Gay Marriage Study Retracted For One Shocking Reason! Find Out Here

We do have a connotation of science as real hard facts or the absolute truth. We often ask if there is science behind an idea, so that we think of it as something that holds water. Otherwise, we see things as myths, fiction, magic or nothing more than pseudoscience. So, when Science and its opposite become one, and scientific lie is oxymoron no more, we naturally feel robbed.

One groundbreaking study which claimed that the mind can be swayed in just a short conversation with a gay or lesbian rights activist was being retracted, the Free Press Journal reports.

The study -- titled "When contact changes minds: An experiment on transmission of support for gay equality" --by UCLA graduate student Michael J. LaCour and lead researcher Donald P. Green has sent shock waves across the scientific community. It was published in the journal Science in December 2014.

So why is it retracted?

According to ZMEScience, the study was pulled because the data used to draw conclusions from were "almost certainly fake." Other graduate students from the University of California, Berkeley found that they weren't getting the same reaction as LaCour did, when they conducted an extension of the study. And, there were more irregularities surfacing as they further their work.

Stanford's David Broockman, conducted a study on the issue of transgender equality in Florida using the same method, and found out that the resulting data could really be misleading.

"We report a number of irregularities in the replication dataset posted for LaCour and Green... other elements of the dataset are inconsistent with patterns typical in randomized experiments and survey responses and/or inconsistent with the claimed design of the study."

Green released a statement on the website Retraction Watch saying that he was "deeply embarrassed by this turn of events and apologize to the editors, reviewers and readers of Science."

He realized the fraud after asking LaCour's adviser, Lynn Vavreck, to look into the matter, DailyCaller.com says. LaCour's data were questioned by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley.

Vavreck also found out that the funding LaCour claimed was given for his research were also made up.

LaCour took to social networking site Twitter and on his personal website his initial response to the allegations hurled at him, the Free Press Journal also notes. "I am gathering evidence and relevant information so I can provide a single comprehensive response. I will do so at my earliest opportunity," he posted.

Recently, LaCour also shared his immediate plans of moving across country to pursue becoming a professor at Princeton, ZMEScience writes.