Marriage Under Fire: Why We Must Win This Battle, by James Dobson: Multnomah Books: Sisters, Oregon: 2004. This appears to be the latest shot in the ongoing international fundamentalist war against lesbian and gay relationship recognition. At ninety-two pages, it's a slender volume, and its size matches its lack of substance. GayNZ.com readers may recall that I previewed an excerpt available on FOF's Marriage Under Fire website, established to promote this book, and there's rather little to add to this. Dobson delights in making claims that are unreferenced and unfootnoted, or perhaps this was just a badly edited rush job. Much of Dobson's "case" against relationship recognition consists of secondary source arguments from newspapers. When he does cite 'social scientists,' they are affiliated to the Christian Right's satellite 'marriage movement.' There is no attempt made to provide readers with any arguments from mainstream professional organisations and evidence-based research from social science and medicine. Instead, we are met with the usual 'subcultural luminaries' from 'reparative therapy'/ gay cure quack circles (Joseph Nicolosi), the latest FOF captive ex-gay 'leader' (Mike Haley) and Charles Socarides (who has never accepted the APA's depathologisation of homosexuality thirty-one years ago, let alone his own gay son). When 'marriage movement' activist Maggie Gallagher says that banning gay marriage is 'the' marriage issue, she makes a striking confession. I'm sure that ethnic minorities would be surprised to learn that institutional racism and contingent poverty has no effect on family stability, whether through unemployment, low-income jobs, absence of social services and compensatory criminal infrastructures, discriminatory migration, asylum seeker or refugee laws, slavery, colonialism, or other causes. I'm sure that parents of intellectually disabled children would be surprised to learn that the stress and strain on their relationships from inadequately resourced and co-ordinated community care services is not the product of conservative government cutbacks on institutional and respite care. I'm sure that women who have survived violent abusive and dysfunctional heterosexual marriages would feel comforted to learn that "only" one-third of all New Zealand domestic violence cases occur within that context. But then, whoever thought that the 'marriage movement' was about anything other than badly researched blame-casting? Dobson confirms that he is an advocate of the retention of criminal "sodomy" laws, despite the crazy-quilt patchwork nature of that particular fabricated eleventh-century concept, according to gay Catholic historian Mark Jordan. This indicates that he cannot come to terms with the events of Lawrence v Texas last year in the United States. It also makes a hash of his ridiculous claims that he isn't antigay. Oh, please. Fact: Dobson himself admits that he opposes Lawrence v Texas and decriminalisation of male homosexuality (and do his New Zealand readers still feel that way about our Homosexual Law Reform Act, of eighteen years ago?) Fact: Focus on the Family was one of the ringleaders of Colorado's antigay citizens' initiated referendum which stripped LG Colorado citizens of antidiscrimination protection in 1992, until the US Supreme Court invalidated that result (Romer v Evans, 1996). Fact: Focus includes references to discredited charlatans and quacks like Paul Cameron in its website 'resources.' It is actively campaigning against lesbian and gay relationship recognition and parenting rights and responsibilities within the United States, and this predatory fundamentalist multinational wants to export its agenda elsewhere. Marriage Under Fire fails. It fails because it commits too many tactical and strategic errors. For example, why keep talking about the alleged faults of heterosexual solo parenting and pretending that related research can be somehow applied to dual parent LGBT family structures? It can't. Dobson doesn't even attempt to engage with mainstream professional child welfare organisations and evidence-based research. Why? Because they support legal recognition and security for same-sex parenting and childrearing rights and responsibilities. But wait, there's more. Bill Maier, Dobson's FOF VP, has co-authored yet another tome, scheduled to 'come out' later this month, although New Zealand fundamentalist bookshops won't get it until later this month. Sad, unconvincing, shallow, and shrill. See also: http://www.marriageunderfire.com (MUF promotional website, with FOF links) Rebuttal: Judith Stacey and Tim Biblarz "How Does the Sexual Orientation of Parents Matter?" American Sociological Review 68: 2 (April 2001): 159-183. Forthcoming (Not Yet Published): Glen Stanton and Bill Maier: Marriage On Trial: The Case Against Same-Sex Marriage and Same-Sex Parenting: Intervarsity Press: Wheaton Grove: 2004. Craig Young - 13th August 2004