Family Research Institute

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The Family Research Institute is an organization based in Colorado Springs, Colorado which creates numerous pseudo-scientific "studies" purporting to prove that gays and lesbians are more prone than heterosexuals to commit murder, die young, and molest children, among many other dubious findings. One such study, the 1983 ISIS Survey, led to the expulsion of its author, Paul Cameron from the American Psychological Association for breach of ethics, specifically by conducting studies which employed unsound methods in order to secure an intentionally skewed result. The investigating committee later discovered that Cameron had also falsely used the names of other psychologists in support of his findings. Cameron, who is currently chair of the Family Research Institute, supported the Virginia Anti-Gay Adoption Bill. Cameron and other key figures in the Family Research Institute continue to make up statistics about homosexuals to include in literature to be spread through other anti-gay organizations and churches, including the continued circulation of the ISIS Survey.

In a 1981 debate, Cameron claimed a 4-year-old boy had been sexually mutilated in a Lincoln, Neb., mall rest room as part of a "homosexual act" — but police in Lincoln said no such crime had occurred; Cameron has also gone on record describing AIDS as a "godsend".

At its membership meeting on October 19, 1984, the Nebraska Psychological Association adopted a resolution stating that it "formally disassociates itself from the representations and interpretations of scientific literature offered by Dr. Paul Cameron in his writings and public statements on sexuality."[1]

Cameron has publicly advocated the arrest, detainment, and murder of homosexuals, telling the 1985 Conservative Political Action Committee conference that "extermination of homosexuals" might be needed in the next three to four years; he has advocated tattooing AIDS patients in the face, and banishment to a former leper colony for any patient who resisted. He has also called for gay bars to be closed and for homosexuals to be registered with the government.[2]

Cameron's credibility was also questioned outside of academia. In his written opinion in Baker v. Wade (1985), Judge Buchmeyer of the U.S. District Court of Dallas referred to "Cameron's sworn statement that 'homosexuals abuse children at a proportionately greater incident than do heterosexuals,'" and concluded that "Dr. Paul Cameron...has himself made misrepresentations to this Court" and that "There has been no fraud or misrepresentations except by Dr. Cameron"[3]

In 2004, news circulated around the world that penguins in the Central Park Zoo had formed long-term same-sex pairs. Reports soon surfaced of “gay” penguins in other zoos as well; Cameron dismissed the notion of gay and lesbian penguins as “silly” and also said “There is no such thing as gay penguins.”[4]

The Family Research Institute's poorly gathered statistics are frequently distributed in pamphlets and quoted by other members of the anti-gay movement, often without mentioning the source.