[Active-l] (NEWS) Today's Cultural Warfare Update

Mon Apr 10 22:56:09 PDT 2006

North Carolina pastor calls for a rethinking of Biblical condemnations  
of homosexuality (courtesy Livejournal user rosepurr);

Associated Press: RU-486 ruled out as cause in woman's death;

FotF wants a grand jury to investigate a doctor who provides abortion  
services after a patient dies under his care; the state medical board  
has cleared him of wrongdoing, but they want a criminal probe;

FotF reports more on the Episcopal church issues over the American gay  
bishop;

FotF on Gospel of Judas; authentic, but "secret conversations that were  
preserved by small, elitist sects" which were "cultic" in nature;

There's no story associated with it, but Concerned Women for America  
has a little note up about their meeting at the White House with the  
fundamentalist Christian Medical Association's Jonathan Imbody on "life  
issues";

CWA's Robert Knight testimony before the Maryland House Judiciary  
Committee in support of their anti-marriage amendment attempt; raises  
the usual claim that marriage rights "destroyed marriage" in  
Scandinavian countries (it actually had no effect at all), condemns  
studies showing similar outcomes for children raised in lesbian and gay  
families as heterosexual; brings up the "gay bowel syndrome" nonsense;  
and so on;

CWA president Wendy Wright on a board declaring Social Security the  
"most harmful" government programme in existence; I list it here mostly  
because the CWA main website linked to it;

LifeNews: "Embryonic Stem Cell Research Scientists Exploit Paralysis  
for False Hopes";

The Patriot News condemns RU-486, demands it be taken off the market;

Semi-regular CWA wonk Warren Throckmorton defends(!) GLSEN/CEAI  
guidelines on GBLT issues in schools;

National Right to Life committee member - the American Family  
Association describes him as a "researcher" - claims RU-486 numbers are  
bad, calls for it to be taken off the market;

Baptist Press alarm: Supreme Court in Israel to hear marriage-rights  
case in May; issues is whether Israelis married in Canada can have  
their marriages recognised by Israel upon their return;

Christian Council of Korea files lawsuit seeking to ban The DaVinci  
Code;

Baptist Press, other Creationists declare yet another intermediate form  
fossil not to count; this is the problem with trying to argue with  
creationists with data, particularly on the so-called "missing link"  
issue; they either declare your example doesn't count, or they play the  
fallacy of the beard at you and demand ever finer gradients of  
intermediate forms;

Baptist Press declares the recently discovered "Gospel of Judas" text  
to be "heresy and unreliable history";

Canada Family Action Coalition reprints Jeff Jacoby Boston Globe column  
"Adoption, Kids and the Gay Agenda," condemning GBLT groups for not  
signing on to a request by Catholic Charities to let Catholic Charities  
discrimination against lesbian and gay families in adoption  
proceedings;

Faith and Freedom Network condemns "Gospel of Judas" as heresy, attacks  
media for reporting it so widely as an attack on "traditional Biblical  
beliefs of Christianity";

Faith and Freedom Network "Talking Points" set eight against marriage  
rights.

----- 1 -----
Using Bible as a weapon profanes its most important messages
by Steve Runholt
Asheville Citizen-Times
published March 12, 2006 6:00 am

http://citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060312/OPINION03/ 
60310032/1058

Like many readers of the Citizen-Times, I was raised a devout Baptist.  
I thus grew up believing that the Bible clearly condemns homosexuality,  
and I held that view well into my adulthood.

My experience may thus be helpful to those who wonder how a Christian  
pastor could condone homosexuality, and even go so far as to support  
the rights of gay and lesbian people to share in the blessings of legal  
marriage.

The starting point in my journey on this issue was not a book or an  
idea, but a person. One of the men in my college dorm — I’ll call him  
“Michael” — was gay. Michael usually remained sequestered in the  
closet, but he came out to me.

And I discovered something that stunned me: he was just like me, only  
he was gay.

[More at URL]

----- 2 -----
Abortion pill ruled out in one woman's death
FDA investigating second death from rare infection
Associated Press via MSNBC
Updated: 7:54 p.m. ET April 10, 2006

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12255365/

WASHINGTON - Health officials said Monday they have ruled out the  
abortion pill RU-486 in one of two recent deaths in women who had taken  
the drug. The second remains under investigation.

The one death was unrelated to either abortion or use of the pill, the  
Food and Drug Administration said. The second woman showed symptoms of  
infection. One of the women died weeks after her abortion, although it  
was not immediately clear which of the two.

[...]

Four other women have died of a rare but deadly infection after  
undergoing pill-triggered abortions. In those four deaths, all  
involving Californians, the women tested positive for Clostridium  
sordellii, a common but rarely fatal bacterium.

The FDA has warned doctors to watch for infection by the bacterium.  
However, the drug, also called Mifeprex or mifepristone, has not been  
proved to be the cause in any of those cases, the FDA has said.

[...]

Pill instructions not followed
Neither of the two women followed FDA-approved instructions for the  
pill, which require swallowing three tablets of one drug, followed by  
two of another drug two days later.

[...]

The only other U.S. death associated with RU-486 was a case of a  
ruptured ectopic, or tubal, pregnancy in October 2001. The drug is not  
to be used by women in those cases.

[More at URL]

----- 3 -----
Tiller Investigation Sought
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
from staff reports
April 10, 2006

[Ed. Note: their top-level headline is, "Pro Life Kansans Take on New  
Strategy: Their target is the man they call “Tiller the Killer” and the  
strategy includes a Grand Jury investigation. That's not in the story's  
main page, though.]

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040133.cfm

Pro-lifers seek a grand-jury probe into the Kansas abortionist, after a  
mentally retarded woman died under his care.

Pro-life groups in Kansas want an objective investigation into  
notorious abortionist George Tiller. Specifically, they want to know  
what happened in the death of Christin Gilbert, a 19-year-old mentally  
retarded woman who died under Tiller's care.

Gilbert's death was looked into by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts,  
which quickly cleared Tiller of any wrongdoing. But the investigation  
was finished before an autopsy proved she died from a botched abortion.

[More at URL]

----- 4 -----
Episcopal Church Panel Recommends 'Caution' in Appointing Gay Bishops
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
April 10, 2006
by Pete Winn, associate editor

The American branch of one of the largest Christian denominations is in  
danger of decertification.

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040138.cfm

A special advisory committee is recommending that the Episcopal Church  
USA (ECUSA) exercise "considerable caution" from now on before electing  
homosexual bishops.

The commission also recommended that the American church offer "apology  
and repentance" and stop holding blessing ceremonies for same-sex  
couples, at least for a while.

The Rev. Dr. Kendall Harmon, a church law expert and theologian for the  
ECUSA's Diocese of South Carolina, said the committee report is another  
salvo in a dispute over homosexuality that threatens the relationship  
of the 2.3 million-member American church to the worldwide Anglican  
Communion — the world's third-largest Christian denomination at 88  
million.

He compared the church's relationship to the Communion to a rocky  
marriage.

"This is a marriage that's in full separation," he said, "and it's in  
danger of divorce."

[More at URL]

----- 5 -----
The Gospel of Judas Creates Debate
by Jessica Stollings
Focus on the Family
Family News in Focus
April 10, 2006

Is book further understanding of early religion or clarifier Christ’s  
mission?

http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0040121.cfm

The discovery of the book of Judas is being called one of the most  
important archaeological finds in the last 60 years. The text speaks of  
secret conversations that were preserved by small, elitist sects. The  
writings suggest Judas Iscariot was a hero. There is no question that  
the book is a brilliant discovery for scholarship but Craig Hazen,  
Professor of Apologetics at Biola University, believes it’s being  
sensationalized.

“In the mainstream media, people have been setting forth the gospel of  
Judas as some real contender to the stories of Matthew, Mark, Luke,  
John and Paul.”

He says it’s a great source for studying early religious thought but  
instead, it’s becoming a debate of historical accuracy.

“It’s really not telling the truth about Jesus, it’s reflecting some  
beliefs of early cultic groups of Christianity.”

[More at URL]

----- 6 -----
CWA President at the White House
Concerned Women for America
Online as of 10 April 2006

http://www.cwfa.org/main.asp

CWA President at the White House!
April 4, 2006--Christian Medical Associations’s Senior Policy Analyst  
Jonathan Imbody joined Concerned Women of America President Wendy  
Wright at the White House to discuss life issues.

----- 7 -----
When Did Defending Marriage Become an Act of Bigotry?
Concerned Women for America
4/10/2006

Robert Knight presents written testimony to the Maryland House  
Judiciary Committee.

http://www.cwfa.org/articles/10516/CFI/family/index.htm

Written Testimony by Robert H. Knight, Director,
Culture & Family Institute,
an affiliate of Concerned Women for America

For the Maryland House Judiciary Committee
January 31, 2006
Concerning H.B. 48, the Maryland Marriage Amendment

Marriage defenders often hear some pretty amazing claims from  
opponents, such as, “You want to put bigotry into the Constitution.”  
Or: “You’re against equality and for discrimination.” They’re now even  
hearing such wild charges from sitting judges.

According to Baltimore Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock, who took it  
upon herself on January 20 to strike down Maryland’s marriage law  
because it doesn’t include unions that exclude a bride or a groom, the  
very nature of marriage as we have always known is discriminatory.

Since when did defending the integrity of marriage become an act of  
bigotry? Well, it’s not.

For all of America’s history, marriage has been defined as the union of  
a man and a woman. In fact, all major religions honor marriage.  
Marriage was created by God and is protected in the law because it is  
indispensable to human social order. Morality is not bigotry, even if  
Judge Murdock apparently thinks it is.

[More at URL]

----- 8 -----
Most Harmul Program: Social Security
Human Events Online
Posted Apr 10, 2006

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=13871

"We don't have anyone who speaks for the Constitution."

That is what a refreshingly candid spokesman for the office in the  
Department of Labor that oversees the affirmative action program for  
federal contractors told us last week when we asked to be directed to  
the language in the Constitution that authorizes his program.

[...]

For each of the last four years, HUMAN EVENTS has asked a panel of  
distinguished public policy experts and scholars to develop this list  
for us. This year, 38 panelists participated. They ranged from Larry  
Kudlow, host of CNBC's "Kudlow and Company," to Eagle Forum President  
Phyllis Schlafly, to FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey, to Concerned  
Women for America President Wendy Wright, to Center for Immigration  
Studies Director Mark Krikorian, to George Mason University Professor  
of Economics Walter Williams.

Each judge was asked to nominate a few programs for the list. We then  
sent them ballots listing the nominated programs. They ranked their  
choices 1 through 10, with No. 1 being the program they believed to be  
"most harmful." A program earned 10 points for each No. 1 vote it  
received, 9 points for each No. 2 vote, and so on. The program with the  
highest aggregate score -- Social Security -- was given the No. 1  
position on this year's list, and next year will be retired into the  
Government Program Hall of Shame (See story). When the ballots were  
tallied, we phoned spokesmen for the federal agencies responsible for  
each program that made the list to see if they could point to the  
constitutional language, if any, that authorized the program.

[More at URL]

----- 9 -----
Embryonic Stem Cell Research Scientists Exploit Paralysis for False  
Hopes
LifeNews.com
by Michael Fumento
April 9, 2006

http://www.lifenews.com/bio1441.html

Note: Michael Fumento is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute in  
Washington, D.C., and author of BioEvolution: How Biotechnology Is  
Changing Our World.

There's bad news and there's more bad news for paralysis victims hoping  
that some variety of stem cell will soon help them walk again. Adult  
stem cell paralysis treatment has just suffered a major setback. Worse,  
these victims are being mercilessly exploited by those desperate to  
convince us that embryonic stem cells (ESCs) – yet to be tested in a  
human – are a miracle cure desperately needing massive infusions of  
taxpayer funds.

There have been many claims of improvements for quadriplegics using  
adult stem cells – those found throughout the human body as well as in  
umbilical cord blood, placenta, and most recently menstrual blood. But  
only one has appeared in a peer-reviewed publication.

That was the case of South Korean Hwang Mi-soon, paralyzed from the  
hips down for 19 years. After an infusion of umbilical cord cells into  
her spine, she was able to get out of bed and walk with the aid of a  
walker. It was called a miracle; but tragedy soon struck. Since  
receiving a second infusion she's been wracked with pain and bedridden.  
Doctors aren't sure why.

Whatever the case, this is very sad news. Other paralysis victims have  
testified before Congress that they've tremendously improved since  
receiving stem cell transplants from their own olfactory (nasal) stem  
cells, but this has yet to be documented in a medical journal.

Still, that still leaves embryonic stem cells, right?

We've being flooded with news about paralyzed rats receiving ESCs  
suddenly doing back flips and dancing the Cha-Cha, most recently in a  
February CBS 60 Minutes segment. While utterly ignoring ASCs, it touted  
the work of the University of California, Irvine's Hans Keirstead, to  
the extent of showing the video he's been displaying since 2002 of his  
walking rats. But most of what surrounds these rodents is mere hype.

[More at URL]

----- 10 -----
Abortion pill has potential to destroy women's lives
Sunday, April 09, 2006
The Patriot News
BY ANNE MARIE MANNING

http://www.pennlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/opinion/ 
114448862484540.xml?pennrand&coll=1

If I, as a doctor, offered you a pill that had just been linked to the  
deaths of two women, do you think you could trust my medical judgment?  
Or would you go shopping for a different doctor -- one who didn't  
prescribe potentially lethal drugs?

As a practicing ob/gyn, I am deeply troubled by those who would  
continue to defend RU-486 -- after the Food and Drug Administration  
announced recently that two more women had died after taking the drug.  
How many more women have to die before this dangerous pill is pulled  
from the market?

It appears that abortion politics, rather than legitimate science, is  
the overriding factor in the illogical defense of RU-486.

[More at URL]

----- 11 -----
Educator Defends Guidelines for Dealing with Homosexuality in Schools
Part 1 of a Two-Part Series
By Jim Brown
American Family Association/Agape Press
April 10, 2006

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/102006c.asp

(AgapePress) - A psychology professor and anti-bullying expert is  
rejecting claims that the Christian Educators Association International  
(CEAI) caved in to pressure from homosexual activists by reaching an  
agreement with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)  
on how to deal with the issue of sexual orientation in public schools.

Division remains among conservative Christians over the First Amendment  
guidelines endorsed by GLSEN and CEAI. Pro-family activist Linda Harvey  
of Mission America has condemned the "Common Ground Guidelines," saying  
homosexuality is not a viewpoint, but rather "an array of high-risk  
abnormal behaviors" -- and Christians have no business dialoguing with  
GLSEN, she adds.

But noted mental health counselor and sexual orientation researcher Dr.  
Warren Throckmorton contends there are a variety of viewpoints  
Christians disagree with that are constitutionally protected.

"There are people who are attracted to the same sex, but don't act on  
it," the Grove City College educator offers. "There are young men and  
women who are gender non-conforming in their preferences, and they're  
teased and harassed at school because they look gay. That's not a  
behavior. They're not doing anything."

[More at URL]

----- 13 -----
Researcher: Abortion Advocates Manipulate Data To Make RU-486 Look Safe
By Bill Fancher and Jenni Parker
American Family Association/Agape Press
April 10, 2006

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/102006e.asp

(AgapePress) - A pro-life activist says while the abortion lobby "plays  
with numbers," women are dying from the use of the abortion drug  
RU-486.

According to Randall O'Bannon, a researcher with the National Right to  
Life Committee (NRLC), the pro-abortion lobby claims more than half a  
million women have taken RU-486 -- also known as mifepristone -- with  
only a handful of problems occurring. However, he contends, this claim  
about the broad-scale use and low incidence of complications "doesn't  
seem to be true on either side."

[More at URL]

----- 14 -----
Israel, too? Supreme Court in Holy Land
to hear 'gay marriage' case in late May
Apr 6, 2006
By Michael Foust
Baptist Press

http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=22990

JERUSALEM (BP)--Israel's Supreme Court has announced it will hear a  
"gay marriage" case in May, raising the possibility that the land where  
Christ once walked will recognize "marriage" between homosexuals.

The announcement, reported first by the homosexual news service 365Gay,  
comes as more and more countries worldwide redefine marriage. Canada,  
Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands have legalized "gay marriage," and  
South Africa is expected to follow suit this year. Oral arguments  
before the Israeli court will take place May 28, according to the news  
service.

The Israel case involves a handful of homosexual couples who were  
"married" in Canada and returned to Israel, where they filed suit to  
have their "marriages" recognized there. The couples' attorney  
apparently is asking only that out-of-country "gay marriages" be  
recognized, and not that Israel itself grant licenses to homosexual  
couples. Nevertheless, that would be a significant liberalization of  
its marriage law -- and a very significant win for homosexuals in the  
Holy Land. Marriage law in Israel is defined by Orthodox Jewish law.

[More at URL]

----- 15 -----
Commentary & News Briefs
April 10, 2006
American Family Association/Agape Press
Compiled by Jody Brown

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/4/afa/102006h.asp

[...]

...On Friday, the Christian Council of Korea (CCK) filed a court  
injunction to stop Sony Pictures from showing The Da Vinci Code in that  
country, saying it defiles the sanctity of Jesus Christ and distorts  
facts. "The Da Vinci Code is a movie which belittles and tries to  
destroy Christianity," says CCK official Rev. Hong Jae-chul. Hong  
indicated the CCK plans other steps in case the movie is released as  
scheduled on May 18. The CCK also asked other Christian organizations  
around the world to join efforts to boycott the screening of the film.  
(Manmin News Service)

[More at URL]

----- 16 -----
‘Missing link’ claim for fossils debunked by creationist group
Apr 10, 2006
By Doug Waters
Baptist Press

http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=23010

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Not missing a beat, a leading creation science  
organization responded quickly to the latest well-publicized “missing  
link” claim by evolutionary researchers.

This time, The New York Times, USA Today and other media outlets  
trumpeted the discovery of fossils near the North Pole said to belong  
to a 375-million-year-old fish. The finding by a team of researchers,  
led by Neil H. Shurbin of the University of Chicago, initially was  
reported in Nature magazine April 6.

In a preliminary response -- titled “Gone fishin’ for a missing link?”  
on its website -- Answers in Genesis called attention to the  
“cautionary words being used about this creature.”

“… [W]hen you read other tentative wording (e.g., the use of the word  
‘may’ in the headline ‘Fossil may link fish, land animal’), then the  
find is not as firm as evolutionists would lead you to believe,”  
Answers in Genesis noted.

[More at URL]

----- 17 -----
‘Gospel of Judas’ is heresy & unreliable history, profs say
Apr 10, 2006
By Tim Ellsworth
Baptist Press

http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=23009

JACKSON, Tenn. (BP)--The newly published “Gospel of Judas” contains  
teaching that is completely foreign to the New Testament, according to  
the assessment of several Union University professors.

“It presents a completely different cosmology and theology from what we  
find in the New Testament,” said George Guthrie, the Benjamin W. Perry  
Professor of Bible at Union University, a Baptist-affiliated university  
in Jackson, Tenn.

Guthrie and other Christian studies faculty members at Union said the  
Gospel of Judas document is unreliable as a source for the actual  
historical events in the life of Jesus and promotes the heresy of  
Gnosticism, an ancient teaching condemned by the early Christian  
church.

“It is not in any way, shape or form a writing that tells us anything  
reliable about either the real Jesus or Judas,” added Greg Thornbury,  
dean of Union’s school of Christian studies.

[More at URL]

----- 18 -----
Adoption, kids, and the gay agenda
Mar 16, 2006
by Jeff Jacoby
Canada Family Action Coalition

http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/sexuality/gay-agenda- 
adoption.htm

In psychology, "projection" occurs when someone attributes to others  
his own unpleasant beliefs or motivations. It is projection, for  
instance, when a liar assumes that everyone he deals with is dishonest,  
or when a man tempted by adultery accuses his spouse of planning to  
deceive him. Projection occurs in the public arena as well, as when  
supporters of racial preferences label "racist" those who believe the  
law should be strictly colorblind.

A fresh example of projection arrived the other day by way of a news  
release from the Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation's largest gay  
and lesbian political organizations.

On March 10, Catholic Charities of Boston had announced that it was  
being forced to shut down its highly regarded adoption services, since  
it could not in good conscience comply with the government's demand  
that it place children for adoption with homosexual couples. Caught  
between the rock of Catholic teaching, which regards such adoptions as  
"gravely immoral," and Massachusetts regulations, which bar adoption  
agencies from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, the  
Boston Archdiocese had hoped to obtain a waiver on religious-freedom  
grounds. But when legislative leaders refused to consider the request,  
the archdiocese was left with no option but to end a ministry it had  
been performing for a century.

[More at URL]

----- 19 -----
The Non-Gospel of Judas
Faith and Freedom Network
Monday, April 10, 2006

http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/04/non-gospel-of-judas.html

The lower lip of the media has quivered this past week as they have  
announced the coming, nearly messianic coming, of The National  
Geographic special, “The Gospel of Judas.”

The "U.S.A. Today" headline on April 6, said, “Long Lost Gospel of  
Judas Recasts ‘Traitor.’

Their “promotional” story begins, “With a plot twist worthy of Da Vinci  
Code, the gospel – 13 papyrus sheets bound in leather and found in a  
cave in Egypt – purports to relate the last days of Jesus’ life, from  
the viewpoint of Judas, one of Jesus’ followers. Christians teach that  
Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, but in this gospel, he is  
the hero, Jesus’ most senior and trusted disciple and the only one who  
knows Jesus’ true identity as the Son of God.”

The discovery of this ancient, and it appears that it is indeed  
ancient; manuscript has been hailed by the media as a breakthrough that  
once again shows the vulnerability of the settled and accepted  
Christian beliefs.

Katie Couric couldn’t keep the smile from her face as she promoted The  
National Geographic special on the TODAY show this past week. News  
anchors have earnestly asked the question, “Is Christianity flawed,” or  
“has Christianity been wrong?”

[More at URL]

----- 20 -----
Talking Points: The Case for Marriage VIII
Faith and Freedom Network
Monday, April 10, 2006

http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/04/talking-points-case-for- 
marriage-viii.html

Isn’t marriage just about love and commitment?

* Love and commitment are the bonding elements between two individuals  
in a marriage relationship, but marriage isn’t just for adults. It’s  
also for children, and every child has a birthright to a mom and dad.
[Ed. Note: And yet we don't bar single-parent families, and we don't  
take children away from widows or widowers. Why not? This is, again, a  
double-standard; heterosexual couples are forgiven all evils, lesbian  
and gay couples are permitted no virtues, and it all comes down to  
"because queers are evil, because we say god said so."]

* Because marriage is rooted in the natural order of procreation, the  
state has a compelling interest in supporting and encouraging the ideal  
family unit for the nurturing and development of children.
[Ed. note: A variety of studies, all of which they condemn as biased  
because they hate the outcome - see previous CWUs - show that children  
raised in lesbian and gay families do fine. Similarly, if the "ideal  
family unit" is what we're looking for here, why the hell did my  
fucktard adoptives get ahold of me? When this rule is applied to  
heterosexual couples, come back and talk to me again. Also, see above.]

* There are over 10,000 studies that support the idea that children do  
best when raised with a mother and father in a marriage relationship.
[Ed. note: Keep in mind that these are creationists talking here. I'd  
strongly suggest that their ideas of "science" are so broken as to make  
no sense, and also, really, to provide for no coherent rebuttal. One  
cute way to do is to say that tens of thousands of astronomers and  
astrologers and millions of laypeople believed the sun revolved around  
a fixed Earth until Galileo said "um, no."]

* No other area in social science has this level of research support  
and confirmation.
[Ed. note: No clue. I imagine that they're comparing against  
single-parent families, who for income and resource reasons typically  
have more problems than two-parent families. And yet we don't take  
children away from heterosexual individuals, again. They are almost  
without a doubt picking studies comparing two-parent families against  
various forms of disadvantages families and silently swapping in  
lesbian and gay families as the "lesser case." This is like taking a  
study comparing the health benefits of, say, bread and cake, and  
substituting in something else for the cake, but declaring that the  
result - "bread is better" - applies to the "something else," too.]