Ex-Gay Watch

Some lady who’ll say anything to get a bit of attention thinks some people can pray away the gay:

In the interview, with The View host Joy Behar, Coulter points to a Michael Glatze story in the New York Times as evidence that gays can change. “[Glatze] used to run a big gay magazine in San Francisco, and then he found God, and he’s not gay any more,” she said, adding that “the most important part of the story … was that he’s a huge Ann Coulter fan.” Read more…

The National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality has congratulated gay-to-straight conversion therapist Marcus Bachmann for “sticking to the science.”

Bachmann, husband of Republican presidential runner Michele Bachmann, runs a clinic in Minnesota offering ex-gay therapy. His description of gays as “barbarians [that] need to be educated [and] disciplined” made headlines, prompting his embarrassing attempt to deny ever having made the remarks, claiming the recordings were doctored. (They weren’t.)

Defending Bachmann in its July 26 bulletin, NARTH said that

change therapies have been offered for the past century and have been found to be successful. In fact, over the past 125 years, change of sexual orientation has been documented via case studies, clinical reports, and research studies (NARTH, 2009). It is clear that change of both behavior and attractions is indeed possible.

This is false. For an idea just how poor some of these case studies have been, familiarize yourself with the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, aka “Kraig,” the subject of experiments by disgraced change therapist Dr George Rekers, who claimed to have cured him of his “sissy boy” tendencies.

More recent studies, such as those by Robert Spitzer, and Jones and Yarhouse have fared badly in proving the ex-gay mantra that “change is possible.” Dr Jack Drescher recently summed up the reality of orientation change by likening success to a winning lottery ticket: “Planning your financial future on a lottery ticket is like planning your sexual future on a conversion therapy.”

Undeterred by the absence of scientific evidence, NARTH continues to manipulate the data to support its belief that sexual orientation can be made to change through psychiatric therapy. Unfortunately for NARTH, at a time when such claims are under increasing scrutiny, its support is dwindling rapidly, as its message regarding Bachmann acknowledges:

Those candidates in the public spotlight, and it will get far more intense as we get closer to election-day, are to be congratulated for sticking to the science and supporting client rights no matter how politically incorrect it is to defend truth and freedom regarding homosexuality.

Knowing it’s an uphill battle, however, NARTH makes sure to trumpet its most pressing concern loud and clear before getting to its defense of Bachmann: Money.

Screenshot from NARTH

Christian therapist Marcus Bachmann, husband of Republican presidential runner Michele Bachmann, has been caught in a big lie.

Late last month, recordings emerged of a 2010 radio interview with the Bachmann. He said:

We have to understand: Barbarians need to be educated. They need to be disciplined. And just because someone feels it or thinks it doesn’t mean that we’re supposed to go down that road. That’s what’s called a “sinful nature.” And we have a responsibility as parents and as authority figures not to encourage such thoughts and feelings [from] moving into the action steps.

Last week, Bachmann — who has since been shown to be offering gay-to-straight conversion therapy at his Minnesota clinic — denied his comments had anything to do with homosexuality and said the tape had been altered. Now MSNBC’s Hardball has stepped in to clear up the confusion by providing the unedited interview in its original context:

Yes, Bachmann made the offensive and homophobic “barbarians” comment, and no, the recording was not doctored. Bachmann just lied.

Hat-tip: Pam’s House Blend

In a report aired last night, ABC’s Nightline investigated the therapy practice of Marcus Bachmann, the husband of Republican presidential runner Michele Bachmann.

According to a related investigation by Truth Wins Out, Bachmann practices ex-gay therapy, where he and his associates attempt to turn gay men straight. Watch the ABC segment below:

Marcus Bachmann - Source: TWO

An undercover Truth Wins Out investigation claims that the counseling clinic headed by Marcus Bachmann, husband of U.S. Senator Representative and presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann (R-MN), offers reparative therapy to clients troubled by their sexuality. Bachmann had previously denied that his clinic, Bachmann & Associates, practiced reparative (change) therapy.

TWO reporter John M. Becker went undercover as a man struggling with his sexuality, meeting with counselor Timothy Wiertzema for five sessions, with a hidden video camera in tow (footage has not yet been released). He writes:

At the start of our second session I went straight to the point: what could I do? Would I ever be able to be completely rid of homosexuality, or merely learn to cope with and manage it? Wiertzema’s response was that it’s situational. Some people have been able to get rid of it completely over a long time period, others over a shorter time period. Still others are able to get it to “subside,” down to a “manageable” level, but it’s still there in the background.

In later sessions he would say that he “…think[s] it’s possible to be totally free of [same-sex attraction]. For sure.” and that “It’s happened! It really has happened to people.”

Ex-gay activist Janet Boynes’ book Called Out is sold at the clinic, Becker says, with an enthusiastic endorsement by Mr. Bachmann.  He reports that during the sessions Wiertzema echoed Joseph Nicolosi of NARTH in saying that everyone is born heterosexual; some of us just encounter homosexual temptations. Becker was encouraged to find a heterosexual “accountability buddy” to help keep him on the heterosexual “wagon,” as it were.

Marcus Bachmann called gay people “barbarians” during a radio talk show interview in 2010.  His wife Michelle has enthusiastically participated in anti-gay politics for several years, likening the failure to pass a 2004 Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage to ignoring the signs leading up to the Attack on Pearl Harbor. She was recently the first to sign a document denigrating families headed by gay couples, and glorifying slavery in the process. It claims that black children were better off during that time because they were more likely to be raised by a mother and father.

In this video, gay journalist Ashton Elijah talks about his experience at The Ramp, a church ministry run by Damon Thompson in Hamilton, Alabama:

The interview above was filmed as part of The David Pakman Show. It featured in his July 4 podcast, alongside a segment about the dubious Marcus Bachmann, husband of Republican presidental hopeful Michele Bachmann.

See our previous coverage of Damon Thompson for more video of the Pentecostal preacher and his extreme anti-gay views and practices.

Minnesota Christian therapist Marcus Bachmann, the husband of Republican presidential runner Michele Bachman, is a spokesman for anti-gay and ex-gay causes.

In a 2010 radio interview replayed widely this week  Dr Bachmann expresses his homophobic views quite clearly:

We have to understand: Barbarians need to be educated. They need to be disciplined. And just because someone feels it or thinks it doesn’t mean that we’re supposed to go down that road. That’s what’s called a “sinful nature.” And we have a responsibility as parents and as authority figures not to encourage such thoughts and feelings [from] moving into the action steps.

In an MSNBC report, The Daily Beast‘s David Graham alleges that Bachmann has practiced reparative therapy. When asked whether Bachmann believed in a “gay cure,” Graham said he hadn’t explicitly admitted it, but “that appears to be his attitude.”

Anchor Thomas Roberts also notes that Marcus Bachmann received over $130,000 in US public money last year to fund therapy, and he questions whether government money has been paying for gay-to-straight treatment.

Update 7-7-2011 by David Roberts

Full audio of the Marcus Bachman clip is available below.  While some have implied that his statements were taken out of context, the additional audio is anything but redeeming.  Notice also the host’s question refers to the letter sent to all school superintendents in the US by the bogus “American College of Pediatricians” (not to be confused with the legitimate American Academy of Pediatrics).

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The entire show is archived here.