Did I Say "Hit Job"? (Update, Update II)

It turns out the much-touted Regnerus study was intended as a political tool from the very beginning. From American Independent:

The conservative funders who bankrolled a flawed and widely cited academic study that's critical of gay marriage choreographed its release in time to influence “major decisions of the Supreme Court,” documents show.

The documents, recently obtained through public-records requests by The American Independent and published in collaboration with The Huffington Post, show that the Witherspoon Institute recruited a professor from a major university to carry out a study that was designed to manipulate public policy. In communicating with donors about the research project, Witherspoon’s president clearly expected results unfavorable to the gay-marriage movement.

It gets worse. Read the whole article.

Based on the timing, the fact that it was fast-tracked for publication (James Wright's claim that he had no idea of the political angle is disingenuous, at best), the active involvement of a member of Witherspoon's staff in the data analysis (and that Regnerus lied about that), it was obviously meant as a political move. It's nice to have the evidence.

It's also worth noting that an amicus brief filed by the American Psychological Association, among others, thoroughly debunks the study.

Via Joe.My.God.

Update: Here's the report, with thanks to StraightGrandmother via J.M.G.

Update II: Here's a discussion of the history of the project, as revealed by the documents, by Philip Cohen. (With thanks to StraightGrandmother yet again.)