Opn | Michele Bachmann gets thgs straight on gay marriage - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• MICHELE BACHMANN CLIC: WHERE YOU CAN PRAY AWAY THE 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
• HYPOCRISY? BACHMANN’S HBAND, CLOSETED GAY?
• OPN MICHELE BACHMANN GETS THGS STRAIGHT ON GAY MARRIAGE

MICHELE BACHMANN CLIC: WHERE YOU CAN PRAY AWAY THE GAY?

July 11, 2011 — -- A former patient who sought help om the Christian unselg clic owned by GOP printial hopeful Michele Bachmann and her hband, Marc, told ABC News he was advised that prayer uld rid him of his homosexual urg and he uld eventually be "re-oriented.

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

""[One unselor's] path for my therapy would be to read the Bible, pray to God that I would no longer be gay, " said Andrew Ramirez, who was 17-years-old at the time he sought help om Bachmann & Associat suburban Mneapolis 2004. "In the past, Marc Bachmann has disputed the clic has treated gay patients this way.

But Ramirez's acunt, which was first reported by The Natn, is siar to the unselg ssn that appears on new unrver vio shot by a gay rights advocy group last month. That footage shows another unselor at the Bachmann clic tellg a gay man posg as a patient that, wh prayer and effort, he uld eventually learn to be attracted to women and rid himself of his gay the full report tonight on ABC News' "Nightle" disclosur have provid h sight to what Michele Bachmann has lled her fay bs -- the primary source of e for her fay as she left her law practice to move to polics.

Marc Bachmann was asked if his clic tried to nvert patients om gay to straight an terview wh a lol newspaper 2006, and said, "That's a false statement. ""If someone is terted talkg to about their homosexualy, we are open to talkg about that, " he is reported to have said.

HYPOCRISY? BACHMANN’S HBAND, CLOSETED GAY?

"But if someone a homosexual and they want to stay homosexual, I don't have a problem wh that. Clton Anrson, who heads the associatn's Office on Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr Concerns, told ABC News that his anizatn did an exhstive review and found no evince that efforts to nvert someone om gay to straight uld succeed. Qutns about the clic's approach to unselg gay patients prompted the Vermont-based advocy group Tth Ws Out to send a gay man unrver, wh a mera, to seek guidance om a Bachmann associate.

"I told my therapist that I was stgglg wh attractn to the same sex, and that my attractns were overwhelmgly, predomately, exclively homosexual, " said John Becker, the man who vised the clic five tim late June.

OPN MICHELE BACHMANN GETS THGS STRAIGHT ON GAY MARRIAGE

"Becker said he was told more explicly that the goal of his treatment was to end his homosexual urg entirely, and he was provid scriptural mantras to repeat to himself orr to stay on track. "He seemed to believe genuely his heart of hearts that, somehow, my homosexualy uld be cured and uld be elimated, " Becker Here for the Blotter Homepage.

In 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. "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 .