Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann won't
discuss claims her husband, Marcus, seeks to cure gay people.
The presidential candidate refused to
answer questions on the brewing controversy when asked by ABC News.
Evidence that Marcus Bachmann's clinic
provides “pray away the gay” therapy surfaced last week from the
gay advocacy group Truth Wins Out, which sent its communications and
development director, John Becker, an openly gay man, undercover to
investigate the allegations that the Christian counseling center of
Bachmann & Associates practices so-called “reparative”
therapy.”
Speaking to Nightline, Becker
said there was no doubt that the Bachmann family clinic was
attempting to alter the sexual orientation of gay people.
“He said that change is possible.
He's seen it. He believes that full change from homosexual to
heterosexual is possible,” Becker said of Timothy Wiertzema, who
counseled him during five sessions.
“God designed our eyes to be
attracted to the woman's body, to be attracted to everything, to be
attracted to breasts,” Wiertzema told Becker during one session.
“We're all heterosexuals, but we have different challenges.
Attraction to the same sex “is there, and it's real, but at the
core value, in terms of how God created us, we're all heterosexual.”
Becker also reported that Marcus
Bachmann endorses Minnesota “ex-gay” minister Janet Boyne's book
Called Out, which was for sale inside the clinic along with a
typewritten note from Mr. Bachmann: “Janet is a friend. I
recommend this book as she speaks to the heart of the matter and
gives practical insights of truth to set people free.”
Boyne claims she was set free from the
“lesbian lifestyle” after she found salvation through God. And
she has gone on to become an outspoken critic of gay rights.
Possibly in an effort to keep her
husband's views out of the spotlight, Michele Bachmann has toned down
her anti-gay rhetoric since officially entering the GOP race.
The controversy, however, has only
escalated since Mr. Bachmann's 2010 comments likening gay people to
“barbarians” who “need to be educated” and “disciplined”
surfaced on the Internet two weeks ago.
While Michele Bachmann eagerly signed
the
Iowa-based Christian conservative group The Family Leader's pledge
that opposes the legalization of gay marriage, she refused to
discuss the “ex-gay” allegations with ABC News during an
on-camera interview, but said she was proud of the family business.
“I'm running for the presidency of
the United States and I'm here today to talk about job creation and
also the fact that we do have a business that deals with job
creation. We're very proud of the business we've created,” Michele
Bachmann said. (The video is embedded in the right panel of this
page.)