--- description: The author of a landmark study that found gay people can change opinions on same-sex marriage has retracted the stud. title: Author Retracts Study on Gay People Changing Voters' Minds on Same-Sex Marriage image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LGBT](/tag/lgbt/) ## LGBT Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Author Retracts Study on Gay People Changing Voters' Minds on Same-Sex Marriage  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent May 20, 2015 5:50 PM CUT  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent May 20, 2015 5:50 PM CUT The author of a landmark [study](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/346/6215/1366 "undefined") that found gay people can change the opinions of others on same-sex marriage has retracted the study. Columbia University political science professor Donald Green, the study’s lead author, said Tuesday that graduate student co-author Michael LaCour had faked at least some data used in the report, according to [reports](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/science-retraction-gay-marriage-views-fake-data-118131.html "undefined") citing watchdog group [_Retraction Watch_](http://retractionwatch.com/2015/05/20/author-retracts-study-of-changing-minds-on-same-sex-marriage-after-colleague-admits-data-were-faked/ "undefined"). The study, published in the highly-respected journal _Science_, received significant national attention. “I am deeply embarrassed by this turn of events and apologize to the editors, reviewers, and readers of _Science_,” Green wrote in a retraction letter. For his part, LaCour, a graduate student at University of California, Los Angeles wrote on Twitter that he will address the concerns raised at his “earliest opportunity.” > [](https://twitter.com/UCLaCour/status/601059143345053696) > [](https://twitter.com/UCLaCour/status/601059197678002176) Irregularities in the data were first discovered by graduate students at University of California, Berkeley who wanted to build on the research. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3890934/gay-marriage-study-science-retraction/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3890934/gay-marriage-study-science-retraction/"},"headline":"Author Retracts Study on Gay People Changing Voters' Minds on Same-Sex Marriage","datePublished":"2015-05-20T17:50:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:29:33.464Z","description":"\"I am deeply embarrassed by this turn of events and apologize\"","url":"https://time.com/3890934/gay-marriage-study-science-retraction/","keywords":["LGBT","Education"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/lgbt/","name":"LGBT"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3890934/gay-marriage-study-science-retraction/","name":"Author Retracts Study on Gay People Changing Voters' Minds on Same-Sex Marriage"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Person of the Year 2013 Shortlist: Edith Windsor","description":"TIME's Eliza Gray explains why gay rights activist Edith Windsor is on the short list for the 2013 TIME Person of the Year","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/9hpSZrim/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-12-11T12:42:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9hpSZrim.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3890934/gay-marriage-study-science-retraction/","duration":"PT2M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3890934/gay-marriage-study-science-retraction/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```