Same-sex marriage: GOP cites pro-gay psychologist

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/02/BAQ81LPPB3.DTL

House Republicans defending the federal ban on marital benefits for same-sex couples in a San Francisco court have cited findings by a pro-gay-rights psychologist to support their view that gays and lesbians are not entitled to strong judicial protection from discrimination.

But in a sworn declaration this week, psychologist Lisa Diamond said the Republican brief distorted her research on changes in a person's sexual identification and turned her conclusions upside down.

Supporters of the federal Defense of Marriage Act have used her findings "out of context and in ways that misrepresent their meaning," said Diamond, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Utah and a widely published author on gender and sexual identity.

The controversy involves a side issue but a potentially important one in the litigation over the law known as DOMA, which denies joint tax filings, Social Security survivor payments, and other federal benefits to same-sex couples.



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