Marc Bachmann’s Controversial Gay Therapy—and How It Affects Michele’s Campaign

Contents:

• MARC BACHMANN REFED SERVICE INDIANA, STORE OWNER ASSUMED HE WAS GAY
• MARC BACHMANN'S BIG GAY MS
• HYPOCRISY? BACHMANN’S HBAND, CLOSETED GAY?
• MARC BACHMANN’S CONTROVERSIAL GAY THERAPY—AND HOW IT AFFECTS MICHELE’S CAMPAIGNMICHELE BACHMANN’S HBAND WAS PROVED TO PRACTICE A THERAPY AIMED AT TURNG GAYS STRAIGHT. MICHELLE GOLDBERG ON THE 2012 FALLOUT. MICHELLE GOLDBERGUPDATED JUL. 13, 2017 7:12PM EDT / PUBLISHED JUL. 10, 2011 11:31PM EDT STEVE POPE / GETTY IMAGIN 2006, A STORY ABOUT MICHELE BACHMANN THE MNEAPOLIS CY PAG LVED TO HBAND MARC’S VOLVEMENT THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT. THE PIECE QUOTED CURT PRS, AN ATTENE AT A NSERVATIVE NFERENCE WHERE MARC, A THERAPIST WHO NS A CHRISTIAN UNSELG PRACTICE, GAVE A PRENTATN, “THE TTH ABOUT THE HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA,” ARGUG THAT HOMOSEXUALY IS BOTH A CHOICE AND A THREAT. AS A FALE, HE BROUGHT UP THREE PEOPLE, CLUDG A PROMENT EX-GAY ACTIVIST NAMED JA BOYN, WHO TTIFIED ABOUT LEAVG HOMOSEXUALY BEHD. “ONE OF THEM SAID, 'IF I WAS BORN GAY, THEN I'LL HAVE TO BE BORN AGA,'" PRS RELLED. "THE CROWD WENT CRAZY."YET WHEN THE CY PAG REPORTER ASKED MARC IF HIS CLIC PERFORMS SO-LLED REPARATIVE THERAPY—A WILY DISCREDED TECHNIQUE MEANT TO TURN GAY PEOPLE STRAIGHT—MARC NIED . AND OVER THE YEARS HE HAS KEPT NYG , SPE PLENTY OF EVINCE THAT BOTH HE AND MICHELE ARE EPLY MTED TO THE IA THAT HOMOSEXUALY N BE CURED.IF THERE WAS ANY DOUBT THAT HE WAS LYG, DISAPPEARED ON FRIDAY, WHEN THE NATN BROKE NEWS OF AN VTIGATN BY TTH WS OUT, A GROUP VOTED TO BATG THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT. “UNNIABLY, 100 PERCENT, THE BACHMANN CLIC PRACTIC REPARATIVE THERAPY, WHICH TRI TO CURE GAY PEOPLE OF THEIR HOMOSEXUALY,” SAYS WAYNE BEN, TTH WS OUT’S FOUNR.RPONDG TO QUERI ABOUT BACHMANN’S CLIC OM REPORTERS—MYSELF AMONG THEM—BEN RECENTLY PUT OUT A LL FOR FORMER BACHMANN PATIENTS, AND A YOUNG MAN NAMED ANDREW RAMIREZ RPOND. AS RAMIREZ TOLD THE NATN, AFTER HE ME OUT 2004, THE SUMMER BEFORE HIS SENR YEAR, HIS EVANGELIL STEPFATHER HAD DRAGGED HIM TO BACHMANN & ASSOCIAT. THERE, A THERAPIST TOLD HIM HE SHOULD RENOUNCE HIS SEXUAL ORIENTATN. “HE BASILLY SAID BEG GAY WAS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE LIFTYLE GOD’S EY,” SAID RAMIREZ. TO PROVE THAT REPARATIVE THERAPY NTU AT BACHMANN’S CLIC TO THIS DAY, TTH WS OUT SENT A 26-YEAR-OLD STAFFER, JOHN BECKER, TO POSE AS A PATIENT THERE. ARMED WH HIDN MERAS, BECKER ATTEND FIVE SSNS WH THERAPIST TIMOTHY WIERTZEMA, WHO ASSURED HIM THAT ’S POSSIBLE TO RID HIMSELF OF SAME-SEX ATTRACTNS. “I THK ’S POSSIBLE TO BE TOTALLY EE OF THEM,” WIERTZEMA SAYS A TRANSCRIPT OF THE SSNS PROVID TO THE DAILY BEAST. “[I]T’S HAPPENED TO A NUMBER OF PEOPLE. I DON’T KNOW HOW MANY, BUT…THAT’S FOR SURE.” A KEY TE OF EX-GAY IOLOGY IS THAT THERE’S NO SUCH THG AS HOMOSEXUALY, ONLY HOMOSEXUAL FEELGS AND ACTS. ECHOG THIS IA, WIERTZEMA TOLD BECKER, “[W]E’RE ALL HETEROSEXUALS, BUT WE HAVE DIFFERENT CHALLENG.” TO OVERE HIS PARTICULAR CHALLENG, WIERTZEMA STCTED BECKER TO ATTEND THE EX-GAY OUTPOST MISTRY, TO “FURTHER VELOP YOUR OWN SENSE OF MASCULY,” AND TO CULTIVATE AN ATTRACTN TO FEMAL BY PAYG ATTENTN TO BETIFUL WOMEN AND ACKNOWLEDGG “THE FACT, LIKE OKAY, GOD MA HER THIS WAY, YOU KNOW, THAT’S AWOME.”IN THE TRANSCRIPTS, WIERTZEMA OFF AS RG AND NOT PARTICULARLY DOGMATIC. WHEN BECKER ASKS HIM FOR ADVICE ABOUT A POSSIBLE VATN TO A IEND’S SAME-SEX WEDDG, THE THERAPIST SAYS THAT, HIS PLACE, HE WOULDN’T GO, BUT HE LEAV THE CHOICE UP TO HIS CLIENT. (SHOULD BECKER CI TO ATTEND, WIERTZEMA SUGGTS, HE SHOULD BRG A STRAIGHT, CHRISTIAN IEND ALONG TO HOLD HIM ACUNTABLE.) HE CLEARLY MEANS WELL.BUT REPARATIVE THERAPY IS DANGERO NO MATTER HOW GOOD THE TENTNS BEHD . IT DON’T WORK, AND EXACERBAT THE SELF-LOATHG THAT LEADS GAYS AND LBIANS TO SEEK OUT THE FIRST PLACE. ACRDG TO THE AMERIN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATN, “THE POTENTIAL RISKS OF ‘REPARATIVE THERAPY’ ARE GREAT, CLUDG PRSN, ANXIETY AND SELF-STCTIVE BEHAVR, SCE THERAPIST ALIGNMENT WH SOCIETAL PREJUDIC AGAST HOMOSEXUALY MAY RERCE SELF-HATRED ALREADY EXPERIENCED BY THE PATIENT.” THE AMERIN PSYCHOLOGIL ASSOCIATN NMNED REPARATIVE THERAPY A 1997 ROLUTN, AFFIRMG THE PRCIPLE THAT “PSYCHOLOGISTS DO NOT MAKE FALSE OR CEPTIVE STATEMENTS SCIENTIFIC OR CLIL BASIS SERVIC.”SO BACHMANN’S CLIC, WHICH HAS RECEIVED $137,000 MEDIID FUNDS, IS SUBJECTG PEOPLE TO PSYCHOLOGILLY DAMAGG TECHNIQU WH NO SCIENTIFIC BASIS. WIERTZEMA’S APPROACH IS NOT UNIQUE THERE. INED, THE CLIC SELLS PI OF JA BOYN BOOK CALLED OUT: A FORMER LBIAN’S DISVERY OF FREEDOM, WHICH ARGU, “HOMOSEXUALY, LIKE ANY S, SEPARAT OM GOD, FOR HE NNOT TOLERATE S HIS PRENCE.” BECKER PHOTOGRAPHED STACKS OF THE BOOKS THE BACHMANN & ASSOCIAT OFFICE. HANGG ABOVE THEM WAS A TYPED ENDORSEMENT OM MARC BACHMANN SAYG, “JA IS A IEND. I REMEND THIS BOOK AS SHE SPEAKS TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER AND GIV PRACTIL SIGHTS OF TTH TO SET PEOPLE EE.” NEHER BACHMANN NOR MANY OF HIS THERAPISTS, ’S IMPORTANT TO NOTE, HAVE SER PSYCHOLOGIL TRAG. HIS PH.D. OM THE UNN INSTUTE, A CCNATI-BASED RRPONNCE SCHOOL; 2002, WAS CED BY THE OH BOARD OF REGENTS, WHICH SAID, “EXPECTATNS FOR STUNT SCHOLARSHIP AT THE DOCTORAL LEVEL WERE NOT AS RIGORO AS IS MON FOR DOCTORAL WORK.” AS POLI HAS REPORTED, HE’S NOT LICENSED WH ANY OF THE BOARDS THAT CERTIFY MENTAL-HEALTH PROFSNALS MNOTA, ONE OF THE FEW STAT THAT ALLOWS UNLICENSED PEOPLE TO PRACTICE MENTAL-HEALTH RE. SIARLY, WIERTZEMA’S M.A. OM ARGOSY UNIVERSY, A FOR-PROF DIPLOMA L.WHY DO ANY OF THIS MATTER? BACHMANN MAY BE DISHONT ABOUT HIS PRACTICE, BUT HE’S NOT THE ONE NNG FOR PRINT. YET SCRIBG HERSELF AS A SMALL-BS OWNER, MICHELE BACHMANN CLEARLY TAK PARTIAL CRED FOR BACHMANN & ASSOCIAT, AND SO S ACTIVI REFLECT ON HER. BIS, SHE’S MA CLEAR THAT MARC EXERTS THORY OVER HER, TELLG ONE CHURCH DIENCE THAT SHE BOWED TO HER HBAND’S STCTNS TO STUDY TAX LAW BEE “THE LORD SAYS BE SUBMISSIVE. WIV, YOU ARE TO BE SUBMISSIVE TO YOUR HBANDS.” THAT MEANS HIS CHARACTER AND BELIEFS ARE MORE GERMANE TO HER NDIDACY THAN THOSE OF OTHER POLIL SPO. HE’S THE HEAD OF THE WOMAN WHO WANTS TO BE THE HEAD OF UNTRY. HE’S ALSO A MAN WH DUB QUALIFITNS NNG A CLIC WHOSE UNSELG TECHNIQU N LIV. MICHELLE GOLDBERG
• MARC BACHMANN’S GAY ‘CURE’
• ANTI-GAY HBAND OF ‘AMERI’S BIGGT HOMOPHOBE’ MICHELE BACHMANN APPOTED BY DONALD TMP TO ‘KEY’ ADVISORY ROLE
• THE BACHMANNS' LIFELONG ANTI-GAY CSA

MARC BACHMANN REFED SERVICE INDIANA, STORE OWNER ASSUMED HE WAS GAY

” On Wednday, Jon Stewart said Bachmann, who unsels homosexuals to overe their urg, seems to be dog this “so he n hoard all the gayns for himself. Savage c a seri of studi, wrten up two years ago Scientific Amerin, which llege stunts rrectly distguished gay om straight men based on facial featur. The stunts were asked to gus quickly, based on what “most people” or “society” would say, whether each man was “very gay, ” “somewhat gay”, “somewhat straight, ” or “very straight.

“It is possible that differenc self-prentatn may have led to some systematic differenc the appearance of gay and straight men when postg photos of themselv on personal advertisements, ” they nced. If one of every five openly gay men displays a visual signal strong enough to pick up, that’ll boost your gaydar accuracy to 60 percent.

MARC BACHMANN'S BIG GAY MS

Bachmann tells the Star Tribune that his reference to “barbarians” a wily distributed d clip actually had “ nothg to do wh homosexualy, ” so the clip mt have been doctored. From sayg the HPV vacce mental retardatn, to claimg that rbon dxi is harmls, to sayg that Melissa Etheridge’s ncer was a chance for her to repent for beg gay, she's pretty probably remember her as one of the ndidat for the Republin nomatn the 2012 printial electn, where she eventually dropped out.

HYPOCRISY? BACHMANN’S HBAND, CLOSETED GAY?

He ns an anti-gay 1988, the Bachmanns moved to Stillwater, Mnota and started a Christian unselg center that provid gay nversn therapy. There are mors he's APAcrdg to Dan Savage, a ntroversial gay advice lumnist, Marc Bachmann is a closeted gay:“Look at Marc Bachmann, Michele Bachmann’s hband. Anybody who has gaydar — anybody who has ey — looks at him and se a tormented closet se who has externalized his ternal nflict and is abg other people, dog his reparative-therapy bullsh.

Marc Bachmann is the photo negative of the guy on the last bar stool the gay bar, drkg and smokg himself to ath, except stead of stroyg himself, he’s stroyg other vulnerable queer people an effort to stroy the queer si himself. As his ngrswoman wife Michele ntu to make progrs her terrifyg ath march toward Washgton, Marc Bachmann has bee a foc of the ever-cur media, and the thgs we've found out about him have been a b unsettlg, like the fact that he ns one of those pray-the-gay-away facili. Last week a group lled Tth Ws Out, which is dited to batg the els and damagg practice lled reparative therapy, revealed that they'd sent someone unrver to seek out unselg for unwanted homosexualy at Bachmann & Associat, the Mnota unselg centers that prise the fay's "small bs" that Michele is often eager to mentn speech.

MARC BACHMANN’S CONTROVERSIAL GAY THERAPY—AND HOW IT AFFECTS MICHELE’S CAMPAIGNMICHELE BACHMANN’S HBAND WAS PROVED TO PRACTICE A THERAPY AIMED AT TURNG GAYS STRAIGHT. MICHELLE GOLDBERG ON THE 2012 FALLOUT. MICHELLE GOLDBERGUPDATED JUL. 13, 2017 7:12PM EDT / PUBLISHED JUL. 10, 2011 11:31PM EDT STEVE POPE / GETTY IMAGIN 2006, A STORY ABOUT MICHELE BACHMANN THE MNEAPOLIS CY PAG LVED TO HBAND MARC’S VOLVEMENT THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT. THE PIECE QUOTED CURT PRS, AN ATTENE AT A NSERVATIVE NFERENCE WHERE MARC, A THERAPIST WHO NS A CHRISTIAN UNSELG PRACTICE, GAVE A PRENTATN, “THE TTH ABOUT THE HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA,” ARGUG THAT HOMOSEXUALY IS BOTH A CHOICE AND A THREAT. AS A FALE, HE BROUGHT UP THREE PEOPLE, CLUDG A PROMENT EX-GAY ACTIVIST NAMED JA BOYN, WHO TTIFIED ABOUT LEAVG HOMOSEXUALY BEHD. “ONE OF THEM SAID, 'IF I WAS BORN GAY, THEN I'LL HAVE TO BE BORN AGA,'" PRS RELLED. "THE CROWD WENT CRAZY."YET WHEN THE CY PAG REPORTER ASKED MARC IF HIS CLIC PERFORMS SO-LLED REPARATIVE THERAPY—A WILY DISCREDED TECHNIQUE MEANT TO TURN GAY PEOPLE STRAIGHT—MARC NIED . AND OVER THE YEARS HE HAS KEPT NYG , SPE PLENTY OF EVINCE THAT BOTH HE AND MICHELE ARE EPLY MTED TO THE IA THAT HOMOSEXUALY N BE CURED.IF THERE WAS ANY DOUBT THAT HE WAS LYG, DISAPPEARED ON FRIDAY, WHEN THE NATN BROKE NEWS OF AN VTIGATN BY TTH WS OUT, A GROUP VOTED TO BATG THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT. “UNNIABLY, 100 PERCENT, THE BACHMANN CLIC PRACTIC REPARATIVE THERAPY, WHICH TRI TO CURE GAY PEOPLE OF THEIR HOMOSEXUALY,” SAYS WAYNE BEN, TTH WS OUT’S FOUNR.RPONDG TO QUERI ABOUT BACHMANN’S CLIC OM REPORTERS—MYSELF AMONG THEM—BEN RECENTLY PUT OUT A LL FOR FORMER BACHMANN PATIENTS, AND A YOUNG MAN NAMED ANDREW RAMIREZ RPOND. AS RAMIREZ TOLD THE NATN, AFTER HE ME OUT 2004, THE SUMMER BEFORE HIS SENR YEAR, HIS EVANGELIL STEPFATHER HAD DRAGGED HIM TO BACHMANN & ASSOCIAT. THERE, A THERAPIST TOLD HIM HE SHOULD RENOUNCE HIS SEXUAL ORIENTATN. “HE BASILLY SAID BEG GAY WAS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE LIFTYLE GOD’S EY,” SAID RAMIREZ. TO PROVE THAT REPARATIVE THERAPY NTU AT BACHMANN’S CLIC TO THIS DAY, TTH WS OUT SENT A 26-YEAR-OLD STAFFER, JOHN BECKER, TO POSE AS A PATIENT THERE. ARMED WH HIDN MERAS, BECKER ATTEND FIVE SSNS WH THERAPIST TIMOTHY WIERTZEMA, WHO ASSURED HIM THAT ’S POSSIBLE TO RID HIMSELF OF SAME-SEX ATTRACTNS. “I THK ’S POSSIBLE TO BE TOTALLY EE OF THEM,” WIERTZEMA SAYS A TRANSCRIPT OF THE SSNS PROVID TO THE DAILY BEAST. “[I]T’S HAPPENED TO A NUMBER OF PEOPLE. I DON’T KNOW HOW MANY, BUT…THAT’S FOR SURE.” A KEY TE OF EX-GAY IOLOGY IS THAT THERE’S NO SUCH THG AS HOMOSEXUALY, ONLY HOMOSEXUAL FEELGS AND ACTS. ECHOG THIS IA, WIERTZEMA TOLD BECKER, “[W]E’RE ALL HETEROSEXUALS, BUT WE HAVE DIFFERENT CHALLENG.” TO OVERE HIS PARTICULAR CHALLENG, WIERTZEMA STCTED BECKER TO ATTEND THE EX-GAY OUTPOST MISTRY, TO “FURTHER VELOP YOUR OWN SENSE OF MASCULY,” AND TO CULTIVATE AN ATTRACTN TO FEMAL BY PAYG ATTENTN TO BETIFUL WOMEN AND ACKNOWLEDGG “THE FACT, LIKE OKAY, GOD MA HER THIS WAY, YOU KNOW, THAT’S AWOME.”IN THE TRANSCRIPTS, WIERTZEMA OFF AS RG AND NOT PARTICULARLY DOGMATIC. WHEN BECKER ASKS HIM FOR ADVICE ABOUT A POSSIBLE VATN TO A IEND’S SAME-SEX WEDDG, THE THERAPIST SAYS THAT, HIS PLACE, HE WOULDN’T GO, BUT HE LEAV THE CHOICE UP TO HIS CLIENT. (SHOULD BECKER CI TO ATTEND, WIERTZEMA SUGGTS, HE SHOULD BRG A STRAIGHT, CHRISTIAN IEND ALONG TO HOLD HIM ACUNTABLE.) HE CLEARLY MEANS WELL.BUT REPARATIVE THERAPY IS DANGERO NO MATTER HOW GOOD THE TENTNS BEHD . IT DON’T WORK, AND EXACERBAT THE SELF-LOATHG THAT LEADS GAYS AND LBIANS TO SEEK OUT THE FIRST PLACE. ACRDG TO THE AMERIN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATN, “THE POTENTIAL RISKS OF ‘REPARATIVE THERAPY’ ARE GREAT, CLUDG PRSN, ANXIETY AND SELF-STCTIVE BEHAVR, SCE THERAPIST ALIGNMENT WH SOCIETAL PREJUDIC AGAST HOMOSEXUALY MAY RERCE SELF-HATRED ALREADY EXPERIENCED BY THE PATIENT.” THE AMERIN PSYCHOLOGIL ASSOCIATN NMNED REPARATIVE THERAPY A 1997 ROLUTN, AFFIRMG THE PRCIPLE THAT “PSYCHOLOGISTS DO NOT MAKE FALSE OR CEPTIVE STATEMENTS SCIENTIFIC OR CLIL BASIS SERVIC.”SO BACHMANN’S CLIC, WHICH HAS RECEIVED $137,000 MEDIID FUNDS, IS SUBJECTG PEOPLE TO PSYCHOLOGILLY DAMAGG TECHNIQU WH NO SCIENTIFIC BASIS. WIERTZEMA’S APPROACH IS NOT UNIQUE THERE. INED, THE CLIC SELLS PI OF JA BOYN BOOK CALLED OUT: A FORMER LBIAN’S DISVERY OF FREEDOM, WHICH ARGU, “HOMOSEXUALY, LIKE ANY S, SEPARAT OM GOD, FOR HE NNOT TOLERATE S HIS PRENCE.” BECKER PHOTOGRAPHED STACKS OF THE BOOKS THE BACHMANN & ASSOCIAT OFFICE. HANGG ABOVE THEM WAS A TYPED ENDORSEMENT OM MARC BACHMANN SAYG, “JA IS A IEND. I REMEND THIS BOOK AS SHE SPEAKS TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER AND GIV PRACTIL SIGHTS OF TTH TO SET PEOPLE EE.” NEHER BACHMANN NOR MANY OF HIS THERAPISTS, ’S IMPORTANT TO NOTE, HAVE SER PSYCHOLOGIL TRAG. HIS PH.D. OM THE UNN INSTUTE, A CCNATI-BASED RRPONNCE SCHOOL; 2002, WAS CED BY THE OH BOARD OF REGENTS, WHICH SAID, “EXPECTATNS FOR STUNT SCHOLARSHIP AT THE DOCTORAL LEVEL WERE NOT AS RIGORO AS IS MON FOR DOCTORAL WORK.” AS POLI HAS REPORTED, HE’S NOT LICENSED WH ANY OF THE BOARDS THAT CERTIFY MENTAL-HEALTH PROFSNALS MNOTA, ONE OF THE FEW STAT THAT ALLOWS UNLICENSED PEOPLE TO PRACTICE MENTAL-HEALTH RE. SIARLY, WIERTZEMA’S M.A. OM ARGOSY UNIVERSY, A FOR-PROF DIPLOMA L.WHY DO ANY OF THIS MATTER? BACHMANN MAY BE DISHONT ABOUT HIS PRACTICE, BUT HE’S NOT THE ONE NNG FOR PRINT. YET SCRIBG HERSELF AS A SMALL-BS OWNER, MICHELE BACHMANN CLEARLY TAK PARTIAL CRED FOR BACHMANN & ASSOCIAT, AND SO S ACTIVI REFLECT ON HER. BIS, SHE’S MA CLEAR THAT MARC EXERTS THORY OVER HER, TELLG ONE CHURCH DIENCE THAT SHE BOWED TO HER HBAND’S STCTNS TO STUDY TAX LAW BEE “THE LORD SAYS BE SUBMISSIVE. WIV, YOU ARE TO BE SUBMISSIVE TO YOUR HBANDS.” THAT MEANS HIS CHARACTER AND BELIEFS ARE MORE GERMANE TO HER NDIDACY THAN THOSE OF OTHER POLIL SPO. HE’S THE HEAD OF THE WOMAN WHO WANTS TO BE THE HEAD OF UNTRY. HE’S ALSO A MAN WH DUB QUALIFITNS NNG A CLIC WHOSE UNSELG TECHNIQU N LIV. MICHELLE GOLDBERG

What that operative disvered was that unselors at Bachmann & Associat are actively practicg Christian ex-gay therapy tactics:When I mentned that I n objectively acknowledge a woman's bety whout havg any sexual feelgs toward her whatsoever, I was told that whenever I saw an attractive woman I jt need to rerce my md that she was, ed, attractive, and that God ma her this way and ma me to notice her.

MARC BACHMANN’S GAY ‘CURE’

Vio of their report is at the unselor featured this particular story isn't Bachmann himself, and Bachmann has prevly nied that his bs traffics homosexual cur, a belief effective ex-gay therapy would be le wh ments he ma on a talk rad show last year, which he likened gays and lbians to "barbarians" need of Progrs dug that clip up last month and 's been makg the rounds for a few weeks now.

Lots of people have been makg the assumptn that bee he's a ltle b that way, Bachmann—like so many other anti-gay weirdos—is fact a sadly closeted gay man himself. I mean, nductg therapy that's largely about listeng to gay dus talk about their nghty, nghty sex urg is a pretty gay job to that's Marc Bachmann right now!

ANTI-GAY HBAND OF ‘AMERI’S BIGGT HOMOPHOBE’ MICHELE BACHMANN APPOTED BY DONALD TMP TO ‘KEY’ ADVISORY ROLE

Michele Bachmann and her hband Marc have unrelentgly exprsed their strong opposn to same-sex marriage and the gay liftyle as a whole. Kennedy Center for the Performg Arts, and gay nservative Richard Grenell, former ambassador to Germany and briefly actg director of natnal telligence, to the Uned Stat Holot Memorial Council. Bachmann, once referred to by gay lumnist Dan Savage as a “tormented closet se, ” ns a unselg clic his native Mnota that specializ fah-based nversn therapy of queer people.

He and his then-girliend moved to Stillwater, Mnota, where the therapist started his unselg center, which provis gay nversn therapy.

”The Counselg Care clics Lake Elmo and Burnsville beme an issue durg Bachmann’s failed printial bid 2012 when her hband was acced of practicg “nversn therapy” — a wily-bunked method for turng gay people straight that crics lampooned as “pray the gay away. Bachmann, who reprented the Tw Ci suburbs om 2007 to 2015, is a Christian nservative who beme well known for her opposn to same-sex marriage and her equent appearanc on ble TV news 2011, a gay rights group lled Tth Ws Out sent an activist named John Becker unrver to the Lake Elmo clic and rerd a therapist quotg Bible vers and assurg him that homosexualy uld be reversed. Mastream medice has pretty much universally rejected the notn that homosexualy is a treatable nrosis – though that theory is the unrpng of Michele Bachmann’s opposn to gay rights.

THE BACHMANNS' LIFELONG ANTI-GAY CSA

But the transcripts om those tapg ssns, provid to TIME by Tth Ws Out, offer evince that while Bachmann & Associat unselors seemed to embrace the notn that homosexualy is a fixable s, their clic is no nversn therapy l. A therapist didn’t appear to claim any expertise how to change Becker’s homosexual urg – at one pot he even turned to the Inter to refer Becker to a specialist nversn therapy, sce that is what he said he wanted. ” He then told Becker that is “important as we sort this out that you remember not to beat yourself up too much” about homosexual urg.

Much has been wrten about Bachmann & Associat’ alleged embrace of Ja Boyn’ ex-gay manifto Called Out, which Boyne claims she is cured of homosexualy. “God has signed our ey to be attracted to a woman’s body…to be attracted to her breasts, ” the Bachmann therapist told Becker, speculatg that Becker’s homosexualy uld have started wh seeg a man “wh his shirt off” as a child.

Regardls of whether that technilly unts as reparative therapy, the Bachmann & Associat unselor clearly subscribed to the belief that homosexualy is viant behavr, a choice or an illns – a sentiment that Rep.