Family Research Institute

FRI (known then as ISIS) was founded in 1982 in Lincoln, Nebraska by psychologist Paul Cameron.[12] In 1980, a local organization, the Lincoln Legion of Lesbians, had asked the Lincoln city government to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation.[13] Cameron was vehemently opposed to legal protections for gay people, and presented his opposition as grounded in his psychological research.[14] The opposition organization he formed was successful not only in defeating the proposed law, but in quickly becoming a major part of the nationwide anti-LGBT movement.[15]

Sociologist Sara Diamond of UC Berkeley states that the AIDS epidemic gave FRI a chance to oppose gay rights using "fear-mongering pseudoscience" before accurate scientific understanding of AIDS could be communicated to the public.[16] Among other proposals, FRI advocated limiting AIDS by imprisoning "sexually active homosexuals" in concentration camps.[12]

The organization's name was changed to the current one in 1987.[16] It moved to Colorado Springs in 1992.[12]

In 1984, the Nebraska Psychological Association adopted a resolution stating that it "formally disassociates itself from the representations and interpretations of scientific literature offered by Dr. Paul Cameron in his writings and public statements on sexuality."[3]

In 1986 the American Sociological Association (ASA) passed a resolution condemning Cameron for "consistent misrepresentation of sociological research"[17] based on a report from the ASA's Committee on the Status of Homosexuals in Sociology, which summarized Cameron's inflammatory statements and commented, "It does not take great analytical abilities to suspect from even a cursory review of Cameron's writings that his claims have almost nothing to do with social science and that social science is used only to cover over another agenda. Very little of his work could find support from even a bad misreading of genuine social science investigation on the subject and some sociologists, such as Alan Bell, have been 'appalled' at the abuse of their work."[18] In 1996, the Board of Directors of the Canadian Psychological Association approved a position statement disassociating the organization from Cameron's work on sexuality, stating that he had "consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism".[19]

Herek and others have also said that the FRI's research has been published in Psychological Reports. The Boston Globe says that the small journal charges authors to publish their studies, and that it has a non-standard peer-reviewing policy. Herek says that it has a "low rejection rate" and that Cameron's research "would have been rejected by more prestigious scientific journals"[20]

The anti-LGBT religious right began to distance itself from FRI and Cameron in the mid-1990s. His acrimonious attacks on gays and lesbians were backfiring, according to journalist Wayne Besen; his attacks were responsible for a growing impression that Christianity was intolerant, and his claims appeared further removed from the truth as public understanding of AIDS grew. Focus on the Family denounced FRI, and moved on to associate itself with other pseudoscientific claims, such as conversion therapy, instead.[21] However, FRI's claims are still cited in politics as of 2020.[22]