False and misleading data on homosexuality is being published, a major US magazine has warned.
The National Review reports that studies on the lives of LGBT people have proved to be unfounded.
The practice of ignoring facts to present data which fits with popular, liberal opinion has caused a backlash in the scientific community.
‘Failed’
The National Review highlights a study which claims that “minority stress” is reducing the life expectancy of homosexuals by twelve years.
It was widely reported by parts of the press under headlines such as: “Can Prejudice Kill You? Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Life Expectancy Drops 12 Years in Anti-Gay Communities”.
In mid-November, academic journal Social Science and Medicine published a well-evidenced refutation.
Researchers attempted to replicate the author’s data using ten different approaches, but were unable to do so. They concluded that no approach could obtain findings “that supported the original study’s conclusions”.
Discredited
Another pro-LGBT study, published in the journal Science in 2015, has also been discredited.
It purported to show that canvassing by LGBT people had a major effect on people’s opinions of them.
But a lone student’s research found that it had been entirely faked. The author had lied about receiving grants from real institutions.
New York Magazine reported that the student was constantly opposed and told to keep quiet, “lest he earn a reputation as a troublemaker”.
Truth
Commenting on the increasing prevalence of unsubstantiated scientific studies, National Review contributor and author Maggie Gallagher said:
“Science is not right-wing or left-wing. But to work, it needs scientists fearlessly committed to truth over their preferred outcomes.”
She revealed that an academic project has been set up, which is committed to “viewpoint diversity”.
‘Encouraging dissent’
The Heterodox Academy is concerned that: “When nearly everyone in a field shares the same political orientation, certain ideas become orthodoxy, dissent is discouraged, and errors can go unchallenged.”
It says it is seeking to “reverse this process”.