Walter Schumm
{{Short description|American professor (born 1951)}}
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| name = Walter Schumm
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| birth_date = January 9, 1951
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| education = College of William and Mary
Purdue University
| employer = Kansas State University
| occupation = Academic
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| children = 7
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Walter R. Schumm (born January 9, 1951){{cite web | url=http://www.he.k-state.edu/fshs/people/schumm/schumm.pdf | title=Walter Schumm CV | accessdate=29 May 2016}} is a professor in the Department of Family Studies and Human Services at Kansas State University. He was also an editor-in-chief of the academic journal Marriage & Family Review.{{Cite web |title=About this journal |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/wmfr20/about-this-journal |access-date=2024-10-05 |website=Marriage & Family Review}} Much of Schumm's research purports to find negative effects of same-sex parenting, although his work has been criticized for its methodology.{{Cite web |last=McEwan |first=Alvin |date=2010-10-18 |title=AOL Article Demonstrates the Deception of Anti-Gay Bad Science |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/aol-article-demonstrates_b_767318 |access-date=2023-11-27 |website=HuffPost |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Tedder |first=Ryan |date=2010-10-18 |title=Gay Parents 'Far More Likely' to Have Gay Kids, Says Questionable Science |url=https://www.queerty.com/gay-parents-far-more-likely-to-have-gay-kids-says-questionable-science-20101018 |access-date=2023-11-27 |website=Queerty}} In 2010, he gave "expert evidence" in a Florida court against a gay man who challenged the state's ban on LGBT adoption.
Education
Schumm received his B.S. in physics from the College of William and Mary in 1972, his M.S. in Family and Child Development from Kansas State University in 1976, and his Ph.D. in Family Studies from Purdue University in 1979.{{cite web | url=http://www.he.k-state.edu/fshs/people/schumm/ | title=Walter Schumm | work=Kansas State University | accessdate=29 May 2016}}
Career
For 30 years (1972-2002), Schumm served in the United States Army Reserve and Army National Guard, retiring as a colonel in 2002. He joined the faculty of Kansas State University in 1979.
Research
Schumm is known for his research on the alleged adverse effects of LGBT parenting, and the state of Florida called on him to give expert testimony in support of their same-sex marriage ban when it was challenged in court in 2008.{{cite web |author=Mack, David |date=11 December 2015 |title=The "Witch Hunt" Barring Same-Sex Families From Adopting Children In Kansas |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/the-witch-hunt-barring-same-sex-families-from-adopting-child |accessdate=29 May 2016 |work=BuzzFeed News}} For example, in 2010, he published a study in the Journal of Biosocial Science claiming that homosexual parents are more likely than non-homosexual parents to have homosexual children, although the effect was not significant for males.{{cite journal|last1=SCHUMM|first1=WALTER R.|title=Children of Homosexuals More Apt to be Homosexuals? A Reply to Morrison and to Cameron Based on an Examination of Multiple Sources of Data |journal=Journal of Biosocial Science|date=20 July 2010|volume=42|issue=6|pages=721–742|doi=10.1017/S0021932010000325|pmid=20642872}}{{cite web | url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2012/09/20/anti-lgbt-propagandist-published-again-academic-journal | title=Anti-LGBT Propagandist Published Again in Academic Journal | work=Southern Poverty Law Center | date=20 September 2012 | accessdate=29 May 2016 | author=Schlatter, Evelyn}}
In November 2012, he wrote a commentary in defense of the methodology of Mark Regnerus' New Family Structures Study (NFSS), which was originally published earlier that year and which claimed that children of same-sex parents were less likely to succeed later in life. Writing in the same journal (Social Science Research) that originally published the NFSS, Schumm claimed that "the methodological decisions [Regnerus] made in the design and implementation of the New Family Structures Survey were not uncommon among social scientists, including many progressive, gay and lesbian scholars." Other academics subsequently criticized Schumm because he had served as a paid consultant to the NFSS early in its development.{{cite web | url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/02/social-scientists-criticize-scholar-who-defended-controversial-same-sex-parenting | title=A Reviewer's Conflict | work=Inside Higher Education | date=2 May 2013 | accessdate=29 May 2016 | author=Straumsheim, Carl}}
In 2018, Schumm was given the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who's Who, a biography publishing company.{{cite news |last1=Medved |first1=Chelsi |title=Schumm awarded lifetime achievement award by Marquis Who's Who |url=https://www.k-state.edu/today/announcement/?id=46663 |access-date=June 7, 2022 |publisher=K-State Today |date=November 16, 2018}}
Schumm was on the editorial board of the Empirical Journal of Same-Sex Sexual Behavior, a journal founded by anti-LGBT extremist Paul Cameron. The Windy City Times has described Schumm's views as "anti-gay".{{cite news |title=Anti-gay caught hiring from Rentboy.com |url=https://www.windycitytimes.com/m/APParticle.php?AID=26498&i=20&s=News |access-date=June 7, 2022 |publisher=Windy City Times |date=April 5, 2010 |quote=Reker and his equally anti-gay colleague Walter Schumm were the only witnesses the state bothered to call.}}
Personal life
Schumm is married and has seven children. Among his children is Jonathan Schumm, a former member of the Topeka City Council who resigned in April 2016 when he was facing torture and child abuse charges.{{cite web | url=http://www.hdnews.net/news/local/schumm-s-father-testified-in-landmark-case-on-same-sex/article_2cfc24d4-ded4-52b1-bb61-c5d7947918e1.html | title=Schumm's father testified in landmark case on same-sex adoption | work=Hays Daily News | date=7 December 2015 | accessdate=29 May 2016 | author=Llopis-Jensen, Celia}}{{cite news |last1=Hrenchir |title=Topeka City Councilman Jonathan Schumm resigns |url=https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/local/2016/04/20/stub-37/16590074007/ |access-date=June 7, 2022 |publisher=The Topeka Capital-Journal |date=April 16, 2019}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Google Scholar id|lN91qPUAAAAJ}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schumm, Walter R.}}
Category:Kansas State University faculty
Category:College of William & Mary alumni
Category:Kansas State University alumni
Category:Purdue University College of Engineering alumni
Category:Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences alumni