Dear Dr. Kazdin:
On September 5, 2008 I wrote to you regarding publication of falsified results for GID prevalence by the APA Task Force on Gender Identity and Gender Variance. A copy is attached [2].
As discussed in that letter, the Task Force failed to respond to alerts about errors in their results. They apparently failed to read the key paper in question (Bakker, et al [3], attached), thus failing to check for the errors themselves. Unaware that they were not reporting what their primary reference study had actually measured, they published long-held assumptions about what that old paper said, while failing to mention peer-reviewed papers that conflicted with those assumptions.
On September 25, 2008, Clinton Anderson, Ph.D., the Director of the APA�s LGBT Concern�s Office, responded on your behalf to my letter to you. I have attached a scan of his letter [4].
Unfortunately, Dr. Anderson did not acknowledge the Task Force�s failure to correct the false results. He instead attempted to whitewash those false results, as discussed in the attached report.
We realize that any admission that the APA had published false GID prevalence numbers would be a great embarrassment for all involved. However, all scientists have a professional duty to admit mistakes in published data, calculations or analyses. To do otherwise leads to further falsifications and denials � and only delays the inevitable exposure of the errors.
Sincerely,
Lynn Conway
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Emerita
3640 CSE Building
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Member, National Academy of Engineering
http://www.lynnconway.com
