CIENCIASMEDICASNEWS: Rubbery statistics

jueves, 10 de diciembre de 2015

Rubbery statistics

Conjugality deals with the true nature of marriage and the challenges it faces today. Our current focus is on the campaign to legalise same-sex marriage. We'd love to get your comments and suggestions. Send an email to conjugality@mercatornet.com

THURSDAY, 10 DECEMBER 2015

Rubbery statistics

BY MICHAEL COOK

5 |

“All Of Us” is an education pack about homosexuality and
transexuality for teachers of Australian children in Years 7
and 8. Launched last month, it is supposed to help

students be aware of bullying and discrimination and to
affirm the identities of their LGBT classmates.

It is a comprehensive resource, with videos, posters, student
hand-outs, and a unit guide for teachers – all painting a positive,
if not glowing, view of the LGBT minority.

However, the statistics on the size of that minority – the crucial
figures which justify the very existence of the program,
are wrong.

First of all, what proportion of the population is same-sex
attracted?

On page 8 of the booklet for teachers, it states very clearly that
"10% of people are same-sex attracted". This is supported by
Footnote 9, which refers the reader to a monograph,
the 5th national survey of Australian secondary students and sexual health,

published by the Australian Research Centre in Sex Health and
Society at La Trobe University.

However, nowhere does the 10% statistic appear in the reference.
So what is its source? On page 23, the La Trobe University survey states
that "a proportion (6% overall: 8% boys, 4% girls) reported being
attracted exclusively to people of the same sex". In addition, 4%

(4% boys and 5% girls), were unsure about their sexual attraction.
It appears that the 10% figure may have been reached by adding
those who were exclusively attracted to those who were unsure.

Similarly, on page 8 of the booklet for teachers, it is stated
emphatically that "around 4% are gender diverse or transgender".
This is supported by Footnote 4, which refers

the reader to a publication called

The health and wellbeing of New Zealand secondary school students in 2012.

This statistic does not appear in this publication. In fact, on page
25, the reference states that "About 1% of students reported that
they were transgender" and “approximately 3% were not sure”.
Once again, the target statistic appears to have been reached by

adding the percentage of those with a clear idea about their sexuality
to those who were questioning.

If this is correct, what does it imply about the aim of the “All Of Us”
program? That all children who are puzzled about their sexual identity
will choose to live as homosexuals or transgender? That the alluring
images of the LGBT lifestyle in “All Of Us” will be a kind of reverse
conversion therapy?

The Safe Schools Coalition needs to explain how it got its figures
so wrong.

One explanation may be its highly unprofessional research methods.
The “All Of Us” study guide says that the figures are based on
"Australian and international research".

This is nonsense. The two footnotes are just reports based on
rough-and-ready surveys, not peer-reviewed journals.

The authors of the Australian study done at La Trobe University
even acknowledged that they had significant difficulty in recruiting
enough students in Years 10, 11 and 12. “Obtaining the necessary
sample of students has been more difficult to achieve with each
iteration of this research project,” they wrote. To increase student
participation, they resorted to an online survey through networks
which had an interest in student sexuality and through

Facebook. Online surveys are notoriously inaccurate.

Figures about the LGBT population are always going to be controversial.
The Safe Schools Coalition could have used figures provided by the
best-known LGBT think tank, the Williams Institute at UCLA Law
School in California. It is “dedicated to conducting

rigorous, independent research on sexual orientation and gender
identity law and public policy”.
Its fact sheet, “How many people are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender?”

is freely available. The author, Gary J. Gates, is a well-known
American demographer specialising in LGBT issues whose work has been
used in US Supreme Court cases.

Surprisingly, Gates’ figures are far, far lower than those cited in the
“All Of Us” program: “An estimated 3.5% of adults in the United States
identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual and an estimated 0.3% of adults are
transgender,” he writes.

If Gates is correct, the “All Of Us” figure for same-sex attracted people
are about 180% too high and for transgender people about 1200% too high.

The teen years are a turbulent time for children. What they need to survive
and thrive is the truth, not the propaganda in the “All Of Us” program.

(MercatorNet asked the Safe Schools Coalition Australia national office
and Safe Schools Coalition NSW to comment on the figures in the “All Of Us”
program, but we received no reply.)

- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/conjugality/view/rubbery-statistics/17327#sthash.AeJJ0WRQ.dpuf

Michael Cook is editor of MercatorNet.

- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/conjugality/view/rubbery-statistics/17327#sthash.AeJJ0WRQ.dpuf

Christmas is around the corner and today three Reading Matters contributors offer a handy shopping list for those who like to give books to the youngsters in their lives. They come in 12 categories and are all highly recommended. Thanks Jennifer, Jane and Jocelyn. I am glad to see Treasure Island there, partly because it is one of the few I know on the list, and partly because I remember getting it as a Christmas present myself at the age of eight or nine. Ah, Christmas shopping was so simple then...