In a supposed block-buster investigative report, ABC News has exposed presidential candidate Michele Bachmann's family business (her husband's Christian marriage counseling) as encouraging clients to pray to Jesus Christ that they be freed of sin, including homosexual behavior.
For background, read Michele Bachmann Signs ["anti-gay"] Culture War Pledge and also read Media Prepare Anti-Christian Campaign for 2012 as well as ABC News Scrutinizes Faith of GOP Candidates
UPDATE 7/15/11: Media concoct Bachmann evangelical vs. Catholic church controversy
UPDATE 7/16/11: New York Times presents Bachmann as public enemy #1 to Gay Agenda
UPDATE 7/18/11: Homosexualists target Bachmann for defeat
-- From "Michele Bachmann's clinic accused of trying to straighten out gays" by Andrew Malcolm, Los Angeles Times 7/11/11
A clinic owned by GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, is being accused of telling homosexuals that they can "pray away the gay."
Andrew Ramirez was a patient at Bachmann & Associates, a Christian counseling clinic in Lake Elmo, Minn., in 2004. He claims he was told by one of the clinic's counselors that if he read the Bible and prayed to God, he "would no longer be gay," according to ABC News.
Ramirez told the Nation that the therapist tried to "cure" him of his homosexuality. “He basically said being gay was not an acceptable lifestyle in God’s eyes,” and offered the assistance of an ex-lesbian as a mentor, Ramirez said.
Bachmann is no stranger to anti-gay rhetoric. Her strategist-husband last year said homosexuals were barbarians who needed to be disciplined.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "ABC News probes gay 'cure' claims about Bachmann clinic" by Maggie Haberman, Politico 7/11/11
The questions about Michele Bachmann's husband's crisis clinic - and reports its services including helping to "cure" homosexuals - went mainstream tonight, with an ABC News story featuring undercover video shot of one of the center's counselors saying it's "possible" to be "totally free" of such feelings.
The reports - denied repeatedly by the Bachmanns - have been circulating for years. But the ABC News story included undercover video of a counselor shot by a member of the advocacy group "Truth Wins Out."
The report is the latest in a string of headlines about Bachmann, whose record is relatively unvetted by the national press, amid a quick ascent in the polls.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "‘God Has Created You for Heterosexuality’: Clinics Owned by Michele Bachmann’s Husband Practice Ex-Gay Therapy" by Mariah Blake, The Nation 7/8/11
As Republican presidential contender Michele Bachmann has surged in the polls, the spotlight has turned on her husband and main political adviser, Marcus Bachmann, who has a PhD in clinical psychology and owns two Christian counseling centers in Minnesota. There has been a great deal of speculation that his clinics, which have received $161,000 in state and federal funding, try to cure homosexuality—and the chatter has only grown louder since his comments likening gays to “barbarians” who “need to be educated” and “disciplined” surfaced in the blogosphere last week. Marcus Bachmann has denied these allegations. “That’s a false statement,” he replied when the Minneapolis City Pages asked if his clinic tried to cure gays. And until now there was no firm evidence to back these allegations up. But information obtained by The Nation suggests that Bachmann & Associates therapists do, in fact, try to change sexual orientation. It also sheds new light on the Bachmanns’ embrace of the controversial ex-gay movement and related psychological approaches, which portray homosexuality as a disease to be rooted out.
Some of the most potent material was provided by Truth Wins Out, a gay rights group that opposes the ex-gay movement. In late June, a Truth Wins Out activist named John Becker donned two hidden cameras—one embedded in a wristwatch—and attended five treatment sessions at Bachmann’s Lake Elmo clinic. Becker, who is openly gay, presented himself as a committed Christian who was struggling with homosexuality. The video he collected seems to confirm Ramirez’s allegations that staff members at Bachmann & Associates try to change sexual orientation. Becker’s therapist (another of Marcus Bachmann’s employees) repeatedly assured him that homosexuality could be overcome.
Both Bachmann & Associates and the Bachmann campaign declined to comment for this story, though in the past Marcus Bachmann has insisted his clinics don’t push people to change their sexual orientation. “If someone comes in a homosexual and they want to stay a homosexual, I don’t have a problem with that,” he told the Minneapolis City Pages. Nevertheless, the techniques the therapist at his Lake Elmo clinic used were typical of so-called reparative therapies, which cast homosexuality as a mental disorder and see conversion to heterosexuality as the only healthy outcome. “The explicit goal of the sessions was transforming Becker from homosexual to heterosexual,” says Wayne Besen, Truth Wins Out’s executive director.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
(Longer version of above news video, from ABC Nightline:)
UPDATE 7/12/11 Followup story from ABC News (saying Bachmann clinic is dangerous):
Also read Following God's Will: Michele Bachmann for President
