Rainbow bLAWg

Although Judge Bernhard Friedman agreed to block the state’s first witness from testifying in the on-going Michigan trial where two Detroit nurses are trying to overturn Michigan’s ban on gay marriage, he is allowing their second controversial witness, Mark Regnerus to return to the chair today and have his testimony included on the record.

This public display of his personal anti-gay beliefs prompted his own university, the University of Texas at Austin, to distance itself from the conclusions he draws from his research. The Sociology Department took it a step further in this statement:

Like all faculty, Dr. Regnerus has the right to pursue his areas of research and express his point of view. However, Dr. Regnerus’ opinions are his own. They do not reflect the views of the Sociology Department of The University of Texas at Austin. Nor do they reflect the views of the American Sociological Association, which takes the position that the conclusions he draws from his study of gay parenting are fundamentally flawed on conceptual and methodological grounds and that findings from Dr. Regnerus’ work have been cited inappropriately in efforts to diminish the civil rights and legitimacy of LBGTQ partners and their families. We encourage society as a whole to evaluate his claims.

Although Regnerus admitted on the stand yesterday that only two of the subjects in his study were raised from birth by same-sex couples, and both children had positive outcomes, he still asserts that the state should continue their ban on same-sex marriage and adoption because of the harm these relationships have on children.

Russian lawmakers however have been reported to have cited this study in justifying recent anti-gay legislature, but the American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as several experts have stated that children of same-sex couples fare no better or worse than children raised by traditional couples, thus adding more proof that Regnerus’ anti-gay study is somewhat, if not completely, false.

This will be interesting!

For background on the case, go to:

http://rainbowlaw.org/michigans-first-witness-thrown-out/

http://rainbowlaw.org/michigan-gay-marriage-case-back-in-court/

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Carrie Stone