Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann in 2004
warned against the threat of gay marriage by comparing it to Pearl
Harbor.
Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, have
in recent weeks made headlines with their anti-gay views. Details of
an undercover investigation this week revealed Mr. Bachmann's
government-subsidized clinics in Minnesota seek to
cure gay people through “reparative” therapy.
Michele Bachmann has mostly kept quiet
about her views on homosexuality since officially entering the
crowded GOP race for the 2012 presidential nomination. On Thursday,
however, she became the first candidate to sign a Christian
conservative group's pledge in which she
vowed to “vigorously” oppose gay marriage. Footnotes to the
two-page document suggest that being gay is a choice and may have a
negative impact on public health.
And in 2004, then-Minnesota State
Senator Michele Bachmann sponsored a constitutional amendment to ban
gay marriage. Her measure didn't clear the Minnesota Legislature,
but
she recently praised lawmakers who approved a similar amendment this
session.
In
an urgent appeal to supporters first published at the gay activism
website GoodAsYou.org, Bachmann compared gay marriage to Pearl
Harbor.
Recalling the events of December 7,
1941, Bachmann told supporters not to repeat the mistakes of military
commanders who ignored the warnings of sailor Orville Ethier.
“You are a type of Orville Ethier –
a patriot looking to secure American freedoms,” she wrote. “The
question is, will the Senators of Minnesota act like the Honolulu
military headquarters and ignore your message?”
“Today we face perhaps the greatest
attack on the family in our lifetime. Now is OUR time to stand up
and send a message to avert an equally impending disaster.”