denote a certain permanence. They use the phrase "person with homosexual attraction." This interesting use of terminology prevents them from being a reparative therapy group because they can't change straight a person that was never gay or lesbian). Personally I do not have any personal problems with the CA simply because its a church sponsored organization basing its instruction on church teachings. They do not tout suspect statistics and studies as scientific fact, at least not on the website, and they do acknowledge that homosexuality is a deep-seated trait of a person that sometimes cannot be quelled. They use the word "sometimes" which I do not personally like, but basically its a group that trying to get its members to cope with being homosexual and live a celibate life. They are not trying to change them into heterosexuals (it should be noted that this is something that groups affiliated with the Mormon Church of Latter Day Saints claim to do, a claim that I think is despicable, immoral, and irresponsible given the importance of marriage in our society and to Christian churches).

NARTH, on the other hand, is a group with which I have major problems. It claims itself to be a secular organization devoid of religious or biblical persuasion or bias. It holds that homosexuality is a disorder, it should be re-categorized as such, and, with treatment, it can be changed. First off, NARTH's scholarship and research generally has a religious undertone, despite its claims of secularism. One of its leaders testified in a gay adoption case in Arkansas. The judge in that case stated on the record that his opinion was highly suspect and could not be trusted due to his obvious bias against homosexuality demonstrated though his obvious religiousity. Secondly, NARTH is in complete opposition to the medical/scientific community at large. There seems to be a great deal of professional and societal opposition to what NARTH advocates.

I've had some run-ins with NARTH-related research and studies. My former employer and instructor, Professor Teresa Collett, sometimes cited their studies in her articles. Maggie Gallagher, and major presence in the Traditional Marriage Movement and the leader of National Org. for Marriage (NOM) also cites NARTH's studies. NARTH is certainly not some crazy, radical group on the sidelines. It does have a professional following. Although the psychiatric community at large generally avoids them as a person would an embarrassing cousin or uncle, it is not a group that is largely ignored. However, just because they aren't ignored doesn't mean they have any scientific credibility in the community.

Going back to the comment and this woman's dependence on these two bastions of anti-homosexual rhetoric, what I read was vastly different from what this woman actually put in her comments. In no place did either website state that homosexuality is now, again, considered a disorder. NARTH certainly suggests that it should and it cites studies and research that support that conclusion. CA is a little different though. The CA describes homosexuality as an "objective disorder" a phrase the website openly declares a philosophical term, meaning homosexuality does not comport with morality. The website acknowledges the fact that psychology understands homosexuality, but that their view is different.

The paragraph where the above was stated was a little murky and confusing. Yes, its words did ultimately say that the psychological community at large does not consider homosexuality a disorder, but it said it in a confusing way:

At Courage, we choose not to label people according to an inclination which, although psychologically understandable, is still objectively disordered.

I find this statement particularly misleading. There is a big difference between a medical or mental disorder and a "disorder" that exists because it goes against a certain part of morality (a religious morality at that). The term "objectively disordered" is not really isolated nor described in a way that separates it from its medical uses. I would have been fine had the CA went and said "although the psychological community and its standards state otherwise, we believe homosexuality to be that of an 'objective disorder,' which is not the same as a disorder listed under a medical or scientific treatise." However, they didn't say this. What bothers me is that this woman who read this somehow translated that to mean the American medical community at large has declared homosexuality a disorder. Of course, the CA did not actually go and say such things, but the language was highly suspect and unclear.

The above situation is what I call "bad journalism." Published material that invokes a controversial debate should put its statements in a context. Quite frankly, I think its a little appalling that CA is using the word "disorder" when what they are describing is not a disorder, technically speaking, but rather something that does not comport to the Christian faith. Yeah, they qualified the word with "objective," however, what does that actually mean to people with lower education levels or to people who are looking up this information with the sole purpose of trying to prove homosexuality is a medical disorder? It apparently meant nothing this the woman who posted those comments and most likely not a lot to other people who read it. The term "disorder" is being used as a term of art, like a person calling someone or something "retarded." Although I would like to say that the woman who commented is an idiot and she was stupid for her interpretation, I do not actually believe that. I've actually had discourse with her through our comments and she is actually a really nice gal and she generally seems interested in her truth-seeking endeavors. Of course, based on her writing I have to admit she does not seem to have the greatest comprehension level (she does say some really weird things that come out of nowhere). In no way, however, do I think she's incompetent.

Part of what bothers me about this is that it seems like intentional misdirection for the purpose of proving a point. I will completely admit that homosexual rights activists do the same thing all the time. It is unlikely you are ever going to go to HRC or UCLA and find a study that tends to prove homosexuality is a disorder. More analogous would be finding a pro-gay website that featured kind words about Christian religion members, or at least an unbiased portrayal. I see it all the time on blogs and in in the comments of liberal gay rights articles. Liberals are constantly calling the marriage traditionalists "bigots" or "bible thumping jerks" or whatever else. I do think this is very improper. However, I feel like the conservative side of this debate tends to do it a lot more than the left. In particular, I feel like the conservative side of the debate tends to push out these slanted, insulting viewpoints and sees it as fair play simply because its clouded in religion; they must because it's God's demand. People may disagree, but I really find the words on the CA website to be conveniently unclear and inarticulate and I get the feeling that it might be intentional. How can reputable organizations and the people that make up them publish such garbage?