"In what has become a defining characteristic of pro-gay scholarship (e.g., Simon LeVay's flawed study of brain structure), Gibson errs in supporting his thesis with data collected from institutions whose clientele do not represent the overall homosexual population..."

[LaBarbera cites such "institutions" as youth assistance and "drop-in" centers, gay-oriented establishments for homeless youth, etc. He also mentions that Gibson-cited studies of high percentages of adult gay male "attempted suicides" are based on samples taken from habitues of gay bars and/or bathhouses and another quarter from gays with personal contacts in such places. The high degree of alcohol use associated with such establishments coincides with the strong association in psychological studies of alcohol abuse with suicide.]

LaBarbera comments: "These and other radical statements [according with the 'gay rights' agenda and faulty research] expose Gibson as an ardent activist -- not a dispassionate researcher. Yet his paper and statistics have been quoted by gay leaders... as if they were the work of a renowned statistician. Meanwhile, the work of academics who find a much lower incidence of homosexuality among suicidal teens is ignored.

"Perhaps the myth of a gay teen suicide 'holocaust' is irresistible to gay activists because it squares so perfectly with their strategy of embracing victim status to gain sympathy with the general population. That strategy was eloquently stated by homosexual authors Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen:

"'In any campaign to win over the public, gays must be portrayed as victims in need of protection so that straights will be inclined by reflex to adopt the role of protector... The purpose of victim imagery is to make straights feel very uncomfortable; that is, to jam with shame the self-righteous pride that would ordinarily accompany and reward their antigay belligerence, and to lay the groundwork for the process of conversion [to gay- favoring psychological attitudes] by helping straights identify with gays and sympathize with their underdog status' (Kirk and Madsen, op. cit., p. 183)."