Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Michele Bachmann's Clinic Woes

A gay activist's undercover video is drawing unwanted attention to a counseling clinic co-owned by GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann, with footage apparently showing a counselor offering to help the activist overcome his homosexual urges.

Both Bachmann and her husband Marcus, who runs the clinic, refused Tuesday to answer questions about the video from Truth Wins Out, a gay advocacy group that has worked to discredit so-called "ex-gay therapy."

In it, a counselor is seen saying that sessions could help build up the patient's desire for women.

"I believe twice over the course of the first session he made reference to his belief that we are all created heterosexual, and that some of us just have different challenges with that," the activist, John Becker said in an interview with The Associated Press. "God created us all for heterosexuality — he said that twice."

The undercover video, first aired Monday by ABC News, comes at a time when Bachmann has emerged as a top GOP contender with a message that favors economic issues over the conservative social stands that marked her early rise in Minnesota. Bachmann often touts the family clinic as evidence of her business know-how.

[...]

She drew questions last weekend for signing a conservative Iowa group's "marriage vow" that contained controversial language comparing the home life of black children during the days of slavery and in today's society. The group, the Family Leader, has since revised its pledge to remove the slavery mention.

The pledge, coupled with unflattering attention to the clinic, isn't sitting well among Republicans who worry about a party nominee who could struggle to connect with swing voters.

"Those are fringe positions that will turn off currently registered Republicans or voters in that independent, movable middle," said R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of the pro-gay rights Log Cabin Republicans. "Politics is about numbers. It's about addition. Having fringe positions, we're going to lose voters."
(emphasis mine)


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39 comments:

Right Wingnut said...

As Steve Bannon said, "This isn't a function of government....that's not something the state should be reimbursing for."

As for the gays...I don't agree with gay marriage, but I don't give a rats ass what two people do in their own home.

Right Wingnut said...

Marcus called gays "barbarians" in a radio interview last fall. That would make a good post too, but I don't have time.

Right Wingnut said...

The audio is on you tube.

Right Wingnut said...

OJ, What say you?

Right Wingnut said...

Ahhh...the "Barbarians" audio is in the above clip.

Is it just me, or does Marcus sound a bit like Stuart Smalley?

larry said...

How do Republicans expect to win the presidency with someone so controversial?

Terry said...

It seems that every day now there is something else on Bachmann.

How has she survived this long with all that baggage?

Massachusetts Conservative said...

"How has she survived this long with all that baggage?"

--- Talk radio and Fox News have kept it all a secret, and will continue to do so.

Ohio JOE said...

"OJ, What say you?" Read my comments on other posts. How much more do you want me to say???

Pablo said...

I don't like Michelle Bachmann at all, but I didn't find anything objectionable or radical in this video. Her husband has expressed a view that many of us believe -- that homosexuals can change.

Anonymous said...

Pablo.

Then you're in the minority.

Most folks believe it is biological, a chromosome kind of thing.

Ann said...

Counseling the people are one thing, trying to cure them seems a little strange.

From what I've read about Mr. Bachmann, he seems a little off.

Ohio JOE said...

"Then you're in the minority." If that truly is the case, than the majority does not have science on its side.

Anonymous said...

And when a majority of Americans cease to believe in God, does that mean that we should all just chuck in our bibles?

DanL

Anonymous said...

I think this is dirty tricks on the party of the activist - but then again, we loved it our side went into Accorn.... I think we've opened a door now that can't be closed.

Ellie

Anonymous said...

Maybe homosexuals can change but the evidence for that is scant indeed.

Personally, I believe living a gay lifestyle is wrong, but being gay is not a choice for the great majority of gay people. Sure, there are people who have identity issues for various reasons. But I think it's silly and rude to say the being gay is a choice.

I also believe that there are probably many gay people who live a hetero life simply because they find it the best option for a normal family life.

Whatever our various opinions are, the bottom line is that Mr. Bachmann's 'treatment' and Michelles lies about it are a liability for her campaign. I'm not worried about her winning the nomination, but if she did, we would be toast in the general. This, and other issues makes Bachmann entirely unelectable, IMO.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

Ellie, let's let the left make this election about gays and abortion! Great idea! Ha ha.

We're playing right into their hand with people like Bachmann.

-Martha

Ohio JOE said...

"Maybe homosexuals can change but the evidence for that is scant indeed." Not as scant as an alcoholic can stop drinking or as scant as a Romneyite can cure herself of PDS.


"But I think it's silly and rude to say the being gay is a choice." So science is rude???

Anonymous said...

OJ, LOL on the PDS.

But come on. What scientific evidence is there that homosexuality IS a choice?! Ha ha. Science is meaningless in this case, when we all know very well that no little girl or boy suddenly decides to be gay.

I don't know where you've been all your life, OJ, but I know more than a few people who were obviously gay from an early age. It was NOT a choice.

-Martha

Ohio JOE said...

"What scientific evidence is there that homosexuality IS a choice?!" Then how come some Gays straighten out? Pardon the pun. Further, why are there Bi-Sexuals. They obviously choose to go back and forth between being Gay and Straight.

Anonymous said...

As OJ alluded to, alcholism is a choice. Yes, there is a genetic predisposition for some to be alcoholics, but they can still make the choice to not take a drink.

If there is a genetic predisposition to be gay, and I don't buy that there is, but if there is, then the homosexual can still make a choice to not act on it. Just as I can make the choice to not have sex with any woman who strikes my fancy.

Martha, the LDS church has a very black and white doctrine that homosexual activity is sin. If there was no choice, then how could it be sin?

DanL

Anonymous said...

And Bachmann is nuttier than Howard Dean.

DanL

Anonymous said...

OJ, I don't believe gays straighten out. That's like telling me a I could change and be gay if I went throught some sort of therapy. LOL.

I will give you the fact that there are retrogrades who only care about sex, whatever the gender of the partner.

Unsavory subject matter, but whatever.

-Martha

Right Wingnut said...

DanL,

You make an interesting point. How should Mitt respond to the question of homosexuality being a sin if pressed by the leftist media?

Anonymous said...

Dan, I think the church has been very specific to say that the activity is the sin, and that gay feelings, or a predisposition to be gay, is not a sin. Acting on it is the sin, just like any other problem.

Remember a while back when Elder Packer said something about it in conference? There was an outcry, and the church had to issue a statement. I think they modified his talk for publication, if I remember right.

I tend to give people who say they are gay from their youth the benefit of the doubt.

-Martha

Right Wingnut said...

Isn't Huntsman in favor of civil unions? How can a Mormon politician get away with that?

Pablo said...

"'Then you're in the minority.' If that truly is the case, than the majority does not have science on its side."

Does this mean I agree with OJ on something?

Anonymous said...

RW, because it's not marriage, and because the LDS church doesn't tell other people how to live their lives.

-Martha

Ohio JOE said...

"Does this mean I agree with OJ on something?" Haha, welcome to the dark side. Pardon the pun given the subject matter, but politics makes strange friends.

Ohio JOE said...

"I will give you the fact that there are retrogrades who only care about sex, whatever the gender of the partner." And among other things, ultimately, these retogrades have a choice on whether to act on their impulses or not.

Anonymous said...

OJ, yes they do. But the majority of gay people are not bisexual.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

I don't consider someone gay or straight unless they act on their desires. I reject the notion that ones sexuality is determined by their feelings. I argue that sexuality is determined by actions.

RW, I sure hope that if Romney were asked about choice and homosexuality that he would agree with his church, even if it costs him the election. If he equivocated on it then I would never, ever, under any circumstances vote for him.

Huntsman is very comfortable taking stances that are at least somewhat contrary to his church because he can't even decide if he is a Mormon or not. He is raising his adopted Chinese daughter as a Budhist. That is a fine religion, and she will probably be a very fine person. But if Huntsman doesn't even believe strongly enough in his own religion to share it with his daughter, then he must not have any religios convictions. He is one person that I would never cast another vote for. If it were Huntsman vs Obama I would either sit it out, or write in someone else. Please note, I voted for Huntsman for gvoernor of Utah in 2004 because his father is a very fine man and I made the (false) assumption that Jr would be like his father. If I had been living in Utah in 08 I would have gone so far as to vote democrat for governor rather than ever cast another vote for Governor Huntsman.

DanL

kelly said...

Democrats must be jumping for joy just thinking about her as the possible GOP nominee.

Anonymous said...

Dan, I think gay people would define themselves as gay whether or not they've ever had a physical relationship. It's based on attraction as much as actions, IMO.

-Martha

Revolution 2012 said...

I'm of the belief that you are born with this behavior.

If not, where do gays get the attraction so early in life? Is it learned? I doubt it.

Anonymous said...

Martha,

There are some people that I respect who believe some gay people are "born that way," so I don't reject this opinion. However, I know that there are others whose life circumstances indicate that they have become gay because of other, environmental factors. Many of these people also experience these feelings from a young age. Does this make them "born that way"? No.

Apparently, you don't believe that people switch from being gay to straight, but it is true that some do.

We also live in a world where "junk sex" has become normal. Kids are encouraged to experiment with everything and to do whatever feels good. You are bound to get a situation where all of the old rules are changed around. I have recently heard of a current term, "college lesbian." Apparently, some girls are lesbians in college and then decide that they're not after they graduate. Sickening? Yes. Surprising? No.

AZ

Anonymous said...

AZ. My belief is that someone who becomes gay a some point in life for whatever reason is the rare case.

I agree with you that there is pressure from the world to try anything ane everything, but these people are not truly gay.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

Sorry folks. I know of more than a few people who were simply gay from their youth. They didn't do anything to pursue such a course, didn't want to be gay, nor were they the victims of weird circumstances which would somehow turn them gay. They just were.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

Your decision that the "college lesbians" aren't truly gay is one I agree with. There are others like that. My experience with a friend who defined her feelings as "same sex attraction" was her opinion that "all men are pigs." The men in her life had been. Was she "born that way" or not? I am not saying I know the answer; only that her experience with the men in her life was not conducive to having a high opinion of men.

Probably only God fully understands what the reality of the situation is. However, I believe that to decide all gays are "born that way" is just as lacking in compassion as to decide that they should all marry members of the opposite sex, and they will be cured. Feelings are complex and require understanding. There are some people who are gay who feel it is morally wrong. They deserve to have their concerns addressed. The current decision of society to trample rough shod over everyone who disagrees with the gay agenda lacks compassion for other gays who disagree with this view. Those who believe that forcing society will make them stop feeling guilty about their decisions are counter-balanced by a number of gays who feel very differently about being gay and how society should react to gays. The gay movement doesn't even represent all gay people. Just like the NOW organization frequently does not represent women like me.

AZ