Editing Focus on the Family (section)

===Misrepresentation of research===
Social scientists have criticized Focus on the Family for misrepresenting their research in order to bolster its own perspective.<ref name=Steinbeck>{{cite web | url=http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2011/07/20/u-s-senator-catches-anti-gay-testifier-misrepresenting-study/#more-7295 | title=U.S. Senator Catches Anti-Gay Testifier Misrepresenting Study | publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]] | date=July 20, 2011 | access-date=November 12, 2013 | author=Steinbeck, Robert | quote=t was the latest in a relentless campaign of misrepresentations, half-truths and outright lies in recent years that have defined anti-gay Christian right organizations intent on opposing equal rights and common dignity for LGBT people. | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112211204/http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2011/07/20/u-s-senator-catches-anti-gay-testifier-misrepresenting-study/#more-7295 | archive-date=November 12, 2013 | url-status=dead}}</ref> Researcher [[Judith Stacey]], whose work was used by Focus on the Family to claim that gays and lesbians do not make good parents, said that the claim was "a direct misrepresentation of the research".<ref name=wp/> She elaborated, "Whenever you hear Focus on the Family, legislators or lawyers say, 'Studies prove that children do better in families with a mother and a father,' they are referring to studies which compare two-parent heterosexual households to single-parent households. The studies they are talking about do not cite research on families headed by gay and lesbian couples."<ref>{{Cite news |work=Church & State |date=September 2006 |title=Dobson's FOF Distorts Research, Says NYU Sociology Professor |url=https://www.au.org/church-state/september-2006-church-state/people-events/dobson%E2%80%99s-fof-distorts-research-says-nyu |access-date=November 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112165608/https://www.au.org/church-state/september-2006-church-state/people-events/dobson%E2%80%99s-fof-distorts-research-says-nyu |archive-date=November 12, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> FOTF claimed that Stacey's allegation was without merit and that their position is that the best interests of children are served when there is a father and a mother. "We haven't said anything about sexual orientation", said Glenn Stanton.<ref name=wp>{{cite news | title=Gay Rights Group: Dobson Manipulated Data | first=Steven K. | last=Paulson | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/17/AR2006071701530.html | newspaper=Washington Post | date=August 17, 2006 | access-date=May 21, 2008 | quote=A Focus on the Family official denied the allegation&nbsp;... Focus on the Family spokesman Glenn Stanton cited other research including an article co-authored by Mary Parke, a policy analyst at the Center for Law and Social Policy, that shows that children need a mother and a father, regardless of the parents' sexual orientation. 'We haven't said anything about sexual orientation,' he said. | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171203144213/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/17/AR2006071701530.html | archive-date=December 3, 2017 | url-status=live}}</ref>

James Dobson cited the research of [[Kyle Pruett]] and [[Carol Gilligan]] in a ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine guest article in the service of a claim that two women cannot raise a child; upon finding out that her work had been used in this way, Gilligan wrote a letter to Dobson asking him to apologize and to cease and desist from citing her work, describing herself as "mortified to learn that you had distorted my work&nbsp;... Not only did you take my research out of context, you did so without my knowledge to support discriminatory goals that I do not agree with&nbsp;... there is nothing in my research that would lead you to draw the stated conclusions you did in the ''Time'' article."<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ci=108&ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=16911 |work=Edge Boston |date=December 15, 2006 |title=James Dobson Slammed for Distorting Facts on Gay Families in Time Magazine |access-date=September 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130231527/http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ci=108&ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=16911 |archive-date=January 30, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Truth Wins Out: [http://www.truthwinsout.org/pressrelease/2006/12/37/ James Dobson Slammed By Professor For Distorting Her Research In Time Magazine Article On Mary Cheney's Pregnancy.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115140123/http://www.truthwinsout.org/pressrelease/2006/12/37/ |date=January 15, 2013}} "[A] letter to Dobson, obtained exclusively by Truth Wins Out", December 14, 2006.</ref><ref name=OLeary>{{cite news | url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:AWNB:NHRB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=11AA3D8CECB1E500&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0FB3382EE6AD1E46 | title=Yale expert says group misused his words | newspaper=[[New Haven Register]] | date=February 12, 2007 | access-date=November 12, 2013 | author=O' Leary, Mary E. | archive-date=December 18, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218145123/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news%2F11AA3D8CECB1E500&f=basic | url-status=live}}</ref> Pruett wrote a similar letter, in which he said that Dobson "cherry-picked a phrase to shore up highly (in my view) discriminatory purposes. This practice is condemned in real science, common though it may be in pseudo-science circles. There is nothing in my longitudinal research or any of my writings to support such conclusions", and asked that FOTF not cite him again without permission.<ref name="minnindy">{{cite web|last=Birkey|first=Andy|title=Minnesota researcher claims Focus on the Family misrepresented his work|url=http://minnesotaindependent.com/3800/minnesota-researcher-claims-focus-on-the-family-misrepresented-his-work|work=The Minnesota Independent|publisher=The American Independent News Network|access-date=September 9, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919070451/http://minnesotaindependent.com/3800/minnesota-researcher-claims-focus-on-the-family-misrepresented-his-work|archive-date=September 19, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After Elizabeth Saewyc's research on teen suicide was used by Focus on the Family to promote [[conversion therapy]] she said that "the research has been hijacked for somebody's political purposes or ideological purposes and that's worrisome", and that research in fact linked the suicide rate among LGBT teens to harassment, discrimination, and closeting.<ref>{{Cite news |agency=Canada Press |title=B.C. researcher says American group distorting her research on teen suicide |date=June 19, 2006 |first=Beth |last=Gorham}}</ref> Other scientists who have criticized Focus on the Family for misrepresenting their findings include [[Robert Spitzer (psychiatrist)|Robert Spitzer]],<ref name="SFBayTimes"/> Gary Remafedi,<ref name="minnindy"/> and Angela Phillips.<ref name="SFBayTimes">{{Cite news |url=http://www.sfbaytimes.com/article_p.php?article_id=5924 |last=Besen |first=Wayne |work=[[San Francisco Bay Times]] |title=Science Strikes Back |date=December 28, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110165323/http://www.sfbaytimes.com/article_p.php?article_id=5924 |archive-date=November 10, 2013}}</ref>