At a time when presidential hopeful and
Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann appears to be toning down
her anti-gay rhetoric, the views of her husband, Dr. Marcus Bachmann,
are coming under fire.
In television appearances over the
weekend, Michele Bachmann dodged questions about her views on
homosexuality, not answering Face the Nation host Bob
Schieffer's questions on whether she believes being gay is a choice
and whether she would reject a Supreme Court nominee that supports
marriage equality. Earlier, Michele Bachmann, who as a Minnesota
state senator sponsored a constitutional amendment to ban gay
marriage, said
she was OK with New York's decision to legalize gay marriage.
But as Michele Bachmann becomes a
serious contender for the GOP nomination, her husband of 30 years and
his anti-gay views are coming under closer scrutiny.
Marcus Bachmann, who runs a
government-subsidized Christian counseling clinic, is coming under
fire for remarks he made last year during a radio call-in show.
“We have to understand: barbarians
[gay people] need to be educated,” he said during an appearance on
the Point of View radio talk show. “They need to be
disciplined. Just because someone feels it or thinks it doesn’t
mean that we are supposed to go down that road. That’s 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 steps.”
“And let's 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. That's 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.”
During an appearance on MSNBC, The
Daily Beast contributor David Graham explained that “in
Christian circles barbarians [are] people who are outside of the
norms of behavior.”
“He's allegedly participated in
gay-to-straight therapy, he's talked about homosexual agenda,”
Graham told host Thomas Roberts. (The video is embedded in the right
panel of this page.)
Michele Bachmann has refused to comment
on the controversy, according to ABC News.
(Related: Michele
Bachmann 'gay' glittered.)