''To search for truth about homosexuality in psychology and psychiatry, while ignoring God, will result in futile and foolish speculations,'' Rekers wrote in a 1982 book.

In 2003, Schumm also said in a scholarly article that social science could be used to spread the word of God. ''With respect to integration of faith and research, I have been trying to use statistics to highlight the truth of the Scripture,'' he wrote.

One of Gill's experts, Susan D. Cochran, a professor of epidemiology and statistics at UCLA, accused Schumm of cooking some of the data he used to bolster his argument. ''This is taught in first-year statistics,'' Cochran testified. ``I was surprised he would do that.''

And one of Gill's attorneys, James Esseks, criticized Rekers for relying on the scholarly work of Paul Cameron, chairman of the Family Research Institute, who was dropped from the American Psychological Association in 1983 after he declined to cooperate with an investigation into whether he had distorted research on gay people.

ORGANIZATIONS' VIEWS

The APA is among a host of professional groups, including the Child Welfare League of America, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, that have issued statements opposing categorical bans on adoption by gay people.

Letitia A. Peplau, a psychology professor at UCLA, testified that many gay men and women live lives similar to those of their straight peers, with long-term committed relationships.

''Same-sex couples do many of the same things that I and my husband of 27 years do,'' she testified. ``They buy houses together. They invite friends and relatives to dinner. They celebrate birthdays and promotions. They support each other in times of crisis, and they try to build a future together.''

And Michael Lamb, a Yale-trained child development expert who teaches at Cambridge University, testified that research shows that children raised by lesbians and gay men are in no greater danger of experiencing adjustment, psychological, behavioral or gender identity problems than those raised in traditional households.

Lamb said he has seen challenges to such research from only ''advocacy groups and individuals who have a political ideological opposition'' to adoption by gay people. The evidence that gay people can parent as well as straight people, he said, ``is quite clear and consistent, and it's not controversial -- among scholars, I mean.''

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