Unfair criticism

The article "A Century of Gay Studies at Chicago" (October/00) unfairly criticized the research of two of Chicago's outstanding faculty members: Robert Michael and Edward Laumann. As a former student of Bob Michael's, I have had an opportunity to examine the cited research in depth. His research methodology is flawless, and his findings are controversial not because of his methodology, but because the results explode the myth of a widespread existence of homosexuality. The studies' findings-that only 2.8 percent of American men and 1.4 percent of American women are homo- or bisexual-is very damaging to the homosexual lifestyle because it destroys the myth that homosexuality is just an "alternative lifestyle." However disconcerting this may be to the gay community, it is not fair to criticize research that the author obviously has not reviewed in depth. Destroying the reputation and research of an excellent U of C professor just to further the homosexual agenda does nothing to help our great university.

Jennifer M. Witek, MPP'00
Chicago

Laumann's and Michael's research was the subject of an October/94 feature, "Sex by the Numbers"); in the article mentioned above, we noted that their study, which "challenged [a] widespread belief…was greeted with some skepticism, prompting a continuing debate on the study's methodology and interpretation."-Ed.

---