On Fri, 10 Dec 2004, Brian Charles Dauth wrote:
> Miles writes:
>
> > This is wild extrapolation from correlational data!
>
> And this is holiday homophbia as only Miles can serve.
Pointing out sloppy, irrational thinking is not homophobia. I'm a little impatient with researchers who make strong claims about causality from correlational data, because I've been teaching about research methods in the social sciences for many years.
> > . . . a correlation between drug use during pregnancy and
> sexual orientation of offspring is ludricious evidence for the
> claim that "sexuality is determined in the womb".
>
> Why? Because you say so? You use the same technique as
> reparation therapists: can't argue the data, so you attack the
> approach. Either way, anything to denigrate queers.
Well, I say so, on the basis of years of research and teaching about research methods. If you conduct nonexperimental research and discover that two things are related, it is not proper scientific reasoning to claim that one is the cause of the other. I "can't argue the data"? My point is that the data here are ambiguous, and I'm pointing out the fallacious logic of anyone who treats these ambiguous correlational data as clear evidence of cause and effect.
How you can construe this pretty banal point about scientific method as an attempt to denigrate queers? If you look at the archive, you'll see I've made this methodological point before about various research examples.
Moreover, I don't see how you get from questioning the claim that sexual orientation is biological to homophobia. The question of whether or not sexual orientation is influenced by biology is completely irrelevant to the question of equal rights for queers. Just as I don't need to demonstrate the biological basis for my Catholicism to have a right to worship, I don't need to demonstrate the biological basis of my queerness to have a right to marriage.
I know that you may not believe this, but I'm one of your political allies. We share many of the same political goals (e.g., equal rights for queers). My points of disagreement here are not moral or political.
Miles