The Human Rights Campaign, America's largest national lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization, has threatened to penalize Johns Hopkins University if it does not denounce a report from two of the institution's best scholars which concludes that there is little scientific evidence that people are born gay or transgender.
In the special report for The New Atlantis titled Sexuality and Gender: Findings from the Biological, Psychological, and Social Sciences, Dr. Lawrence S. Mayer, a scholar in residence at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Dr. Paul McHugh, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences also at John Hopkins School of Medicine conclude there is very little evidence supporting the "born that way" and other theories on sexual orientation.
"Some of the most widely held views about sexual orientation, such as the 'born that way' hypothesis, simply are not supported by science. The literature in this area does describe a small ensemble of biological differences between non-heterosexuals and heterosexuals, but those biological differences are not sufficient to predict sexual orientation, the ultimate test of any scientific finding," the report said. "The strongest statement that science offers to explain sexual orientation is that some biological factors appear, to an unknown extent, to predispose some individuals to a non-heterosexual orientation."
When it comes to transgenderism, the study explained the phenomenon is even more complex.
"The suggestion that we are 'born that way' is more complex in the case of gender identity. In one sense, the evidence that we are born with a given gender seems well supported by direct observation: males overwhelmingly identify as men and females as women. The fact that children are (with a few exceptions of intersex individuals) born either biologically male or female is beyond debate," the report said. "The biological sexes play complementary roles in reproduction, and there are a number of population-level average physiological and psychological differences between the sexes.
The report attracted the attention of HRC and the organization said it agreed with "certain members of the Johns Hopkins community" who feel the report was a "misguided, misinformed attack on LGBT communities" and called for the university to distance itself from the scholars and the report or face consequences.
"HRC has been in communication with Johns Hopkins over the need for an official statement about McHugh and Mayer's activities. Recently, HRC met with leadership at Johns Hopkins to express the urgency of this issue and the continued need for action," HRC said in a statement on its website.
A statement released by editors of The New Atlantis on Monday, describes the HRC as a bullying organization launching a "political assault" on Johns Hopkins.
"The Human Rights Campaign attempts to preemptively argue that its political assault on Johns Hopkins and its scholars poses no threat to academic freedom, precisely because the HRC recognizes that the public will see this assault for what it is: an obvious threat to academic freedom, and intentionally so," the editors said.
"This blatant effort to intimidate Johns Hopkins University by insisting that the entire university must answer collectively for everything written by its faculty is a disturbing strategy designed to make impossible respectful disagreement in the academy on controversial matters. The HRC's claim that its efforts 'pose no threat to academic freedom' is nonsense; intimidation tactics of this sort undermine the atmosphere of free and open inquiry that universities are meant to foster," the editors added.
The rainbow Nazis have turned their guns on yet another organization, this time a well-respected medical facility. Have an opinion, or research conclusion? Make sure it agrees with these politically-correct tyrants or face increasing marginalization and hostile public takeover--aided and abetted by a complicit media.
"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, But a just weight is His delight. When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom" (Proverbs 11:1).