1 Jul 2011 2:33 pm
Michele Bachmanns Husband Calls Homosexuals Barbarians Who Need To Be Educated And DisciplinedWhen trying to figure out where presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) gets her stringent, anti-gay views, you only have to look as far as her husband. Dr. Marcus Bachmann, who has described himself as his wifes strategist, runs a Christian-based counseling center in Minnesota that has been rumored to offer reparative treatment for those looking to ungay themselves. Just last summer, Dr. Bachmann explained his position on homosexuality while offering theoretical advice to parents concerned that one of their children was gay. BACHMANN: We have to understand: barbarians need to be educated. They need to be disciplined. Just because someone feels it or thinks it doesnt mean that we are supposed to go down that road. Thats what is called the sinful nature. We have a responsibility as parents and as authority figures not to encourage such thoughts and feelings from moving into the action stepsAnd lets face it: what is our culture, what is our public education system doing today? They are giving full, wide-open doors to children, not only giving encouragement to think it but to encourage action steps. Thats why when we understand what truly is the percentage of homosexuals in this country, it is small. But by these open doors, I can see and we are experiencing, that it is starting to increase.Listen:Along with offering faith-based counseling at his clinic, Bachmann also gives presentations at various conferences. In November 2005, he and Rep. Bachmann both ran sessions at a Minnesota Pastors Summit in Eden Prairie, Minnesota: hers focused on the gay marriage amendment she was trying to push through the state legislature, and his was titled The Truth About the Homosexual Agenda.One of the people present for Dr. Bachmanns talk almost had to leave the room because there was so much bile. Curt Prins, a marketing executive who identifies as gay, reported that Bachmann believed homosexuality was a choice rather than due to genetics: The climax of the presentation was when, according to Prins, Bachmann brought up three ex-gays, like part of a PowerPoint presentation. The trio, two white men and a black woman, all testified that they had renounced their homosexuality. One of them said, If I was born gay, then Ill have to be born again, Prins recalls. The crowd went crazy.After seeing her husbands virulent remarks, its no surprise then that Michele Bachmann has fiercely disparaged the gay community and has announced shes in favor of an anti-gay marriage amendment on the campaign trail. Whats the most terrifying isnt what Dr. Bachmann said, but the threat that the United States could elect a president who believes that homosexuality can be disciplined out of someone. Sarah Bufkin