Scott Rose of The New Civil Rights Movement interviewed Lori Holyfield, PhD, about the recent study by NOM-linked researcher Mark Regnerus. Dr. Holyfield called on the journal Elsevier to retract Regnerus’ article. Much of what she noted was the fact that the study was completely invalid due to several reasons.

She told Rose:

“The study’s methodology is not valid. Regnerus claims to have proved correlation between gay parents and bad child outcomes, but his study does not support those claims. This is a bogus study that perpetuates negative stereotypes.”

“It is Research Ethics 101 to disclose conflicts of interest. Wilcox had so many roles in this, that it is unbelievable that journal editor James Wright never bothered to disclose any of Wilcox’s conflicts of interest to the public. That I see, we know for sure that Wilcox is on the journal’s editorial board, and that he is a long-time collaborator of Regnerus and of journal editor James Wright, and that he was the Witherspoon Program Director who recruited Regnerus for the study, and that he collaborated with Regnerus on study design, and then also did data collection and data analysis work. How did it happen, that none of this was disclosed? It is extremely important to note, that disclosure of these conflicts of interest would be necessary, whether the study was valid or not.”

Regnerus was funded largely by the NOM affiliate the Witherspoon Institute. Wilcox is the Program Director at the Witherspoon Institute and organized the Regnerus study. Wilcox also collaborated with Regnerus in collecting and analyzing the data and was part of the peer review of the study. He is also on the board of Elsevier’s Social Science Research journal.

The rest of the interview can be read here.