EDITOR’S NOTE: The following op-ed by James C. Dobson, Ph.D., chairman and founder of Focus on the Family, first appeared in the Rocky Mountain News on Feb. 28.
In December of last year, I received a request from Time magazine asking me to address the issue of Mary Cheney's decision to have a baby with her lesbian partner, Heather Poe. I complied, and my commentary was published in the magazine's Dec. 18 issue.
Although the statement was entirely respectful to Cheney and Poe, I did express my strong opinion that children need both a mother and a father, and that the preponderance of behavioral research supports that belief. From that point forward, I have been subjected to a barrage of criticism and insults from homosexual activists, including two lesbian protesters who came to the door of our organization last week demanding a retraction. The Rocky Mountain News reported their unexpected visit, but to its credit, has now given me an opportunity to reply.
Specifically, I've been accused of twisting the writings of certain academics and of quoting their research findings out of context. It is a bum rap. Typically I ignore such criticism, but in this case a response is warranted.
One of the professors, Dr. Kyle Pruett at Yale Medical School, complained that I "cherry-picked" a four-word quote ("fathers do not mother") from his book, Fatherneed: Why Father Care is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child. It was a strange complaint. Pruett's entire book proclaims the significance of fathering in the well-being of children. The phrase to which I referred actually serves as the title of Pruett's first chapter. The second chapter is titled, "The Dad Difference in Child Development." The final paragraph in Fatherneed states, "Men are the single greatest untapped resource in the lives of American children. Natural, renewable, and by and large nontoxic, they couldn't be healthier for the country's children. We can't afford to let another one get away."
That is precisely the point I made in my Time commentary. The benefits of a child being raised by a married mother and a father have been established in the professional literature for decades. It was not even questioned until the gay rights movement succeeded in making that understanding politically incorrect. So I ask now, in what sense did I misquote Pruett or apply his writings out of context? Is he now changing his position and claiming that fathers are not critical to healthy child development? Apparently so, but that is not what he wrote.
Particularly absurd was Pruett's insistence that I never quote him again. Since when does a researcher or author have the right to determine how his or her work will be referenced? As a former academic myself, I've never seen anyone try to enforce that restriction. Has Pruett ever heard of the doctrine of "fair use?"
This flap leads us to ask why the professor reacted with such irritation to a minuscule four-word quote? My assumption is that he didn't want to be identified, even remotely, with the defense of traditional marriage. That is the kiss of death in academic circles today.
I'll conclude by quoting the most vociferous of my critics, a self-styled activist and blogger. He called me a "Scripture-spitting, simple-minded, superstitious savage." He apparently believes that because I am a Christian, I must be a backwoods minister or fire-breathing evangelist, and that I have no professional qualifications relevant to child rearing.
At the risk of being self-serving, let me inform this activist and others that I hold an earned Ph.D. in child development from the University of Southern California. I spent 14 years on the faculty of a major medical school and served for 17 years on the attending staff of a large children's hospital, specializing in research and genetics. At one time I was director of behavioral research in the division of child development. My work in the past 30 years has focused specifically on child care, marriage and the family.
I've sold 15 million books dealing with those subjects, and am heard on radio and television by 200 million people in 150 countries every week. That experience neither makes me right nor wrong on controversial issues, of course, but it does offer a measured response to the effort to belittle my opinions and beliefs.
I'll say it again: Children need both a mother and a father, and neither can do the job as well alone.
