Kill the Gays Bill advanced in Ugandan Parliament

Some information on how American evangelicals are reacting to hearing the "Kill the Gays" bill in Uganda has passed in the legislature and may soon become law.

Tony Perkins: Uganda President ‘Leading His Nation’ With ‘Kill The Gays’ Bill
Scott Lively: Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill’s Expected Passage A ‘Huge Blessing’
American Family Association Leader Praises Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Law

Electoral "over-anxiousness"

I have been really anxious over this upcoming election.  In fact, someone told me that I was, "over-anxious" about it.  I guess I have to admit that's true; I have been pretty wound up about it.  I watch political news all day and scour the internet for new stories, polls, and maps that might shed some light on the outcome of the election. 

I can't help myself.  I've never been this nervous about an  election, even the last one.  The truth is, I am terrified that Romney will win and our country will go to hell in a handbasket.  Since I am not a non-profit organization, I can advocate for a candidate, and I am asking everyone I know to vote for Obama.

Spirituality correlates to better mental health regardless of religion, say researchers

Spirituality correlates to better mental health regardless of religion, say researchers

This is an interesting article on mental health and spirituality.  I am especially intrigued by the part about forgiveness.

The MU study used the results of three surveys to determine if correlations existed among participants' self-reported mental and physical health, personality factors, and spirituality in Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Catholics and Protestants. Across all five faiths, a greater degree of spirituality was related to better mental health, specifically lower levels of neuroticism and greater extraversion. Forgiveness was the only spiritual trait predictive of mental health after personality variables were considered.

War on Drugs moves to clinics instead of prisons

White House Funds Move of 'War on Drugs' to Clinics

Original story HERE.  From MedPage Today. Note: Registration Required

By David Pittman, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today

Published: July 25, 2012

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is awarding $22 million in grants to further efforts to move the war on drugs from court rooms and prisons to emergency rooms and clinics, the White House announced Wednesday.

Three states -- Arizona, Iowa, and New Jersey -- will receive up to $7.5 million over 5 years to screen for and treat people with a variety of substance abuse disorders in different primary care settings and emergency rooms. The program, dubbed Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT), has operated since 1992 but has received renewed emphasis from the Obama administration.

"We know that prevention works, treatment helps, and people get better," Pamela Hyde, administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said at a press conference.

The Obama administration views drug addiction as a disease and is using a growing scientific literature on addiction to treat drug abuse, Hyde said. Its aim is to treat addiction through the healthcare system as its primary form of drug control, rather than prosecuting drug offenders with criminal charges.

SBIRT, which has screened more than 1.5 million people across the country, works by conducting a simple screen on every patient a hospital or clinic treats. Patients who test for abusing substances such as drugs and alcohol are given brief counseling, which mostly consists of a 5-to-10-minute educational talk. Those who are deemed high-risk are referred to a specialist for additional treatment.

A core principle of the program is to integrate mental and physical health screening and treatment, officials said. Hyde noted that 92% of mental health patients who have substance abuse issues don't receive the care they need.

Law enforcement leaders are on board with this "medicalization" policy and are even leading the way. "This program represents the future of drug control policy in our nation," said Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy.

At Boston Medical Center, 18% of the more than 143,000 patients that healthcare providers screened over a 6-year period beginning in 2006 tested positive for unhealthy substance abuse, said internist Daniel Alford, MD, who runs the SBIRT program in the state. The providers found that 3% needed intervention. After federal funding ended last year, the state of Massachusetts picked up the SBIRT program.

Primary care physicians find the program simple to use because in many cases screening can be conducted with a single question: "How many times in the past year have you had five or more drinks (four or more drinks for women and men over age 65) in a day?" Answers of one or more are considered positive.

"It makes it much more practical in a busy healthcare setting," Alford said at the press conference. Any health worker can conduct the screening test, but it's mostly given by social workers.

He likened the intervention of catching people early in their substance abuse problems to the way a physician would treat those with abnormal kidney function well before they need dialysis and their disease gets out of hand.

In 2008, SBIRT established reimbursement codes that are being used by an increasing number of state Medicaid programs and private insurers to help compensate the substance abuse treatment providers are giving.

Data show the method is proving to work, supporters say. At 6-month follow up, injectable drug use was cut in half. There were improvements in housing rates, arrest rates and unprotected sex incidence.

With the SBIRT funding for Arizona, Iowa, and New Jersey, the program will be in place in areas with high numbers of low-income people and traditionally underinsured who receive care at federally qualified health centers and other clinics. The three states were chosen through a competitive grant process.

EPA Drops Rule to Require Basic Information on Agricultural Sources of Water Pollution | OMB Watch

EPA Drops Rule to Require Basic Information on Agricultural Sources of Water Pollution | OMB Watch

This about huge beef, swine, chicken, and turkey operations.  They will no longer be required to report on operations that produce water and soil pollution.  Animal waste is the largest source of water pollution in the U.S.

Louisiana uses public funds for religious schools

Funding Fundamentalism: Student Documents Louisiana Voucher Subsidy For Creationism

Jul 20, 2012 in Wall of Separation |

There is not a doubt that Louisiana’s voucher program can only be justified under a gross misinterpretation of the separation of church and state.

By Noah Fitzgerel
Aug. 1 will be a day that marks Louisiana’s continued effort to bore a hole though the wall of separation between church and state. That Wednesday is when the state’s new school voucher program kicks in and private schools that teach religion become eligible for taxpayer support.
Zack Kopplin, a Louisiana native and student at Rice University who has fought attempts to lower the church-state wall, published an article discussing research he has conducted on the implications for science education.

Wrote Kopplin, “My review of the Governor's voucher program identifies at least 20 schools who use a creationist curriculum or blatantly promote creationism on their websites. These 19 schools have been awarded 1,365 voucher slots and can receive as much as $11,602,500 in taxpayer money annually.”

I shuddered as I scanned the article. It’s troubling that a state government is giving almost $12 million to sectarian institutions to teach religion in science class (as well as other courses) instead of designating that money to its own public school system.

See rest of the story HERE.

Alzheimer's disease stopped in its tracks!

The results of this study are so amazing, I am posting the link to it on both my blogs.  Just keep in mind

• This study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
• Note that this very small study reports long term stabilization of Alzheimer's disease symptoms with IVIG treatment over a period of 36 months.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AAIC/33780

Kirk Cameron makes anti-gay marriage video for NOM

Kirk Cameron makes anti-gay video for National Organization for Marriage (NOM) a hate group registered with the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Controversial Parenting Study Reaches the Courts

The debunked study that accused same-sex parents of being inferior to their straight counterparts is now being wielded by proponents of DOMA in courts.

Controversial Parenting Study Reaches the Courts | Advocate.com

Size Bias Does Not Justify Bullying | Teaching Tolerance

Size Bias Does Not Justify Bullying | Teaching Tolerance

Infants living with dogs show healthier immune response

A recent Finnish study concluded that having a dog in the house with an infant for the first year produced a protective effect in regard to illness in the infant.  The researchers speculated that this effect was because of exposure to a variety of pathogens which helped the infants' immune systems develop earlier.  There was some evidence that exposure to cats had a similar effect, but in a larger study this effect was negated.

The most significant effect was found in households where the dog was present up to six hours per day in the house.  The researchers concluded that it was likely that when the dog was present in the household for only six hours, that meant it was outside the rest of the time gathering pathogens on its coat and paws, etc.  So, dogs that did not spend a considerable amount of time outside as well as inside did not provide as great a protective effect, yet the effect was still reported in a less significant form.

According to the study, "Children who had a dog at home had fewer respiratory tract symptoms than children with no dog contacts, and children having dog contacts at home had less frequent otitis and tended to need fewer courses of antibiotics than children without such contacts."

This is great news for pet owners who worry about exposing their young children to pathogens carried on the fur and body of the pets.  It appears that such exposure actually provides a protective effect instead of the opposite.  Be happy and love both your children and pets in the family.

Primary source: Pediatrics
Source reference:
Bergroth E, et al. "Respiratory tract illnesses during the first year of life: Effect of dog and cat contacts" Pediatrics 2012; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2011-2825.

More than 50% of LGB students face homophobic bullying in schools

More than half of lesbian, gay and bisexual pupils in Scottish secondary schools experience homophobic bullying, according to a new report.

The Stonewall Scotland study also found that a quarter (26%) of them have attempted to take their own life, while more than half (54%) deliberately harm themselves.

Less than a third (31%) said that their school responds quickly to homophobic bullying behaviour.

Read the rest of the article here.

The Affordable Care Act in brief

Okay, I am not an expert on the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), so I got this information from www.obamacarefacts.com.  I just wanted to give a little background information on the ACA, because it is going to effect most of us  in some way or another, and probably already has.  It has been in force for two years already, so there you go.

• ObamaCare, Obama Care and Health Care for America are all the same thing. (it is an extension of the Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act and ongoing efforts to reform the health care industry.)

• Some aspects of Obamacare health care reform are already enacted. The Affordable Care Act was signed 2 years ago, I bet you didn't even notice unless you needed coverage and didn't have it. The Affordable Care Act requires that insurance plans cover preventative serves and stops insurance companies form dropping you when you are sick… Why would we need that if the system was working?

• ObamaCare is a hot button political issue and both sides of the isle will try to persuade you for or against it. You need THE FACTS on ObamaCare and the Health Care For America Plan.

• ObamaCare's goal is to provide affordable health insurance for all US citizens.

•  ObamaCare does not replace private insurance or medicaid

• Medicaid will be reformed and expanded in order to help cover more people, especially those below the poverty level.

• ObamaCare aims to improve community health care centers in an effort improve health care for those who cannot afford private health care.

• Affordable health coverage means American's and their families pay what they can afford.

• American Employers need to provide comparable coverage to the Health Care for America Plan or pay a modest and fair Tax to support ObamaCare. (like the current state run unemployment and workers compensation programs)

• If an American or their family chooses not to purchase healthcare through the Health Care for America Act they can buy private insurance.

• The government is by the people and for the people. The health insurance companies are for profit organizations who are for the bottom line and the investors.

• Those with incomes exceeding 250k will be subject to higher taxes. This will help pay for the ObamaCare. As you can imagine this does not make some people happy. Though it's important to note that those making less will not be losing money, rather they will be gaining the option of healthcare.

• ObamaCare aims to make it easier for small businesses to provide coverage to workers by offering Tax Credits to employers who enroll their workers in private healthcare plans.

• One of the main goals of ObamaCare is to ensure that all preventative care will be free on all insurance plans. Private insurance plans that are grand fathered in and are all ready in place will be exempt until they lose their grand fathered status.

Frustration and wanting to work

I have been feeling better than usual for the past few weeks.  That's great right?  Well, it is great, at least compared to how I've felt for the past year.  So I've been spending quite a bit of time looking through the want ads, thinking about how great it would be to find a part-time job.  Then I start thinking about what that would really entail.

I'd have to be able to respond to a set schedule--like getting up at a certain time every day.  Sounds easy enough doesn't it?  I've been doing it for the last couple of weeks, waking up early and sleeping well at night.  If only I could count on that experience.  But in my heart, I know I can't.  I am experiencing this profound improvement in my well-being, because I can sit down and rest whenever I need to.

I have the option of sleeping late if I wake up one morning feeling like I've been hit by a bus, and it WILL happen.  I just don't know when.  How many times can I go through the process of job-search, interviews, and hiring only to work a few months and have to give it all up because of my disabilities?  I want to work.  I want to work so terribly at times that I can hardly stand it, but I am unable to succeed at what the Social Security Administration calls gainful employment. 

This only adds to my symptoms of depression.  So even when I'm feeling relatively good, like I have been lately, I still have to contend with the fact that I will never be able to contribute gainfully to the finances of our household.  I have to fight off the feeling that I am a freeloader in my own home.

No matter how well I feel now, I know it's only a matter of time before I'm hit with another blow from my traitorous body and mind.  That feeling of knowing the other shoe is bound to drop nags at me constantly even when I'm at my best, which used to be great but is now a low mediocre.  It is as if my successful ability to function has gone from a symphony to a barely perceptible hum.

So to all those of you out there who suffer with chronic pain, disability, depression, or all of the above, enjoy the good times, no matter how limited they are.  It isn't going to kill me to fantasize a little about working again, as long as I understand that fantasy is all it is.  I've had my heart broken enough by trying to do something I am no longer capable of doing.  Who knows, maybe someday a miracle cure will come my way.

Regnerus's study blasted by dozens of Ph.D.s and other experts

The recent study by Mark Regnerus that purports to show significant and adverse effects on children raised by same-sex parents has been blasted by the larger community of scholars.  The study, published in Social Science Research, was apparently rushed through the academic review process and the reviewers were primarily individuals involved in either directly or indirectly funding or promoting the study.  Regnerus actually received a $35,000 “planning grant” from the Witherspoon Institute, where NOM’s (National Organization for Marriage, designated an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center [SPLC]) Robert George is a Senior Fellow.  The Witherspoon Institute also has ties to the Family Research Council, another conservative anti-gay, anti-equality organization that has been designated as a hate-group by the SPLC.

I'm going to post the letter first, and then a list of those individuals who completed the initial "peer" review of  Regnerus's study for Social Science Research.  Most of them are associated with NOM, Witherspoon, or have supported a notorious anti-gay marriage document.  The letter follows, with all signatories:

Letter to the editors and advisory editors of Social Science Research

As researchers and scholars, many of whom with extensive experience in quantitative and qualitative research in family structures and child outcomes, we write to raise serious concerns about the most recent issue of Social Science Research and the set of papers focused on parenting by lesbians and gay men. In this regard, we have particular concern about Mark Regnerus’ paper entitled “How different are the adult children of parents who have same-sex relationships? Findings from the New Family Structures Study.”
LGBT parenting is a highly politicized topic. While the presence of a vibrant and controversial public debate should in no way censor scholarship, it should compel the academy to hold scholarship around that topic to our most rigorous standards. We are very concerned that these standards were not upheld in this issue or with this paper, given the apparently expedited process of publication and the decision to publish commentaries on the paper by scholars who were directly involved with the study and have limited experience in LGBT parenting research. We also have serious concerns about the scholarly merit of this paper.
In this letter, we detail the specific concerns that lead us to request that you publicly disclose the reasons for both the expedited peer review process of this clearly controversial paper and the choice of commentators invited to submit critiques. We further request that you invite scholars with specific expertise in LGBT parenting issues to submit a detailed critique of the paper and accompanying commentaries for publication in the next issue of the journal.
We question the process by which this paper was submitted, reviewed, and accepted for publication. The paper was received by the journal on February 1, 2012. A revision was received on February 29, and the paper was accepted on March 12. This suggests that the peer review process and substantive revisions occurred within a period of just five weeks. According to the peer review policy of the Social Science Research website hosted by Elsevier, the first step of the review process is an initial manuscript evaluation by the editor. Once deemed to meet minimum criteria, at least 2 experts are secured for a peer review. The website states that, “Typically manuscripts are reviewed within 2-3 months of submission but substantially longer review times are not uncommon” and that “Revised manuscripts are usually returned to the initial referees upon receipt.” Clearly, Dr. Regnerus’ paper was returned to him very quickly, because he had time to revise the manuscript and get it back to the journal by February 29th. Further, it appears that a second substantive peer review may not have occurred as the paper was accepted just two weeks after the revision was submitted.
The five-week submission to acceptance length was much shorter than all of the other articles published in the July 2012 issue. The average period of review for papers published in this issue was more than a year and the median review time was more than ten months. As we note below, there are substantial concerns about the merits of this paper, and these concerns should have been identified through a thorough and rigorous peer review process.
We further question the selection of commenters for the Regnerus paper. While Cynthia Osborne and Paul Amato are certainly well-respected scholars, they are also both active participants in the Regnerus study. According to her curriculum vitae, Dr. Osborne is a Co-Principal Investigator of the New Family Structure Survey. Dr. Amato served as a paid consultant on the advisory group convened to provide insights into study design and methods. Perhaps more importantly, neither Osborne nor Amato have ever published work that considers LGBT family or parenting issues. A cursory examination of this body of literature would reveal a wide range of scholars who are much more qualified to evaluate the merits of this study and were neither directly involved in the study design nor compensated for that involvement.
We have substantial concerns about the merits of this paper and question whether it actually uses methods and instruments that answer the research questions posed in the paper. The author claims that the purpose of the analysis is to begin to address the question, “Do the children of gay and lesbian parents look comparable to those of their heterosexual counterparts?” (p. 755). He creates several categories of “family type”, including “lesbian mother” and “gay father” as well as “divorced late,” “stepfamily,” and “single-parent.” But, as the author notes, for those respondents who indicated that a parent had a “same-sex relationship,” these categories were collapsed to boost sample size:
That is, a small minority of respondents might fit more than one group. I have, however, forced their mutual exclusivity here for analytic purposes. For example, a respondent whose mother had a same-sex relationship might also qualify in Group 5 or Group 7, but in this case my analytical interest is in maximizing the sample size of Groups 2 and 3 so the respondent would be placed in Group 2 (LMs). Since Group 3 (GFs) is the smallest and most difficult to locate randomly in the population, its composition trumped that of others, even LMs. (There were 12 cases of respondents who reported both a mother and a father having a same-sex relationship; all are analyzed here as GFs, after ancillary analyses revealed comparable exposure to both their mother and father).
By doing this, the author is unable to distinguish between the impact of having a parent who has had a continuous same-sex relationship from the impact of having same-sex parents who broke-up from the impact of living in a same-sex stepfamily from the impact of living with a single parent who may have dated a same-sex partner; each of these groups are included in a single “lesbian mother” or “gay father” group depending on the gender of the parent who had a same-sex relationship. Specifically, this paper fails to distinguish family structure and family instability. Thus, it fails to distinguish, for children whose parents ever had a same-sex relationship experience, the associations due to family structure from the associations due to family stability. However, he does attempt to distinguish family structure from family instability for the children of different-sex parents by identifying children who lived in an intact biological family. To make a group equivalent to the group he labels as having “lesbian” or “gay” parents, the author should have grouped all other respondents together and included those who lived in an intact biological family with those who ever experienced divorce, or whose parents ever had a different-sex romantic relationship. That seems absurd to family structure researchers, yet that type of grouping is exactly what he did with his “lesbian mother” and “gay father” groups.
It should be noted that the analyses also fail to distinguish family structure from family stability for single mothers; this group included both continuously single mothers and those single mothers who had previously experienced a divorce.
The paper employs an unusual method to measure the sexual orientation of the respondents’ parents. Even if the analyses had distinguished family stability from family structure, this paper and its accompanying study could not actually directly examine the impact of having a gay or lesbian parent on child outcomes because the interpretation of the measurement of parental sexual orientation is unclear. The author acknowledges as much when he states:
It is, however, very possible that the same-sex romantic relationships about which the respondents report were not framed by those respondents as indicating their own (or their parent’s own) understanding of their parent as gay or lesbian or bisexual in sexual orientation. Indeed, this is more a study of the children of parents who have had (and in some cases, are still in) same-sex relationships than it is one of children whose parents have self-identified or are ‘‘out’’ as gay or lesbian or bisexual.
Respondents were asked whether their parents had ever had a same-sex relationship. The author then identifies mothers and fathers as “lesbian” or “gay” without any substantiation of parental sexual orientation either by respondents or their parents. Given the author’s stated caveats, it is both inappropriate and factually incorrect for him to refer to these parents as “gay” or “lesbian” throughout the paper.
We are very concerned about the academic integrity of the peer review process for this paper as well as its intellectual merit. We question the decision of Social Science Research to publish the paper, and particularly, to
publish it without an extensive, rigorous peer review process and commentary from scholars with explicit expertise on LGBT family research. The methodologies used in this paper and the interpretation of the findings are inappropriate. The publication of this paper and the accompanying commentary calls the editorial process at Social Science Research, a well-regarded, highly cited social science journal (ranking in the top 15% of Sociology journals by ISI), into serious question. We urge you to publicly disclose the reasons for both the expedited peer review process of this clearly controversial paper and the choice of commentators invited to submit critiques. We further request that you invite scholars with specific expertise in LGBT parenting issues to submit a detailed critique of the paper and accompanying commentaries for publication in the next issue of the journal.
Sociologists and Family Studies Scholars
Silke Aisenbrey, PhD
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Yeshiva University
Katherine R. Allen, PhD
Professor of Human Development, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Eric Anderson, PhD
Professor of Sports Medicine, University of Winchester
Nielan Barnes, PhD
Associate Professor of Sociology, California State University, Long Beach
Amanda K. Baumle, PhD
Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Houston
Debbie Becher
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Barnard College, Columbia University
Mary Bernstein, PhD
Professor of Sociology, University of Connecticut
Natalie Boero, PhD
Associate Professor of Sociology, San Jose State University
H.M.W Bos, PhD
Assitant Professor of Sociology, University of Amsterdam
Lisa D Brush, PhD
Professor of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh
Neal Caren
Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Mary Ann Clawson, PhD
Professor of Sociology, Wesleyan University
Dan Clawson, PhD
Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Philip Cohen, PhD
Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland
D’Lane Compton, PhD
Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of New Orleans
Shelley J. Correll, PhD
Professor of Sociology, Stanford University
David H. Demo, PhD
Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Catherine Donovan PhD
Professor of Social Relations, University of Sunderland
Sinikka Elliott, PhD
Assistant Professor of Sociology, North Carolina State University
Louis Edgar Esparza, PhD
Assistant Professor of Sociology, California State University, Los Angeles
Laurie Essig, PhD
Associate Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies, Middlebury College
Myra Marx Ferree, PhD
Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Tina Fetner, PhD
Associate Professor of Sociology, McMaster University
Jessica Fields, PhD
Associate Professor of Sociology and Sexuality Studies, San Francisco State University
Melissa M. Forbis, PhD
Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Sociology, SUNY Stonybrook
Gary J. Gates, PhD
Williams Distinguished Scholar, Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law
Naomi Gerstel, Phd
Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts
Katherine Giuffre, PhD
Associate Professor of Sociology, Colorado College
Gloria González-López, PhD
Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin
Theodore Greenstein, PhD
Professor and Director of Graduate Programs for Sociology, North Carolina State University
Jessica Halliday Hardie
NICHD Postdoctoral Fellow, Population Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University
Mark D. Hayward
Professor of Sociology and Director, Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin
Melanie Heath, PhD
Assistant Professor of Sociology, McMaster University
Amie Hess
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Meredith College
Melanie M. Hughes, PhD
Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh
Shamus Rahman Khan, PhD
Professor of Sociology, Columbia University
Michael Kimmel, PhD
Professor of Sociology, SUNY
Sherryl Klienman, PhD
Professor of Sociology, University of North Carolina
Charles Q. Lau, PhD
Survey Research Division, RTI international
Jennifer Lee, PhD
Professor, Department of Sociology, University of California – Irvine
Jean Lynch, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology and Gerontology, Miami University
Gill McCann, PhD
Professor of Sociology, University of Vermont
Tey Meadow, PhD
Cotsen Fellow, Princeton University
Sarah O. Meadows, PhD
Social Scientist, RAND Corporation
Eleanor M. Miller, PhD
Professor of Sociology, University of Vermont
Debra Minkoff, PhD
Professor of Sociology, Barnard College, Columbia University
Beth Mintz, PhD
Professor of Sociology, University of Vermont
Dawne Moon, PhD
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Marquette University
Mignon R. Moore, PhD
Associate Professor of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles and Chair, Race, Gender & Class Section of the American Sociological Association
Chandra Muller
Professor of Sociology and Faculty Research Associate, Population Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin
Nancy A. Naples, PhD
Professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies, University of Connecticut
Peter M. Nardi, PhD
Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Pitzer College, The Claremont Colleges
Alondra Nelson, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, Columbia University
Jodi O’Brien, PhD
Professor and Chair of Sociology, Seattle University
Katherine O’Donnell, PhD
Senior Lecturer, School of Social Justice, University College Dublin
Ramona Faith Oswald, PhD
Professor of Family Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Joseph M. Palacios, PhD
Adjunct Professor of Social Sciences, Georgetown University
C.J. Pascoe, PhD
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Colorado College
Dudley L. Poston, Jr., PhD
Professor of Sociology, Texas A&M University
Nicole C. Raeburn, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of San Francisco
Kimberly Richman, PhD
Professor of Sociology and Legal Studies, University of San Francisco
Barbara J. Risman, PhD
Professor and Head of Sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago
Sharmila Rudrappa, PhD
Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin
Stephen T. Russel, PhD
Professor of Family Studies and Human Development, University of Arizona
Virginia Rutter, PhD
Associate Professor of Sociology, Framingham State University
Natalia Sarkisian
Associate Professor of Sociology, Boston College
Saskia Sassen, PhD
Professor of Sociology, Columbia University
Liana C. Sayer
Associate Professor of Sociology, Ohio State University
Michael Schwalbe
Professor, Department of Sociology, North Carolina State University
Michael Schwartz, PhD
Chair and Professor of Sociology, Stony Brook University
Christine R. Schwartz, PhD
Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Pepper Schwartz, PhD
Professor of Sociology, University of Washington
Denise Benoit Scott, PhD
Professor of Sociology, State University of New York at Geneseo
Richard Sennett, PhD
Professor of Sociology, New York University
Eve Shapiro, PhD
Professor of Sociology, Westfield State University
Eran Shor, PhD
Assistant Professor of Sociology, McGill University
Wendy Simonds
Professor of Sociology, Georgia State University
sarah sobieraj
Associate Professor of Sociology, Tufts University
Judith Stacey, PhD
Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University
Arlene Stein, PhD
Department of Sociology, Rutgers University
Verta Taylor, PhD
Chair and Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Debra J Umberson, PhD
Professor of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin
Suzanna Danuta Walters, PhD
Professor of Sociology, Northeastern University
Jacqueline S. Weinstock, PhD
Associate Professor of Human Development & Family Studies, University of Vermont
Amy C. Wilkins, PhD
Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Colorado
Cai Wilkinson, FHEA, PhD
Lecturer in International Relations, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University
Kristi Williams, PhD
Associate Professor of Sociology, Ohio State University
Kerry Woodward, PhD
Assistant Professor of Sociology, California State University, Long Beach
Psychologists
Nancy Lynn Baker, PhD, ABPP
Diplomate in Forensic Psychology, Director, Forensic Concentration, Fielding Graduate University and Past President of the Society for the Psychology of Women
Meg Barker, PhD
Senior Lecturer in Psychology, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
Joel Becker, PhD
Prof., Dept. of Psychology,UCLA and Assoc. Clinical Prof., UCLA, Medical School
Steven Botticelli, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychology, NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis
Petra M Boynton, PhD
Social Psychologist, Lecturer in International Primary Health Research,UCL Medical School, University College London
Mark Brennan-Ing, PhD
Senior Research Scientist, AIDS Community Research Initiative of America
Alice S. Carter, PhD
Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts – Boston
Carol A. Carver, PhD
Licensed Psychologist and Past President of the Oregon Psychological Association
Armand R. Cerbone, PhD, ABPP
Board Certified Psychologist
Kirstyn Y.S. Chun, PsyD
Tenured Faculty, Counseling and Psychological Services, California State University, Long Beach
Victoria Clarke, PhD
Associate Professor in Sexuality Studies, Department of Psychology, University of the West of England, UK
Gilbert W. Cole, PhD
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Study Center Guest Lecturer, Union Theological Seminary
M. Lynne Cooper, PhD
Associate Editor, American Psychologist and Curators’ Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychological Science, University of Missouri – Columbia
Howard H. Covitz, PhD, ABPP
Board Certified Psychologist
Dennis Debiak, PsyD
Adjust Associate Professor, Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology, Widener University and Secretary, Division of Psychoanalysis, American Psychological Association
Rachel H. Farr, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Department of Psychology,University of Massachusetts Amherst
Herb Gingold, PhD
Co-Founder, Noir Institute
Abbie E. Goldberg, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychology, Clark University
Carla Golden, PhD
Professor of Psychology, Ithaca College
Robert-Jay Green, PhD
Executive Director, ROCKWAY INSTITUTE for LGBT Psychology & Public Policy Distinguished Professor, California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) at Alliant International University
Beverly Greene, PhD, ABPP
Professor of Psychology, St. John’s University
Harold D. Grotevant, PhD
Rudd Family Foundation Chair in Psychology, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Sarah A. Hayes-Skelton, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Massachussets Boston
Stacy S. Horn, PhD
Associate Professor of Educational and Developmental Psychology, Univeristy of Illinois at Chicago
Sharon G. Horne, PhD
Associate Professor, Counseling Psychology, Department of Counseling and School Psychology, The University of Massachusetts Boston
Harm J. Hospers
Endowed chair Health Psychology and Homosexuality, Dean University College Maastricht, Dean Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Steven E. James, PhD
Chair of Psychology & Clinical Mental Health Counseling Programs, Goddard College
Darren Langdridge, PhD
Head of Department of Psychology, The Open University, UK
Chet Lesniak, PhD
Core Faculty, Counseling Specialization, School of Psychology, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Walden University
Heidi Levitt, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston
William D. Lubart, PhD
Faculty and Supervisor of Psychotherapy, The William Alanson White Institute
Carien Lubbe-De Beer, PhD
Senior Lecturer, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Pretoria
Tasim Martin-Berg, CPsychol
Lecturer, Glasgow Caledonian University
James P. Maurino, MSW, PhD
Assistant Professor, Human Development and Community and Human Services, SUNY-Empire State College
Ximena E. Mejia, PhD, LMHC
Director, Counseling Services, Parton Health and Counseling Center, Middlebury College
Roger Mills-Koonce, PhD
Center for Developmental Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Lin S. Myers, PhD
Professor of Psychology, California State University – Stanislaus
Jo Oppenheimer, MA
The Counseling Center for Women, Israel
Susan M. Orsillo, PhD
Professor, Department of Psychology, Suffolk University
David Pantalone, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychology, Suffolk University
Jeffrey T. Parsons, Ph.D
Professor of Psychology and Public Health, Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Maureen Perry-Jenkins, PhD
Professor of Psychology, University of Massachusetts – Amherst
Madelyn Petrow-Cohen, LCSW
psychotherapist in private practice in NYC & Maplewood, NJ
Todd R. Poch, PSYD, MALD, BCFM
Assistant Professor in Psychology, Florida Institute of Technology
Scott D. Pytluk, PhD
Professor, Illinois School of Professional Psychology, Argosy University, Chicago
Damien W. Riggs
Editor, Gay and Lesbian Issues and Psychology Review, Senior Lecturer in Social and Policy Studies, Flinders University, Australia
Lizabeth Roemer, PhD
Professor of Psychology, University of Massachusetts – Boston
Ritch C. Savin-Williams
Professor, Developmental Psychology and Director, Sex and Gender Lab, Cornell University
J. Greg Serpa, PhD
Clinical Psychologist, Department of Veterans Affairs and Assistant Clinical Professor, UCLA Department of Psychology
Louise Bordeaux Silverstein, PhD
Professor of Psychology, Yeshiva University
Bonnie R. Strickland, PhD, ABPP
Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Massachusetts
Karen Suyemoto, PhD
Associate Professor, Psychology and Asian American Studies, University of Massachusetts – Boston
Lance P. Swenson, PhD
Assistant Professor, Psychology Department, Suffolk University
Fiona Tasker, PhD
Department of Psychological Sciences, Birbeck University of London
Marcus C. Tye, Ph.D
Professor of Psychology, Dowling College
Richard G. Wight, PhD
Associate Researcher, UCLA School of Public Health
Other Scholars
Paula Amato, MD
Associate Professor, Oregon Health and Science University and Board Member, Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
Ellen Ann Andersen, PhD
Associate Professor of Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies University of Vermont
Mary Barber, MD
Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Co-Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health
Judith Bradford, PhD
Co-Chair, The Fenway Institute and Director, Center for Population Research in LGBT Health
Robert P Cabaj, MD
Associate Clinical Professor in Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco
Ryan M. Combs, PhD
Research Associate, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, University of Manchester, UK
Christopher Conti, MD
Assistant Clinical Professor, New York University Medical Center
Russel W. Dalton, EdD
Associate Professor of Religious Education, Brite Divinity School Texas Christian University
John D’Emilio, PhD
Professor of History, Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago
Anne Douglass, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education and Human Development, University of Massachusetts – Boston
Jack Drescher, MD
Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, New York Medical College
Oliva M. Espin, PhD
Professor Emerita, Department of Women’s Studies, San Diego State University
Nanette Gartrell, MD
Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law
Patti Geier, LCSW
Therapist
Alan Gilbert
John Evans Professor, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver.
Ann P. Haas, PhD
Senior Project Specialist, American Founcation for Suicide Prevention and Professor (ret.) Department of Health Sciences, Lehman College, CUNY
Ellen Haller, PhD
Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco
Nicole Heilbron, PhD
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine
Tonda Hughes, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor and Head of Health Systems Science, College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago
Daniel Hurewitz, PhD
Assistant Professor, History Department, Hunter College, CUNY
Jesse Joad, MD, MS
Professor Emerita, Pediatrics, University of California – Davis and Vice President for Education, Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
Debra Kaysen, Ph.D
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Washington
Sang Hea Kil, PhD
Assistant Professor of Justice Studies, San Jose State University
Martha Kirkpatrick, MD
Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, UCLA
Holning Lau, JD
Professor of Law, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Arlene Istar Lev, LCSW
School of Social Welfare, SUNY Albany
Lisa W. Loutzenheiser, PhD
Associate Professor of Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of British Columbia
Michael F. Lovenheim, PhD
Assistant Professor of Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell University
Catherine A. Lugg, PhD
Professor of Education, Rutgers University
Gerald P. Mallon, DSW
Julia Lathrop Professor of Child Welfare, Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College
Laura Mamo, PhD
Associate Professor of Health Education, San Francisco State University
Sean G. Massey
Associate Professor, Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program Binghamton University
Kenneth J. Meier, PhD
Charles H. Gregory Chair in Liberal Arts, Department of Political Science, Texas A&M University
Stephen O. Murray
El Instituto Obregón, San Francisco, CA
Douglas NeJaime, PhD
Associate Professor of Law, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
Henry Ng, MD, MPH, FAAP, FACP
Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Center for Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, MetroHealth Medical Center
Julie Novkov, PhD
Chair, Department of Political Science, Professor of Political Science and Women’s Studies,University at Albany, SUNY
Loren A. Olson, MD
Des Moines, IA
Donald L. Opitz, PhD
Assistant Professor, School for New Learning at DePaul University
Katherine Parkin, PhD
Associate Professor of History, Monmouth University
Jessica Peet, PhD
School of International Relations, University of Southern California
Victoria Pollock
Adjunct Faculty at the Toronto School of Theology, University of Toronto.
Jesus Ramirez-Valles PhD, MPH
Professor of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago
Nancy J. Ramsay, PhD
Professor of Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Care, Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University
Paul J. Rinaldi, PhD
Clinical Director, The Addiction Institute of New York, Department of Psychiatry, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center
Barbara Rothberg, DSW, LCSW
Therapist
Esther Rothblum, PhD
Professor of Women’s Studies, San Diego State University
Ralph Roughton, MD
Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Emory University
Leila J. Rupp, PhD
Professor of Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
Shawn Schulenberg, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Marshall University
Ken Sherrill, PhD
Emeritus Professor of Political Science, Hunter College, CUNY
Vincent M. B. Silenzio, MD, MPH
Associate Professor,Departments of Psychiatry, Community & Preventive Medicine, and Family Medicine, University of Rochester
Stephen V. Sprinkle, PhD
Director of Field Education and Supervised Ministry, and Professor of Practical Theology Brite Divinity School
William J. Spurlin, PhD, FHEA
Professor of English, Brunel University London
Carole S. Vance, PhD, MPH
Assoc. Clinical Professor, Mailman School of Public Health,Columbia University
Angelia R. Wilson, PhD
Politics Discipline, University of Manchester, UK

Proponents of the study:

Add caption

New Gallup Poll Finds Only 34% Correctly Identify Obama as Christian

Have we really become this uninformed?  Two-thirds of the citizens of the country don't know the religion of the President?  Really?  We really are in deep shit.



New Gallup Poll Finds Only 34% Correctly Identify Obama as Christian | Religion Dispatches

Young lesbian couple shot in head in Texas

My wife emailed me today with an excerpt from a Corpus Christi newspaper, the Caller Times.  It seems a young lesbian couple were shot in the head in a park in Southern Texas.  My wife was very upset when she read about this story.  She was, in fact, quite frightened. I  was disturbed by the story also.  I went to the newspaper to try and find the original article, but a new story about the shooting was up on the front page.  The new story didn't identify the women as lesbians, but did say, "information from family indicated the women had a very close relationship."

Here is the excerpt from the original story, but following the link won't actually get you there.  You'll find the revised story instead.

Friends and family of two teenage girls in a same-sex relationship who were shot in the head in a South Texas park expressed shock and grief Tuesday over the incident in which one of the young women was killed and the other severely injured.

Mollie Judith Olgin, 19, and Mary Christine Chapa, 18, were found in knee-deep grass in a nature area in Portland by a couple Saturday, said Portland Police Chief Randy Wright, who confirmed to msnbc.com details first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller Times.


Rainbow ribbons, goodbye messages, flowers and cut-out hearts were posted around the site where they were found. On Friday, a candlelight vigil and walk will be held for Chapa and Olgin.

My question is simple, why has the Caller Times made this change in the details of their story? It is possible that the families requested the paper not refer to the women as lesbians.  However, a friend of the women who was interviewed by MSNBC openly discussed their relationship, and it seemed from the tone of several articles on the attack that the women were out and open about being lesbians.


This is a terrible tragedy.  One young woman was murdered, the other one's life--if she survives--has been radically and permanently altered.  However, not stating that the women were a lesbian couple does them, and all LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered) people a disservice.   The police initially said the women were "definitely" targeted.  If they were targeted due to their sexual orientation, that fact should be clearly and loudly proclaimed by everyone involved, including the media. 


Not identifying these young women as lesbians may save their families some embarrassment (though I hardly believe that would be their priority at this time).  Yet, primarily it would save the residents of the towns surrounding the attack from feeling uncomfortable.  It would save the law enforcement officials involved in the case extra paperwork, the wrath of other residents, and that same feeling of discomfort. 


Hate crimes against LGBT people are rampant, and growing every year in the U.S.  However, it is difficult to gather statistics on these attacks, because the vast majority of them go unreported as hate crimes, even when the individuals victimized insist they were targeted because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.  Why do these hate crimes so often go unreported, especially in places like Texas and other states in the southern Bible belt?


 According to FBI statistics, an average of 13 hate crimes are perpetrated on LGBT people per day in the U.S.  (http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/11/22/fbi.hate.crimes/index.html?hpt=T2) . But these statistics don't tell the whole story.  According to several gay rights advocacy organizations, up to 75% of hate crimes against LGBT people go unreported.  In addition, in the majority of states, sexual orientation or gender identity, or both, are not protected classes for hate crimes laws.  These states do not report hate crimes against LGBT people at all, because they are not required to keep statistics on them.



This leaves us with an incredibly skewed picture of hate crimes against queer folk in the U.S..  So, why does this even matter?  Because as long as these hate crimes go unreported and are glossed over (or even completely ignored) by the media, right-wing politicians and fundamental religious groups can continue to claim that gay-bashing is rare and that legislation against it is unnecessary.  Hate crimes laws specifically identifying LGBT people as a protected class are often framed as incursions on religious freedom by these right-wing same groups.  This is ridiculous.  Who in their right mind would deny a whole class of individuals the protection of the law?



Time will tell as to whether this story will be sanitized. I certainly hope it is not.   I encourage all my readers to think long and hard about this issue.  If you have been victimized, report it.  If you have been victimized because of your race, ethnicity, gender, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, or gender identity report that also.  The sooner survivors of attacks come out and identify themselves as a protected class of people, the sooner these types of crimes will be counted.  The sooner these crimes are counted the sooner LGBT people will count as humans who are being victimized.  The sooner the dehumanization by the religious and political right is recognized, the sooner it can be addressed for what it is, hate.

Salvation Army Major: LGBT People Should Be Put to Death

From the Unicorn Booty blog:

Original Article HERE 

We’ve written many times in the past that if you’re both gay and a donor to the Salvation Army, you must also be crazy.

It’s not just that the Salvation Army doesn’t support the full equality of LGBT people. It’s not even the fact that the organization has a documented history of refusing aid to gay people in need.

It’s the fact that the Salvation Army’s own inter-company literature calls for the death of gay people. And Media Relations Director Major Andrew Craibe, the man responsible for creating good press for SA, has no qualms about advocating this policy live on the radio.

Original radio show at the link below:

Salvation Army Major: LGBT People Should Be Put to Death by johnmbecker

Seeking adoptive home for orphaned kitten

This little guy's name is Ike.  He is almost 4 weeks old now.  A large tomcat dropped him on my patio one day when it was hot enough to cook eggs on it.  This tomcat has been hanging around our house for a while now, after the feral female that was in heat.

I moved the kitten to the grass a few feet over and waited for the mom to reclaim him.  No luck.  I searched around our property for her litter to return him.  No luck again.

His eyes were just starting to open.  I can only guess the male cat was going to kill him, as it was positively a male cat (I am only too familiar with it), and ran like the dickens when I came out of the house. 

So, obviously too late to make a long story short, we are now caring for this little male kitten.  Since we already have 7 cats and 1 dog (all rescues and all fixed), we just CANNOT keep this guy, no matter how cute he is.

We are looking for an adoptive home for him.  I will include my email, so anyone can get in touch with me if they are interested.  On a side note, geez I look so much like my mom in this picture!  It kind of freaked me out a little.  My email is mona.twocats@gmail.com.

I tried to get a close up of Ike, but he is just too squirmy.  The camera refused to focus on him.  He is eating stage two kitten replacement formula mixed with a little canned kitten food.  He is already using the litter pan (YEAH!), and is quite friendly.  He is active, playful, intelligent, and loving.

Kids of lesbian couples need no male role models

Kids of lesbian couples need no male role models

The children of same-sex parents are not prone to experience psychological problems as adults, a new study has found.

The U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS) examined how the lack of a male role model affects the children of lesbian couples.

Depression crushes the will

It has obviously been some time since I've written anything on this blog.  I have been struggling with a severe case of clinical depression over the past months, and I have just not had the energy, the will (if you will), to write.  I am feeling better the last couple of weeks, so I am going to try to write something on the blog at least once a week for the next month and see how it goes.

Have any of you ever struggled with a major depressive or bipolar disorder?  If so, please feel free to attach your comments to this article. I know I am not alone in this and would love to hear from those of you who have also experienced it.

Join the YouGov US Opinion Center Panel

Join the YouGov US Opinion Center Panel

Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill Reintroduced in Parliament Today | Religion Dispatches

Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill Reintroduced in Parliament Today | Religion Dispatches