Updated to include video:
I dare you not to laugh.
Via Think Progress:
Today a group of gay “barbarians” descended upon Marcus Bachmann’s Christian counseling center to protest the harmful ex-gay therapy offered there. During a radio interview in 2010, Bachmann compared gay people to “barbarians” who need to be “disciplined.” Organized by Nick Espinosa, who famously showered Newt Gingrich with glitter, the protest glittered Bachmann’s empty waiting room and reception area, chanting “You can’t pray away the gay — baby, I was born this way!” Here are some photos from the protest; a video is forthcoming:
Now, isn't that just a shame? Looks like some "barbarians" need some disciplining. Time to crack the whip, "Dr." Bachmann!
The group's press release explains the action:
Today a horde of gay barbarians descended upon Michele and Marcus Bachmann's "pray away the gay" clinic and demanded that Marcus come out and discipline them for their "deviant" behavior.
Marcus Bachmann, who conducts "reparative therapy" at the clinic intended to convert homosexuals, has said that gays are "barbarians who need to be disciplined." The horde requested to speak directly with Bachmann and experience some "discipline" for themselves.
When Marcus was no where to be found, the barbarians glittered the empty waiting room and reception area while chanting,
"You can't pray away the gay — baby, I was born this way!"
The action was organized by the same young man who threw glitter on Newt Gingrich, starting a national trend in political protest of anti-LGBT sentiments from political candidates and campaigns.
"Michele and Marcus Bachmann think gay people are barbarians?" asked LGBT activist Nick Espinosa. "I think its clear to everyone who the real barbarians are, based on the Bachmanns' archaic views on LGBT equality."
A Controversial Past:
Michele Bachmann has a long history of controversial anti-gay politics, and has compared the gay lifestyle to “bondage and slavery.” In 2005, she was infamously caught lurking in the bushes during an LGBT rally. That same year, she attempted to file a police report when two constituents -- a lesbian and an ex-nun -- tried to talk with her about marriage equality following a townhall event. The police department refused to file a report, citing that she was in no danger.
Her anti-gay views have been a focal point of her career as a politician, but lately she has shied away from reporters' questions about her controversial comments and taxpayer-funded "reparative therapy" clinic. While Michele Bachmann has long railed against federal safety net programs like Medicaid, the Bachmann & Associates clinic has received over $137,000 in Medicaid funds and over $27,000 in other state and federal funds. [1]
Last week an undercover investigation confirmed that the Bachman's clinic is, to this very day, providing discredited "ex-gay" reparative therapy. [2]
For years the scientific and medical communities, including groups like the American Psychology Association, have dismissed "reparative therapy" (also known as "conversion therapy" or "ex-gay therapy") as dangerous and unethical. [3]
"Its time for Michele Bachmann to stop running away and to take responsibility for her destructive clinic. She, of all people ,should not be abusing medicare and wasting taxpayer dollars to practice quack science that endangers her patients," Espinosa said.
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[1] Bachmann's husband got $137,000 in Medicaid funds
[2] I Received 'Ex-Gay' Therapy at Marcus Bachmann's Clinic.
[3] Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation and Youth.
FYI: Credo has a petition posted asking Medicaid funding be stopped for these practices.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees Medicaid, and the Minnesota Department of Health (DEH), which distributes the funds within the state, should immediately pull public funds from Bachmann's clinic.
Tell Secretary Sebelius and DEH Commissioner Edward Ehlinger: Stop funding Bachmann's anti-gay clinic.
Going to the Bachmann family for counseling is like attending a peace rally hosted by Dick Cheney.
Their views are extreme, hateful and crazy. Michele Bachmann has called homosexuality "a part of Satan," and "a real issue of sexual dysfunction" while her husband Marcus has called gays "barbarians."
And even as Michele Bachmann's family was collecting over $160,000 in Medicaid and other public funds, she was leading Tea Party calls for drastic cuts to the social safety net - especially to Medicaid which she has said swell the "welfare rolls" - and even voted to shut down the government rather than continue funding Planned Parenthood and the Health Care Reform Act.3