Michele Bachmann, Husband Marcus Defend Characterizing Being Gay As 'Personal Enslavement'

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and her husband, Marcus Bachmann, sought to clarify their position on gays and lesbians in a new interview with People Magazine.

Michele Bachmann said in 2004 that being "involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle" amounts to "personal bondage, personal despair and personal enslavement." She added that she was not "bashing" anyone.

Her husband has compared gays to "barbarians" who need to be "disciplined." He runs a Christian counseling center that has offered therapy to try to change sexual orientation, according to an undercover investigation by Truth Wins Out, a gay rights organization.

In the Oct. 31 issue of People, the couple defended themselves against accusations of harboring an anti-gay bias. "There's never been a bias," Marcus Bachmann said. "I'm no better than anyone else," Michele added.

People also talked to Michele Bachmann's gay stepsister, Helen LaFave, who Bachmann said she loved. LaFave said, "Yes, we are family and love each other, but she seems to have a disconnect. Her statements and actions related to gay rights are very hurtful, whether she understands that or not." Their once-close relationship reportedly strained over Bachmann's anti-gay activism.

Though Bachmann won the Iowa Straw Poll in August, she is polling in single digits nationally and in Iowa. Her New Hampshire staff reportedly quit en masse on Friday, but her campaign denied the report.

Bachmann also told People that she wanted her three daughters to learn how to shoot. "I think it's symbolically important," she said. "Women need that ability to protect themselves."

Comments

[trixxi2]

02:48 PM on 12/01/2011

"He runs a Christian counseling center that has offered therapy to try to change sexual orientation, according to an undercover investigation by Truth Wins Out, a gay rights organization."

Wonder if he went through the program himself. LOL!

[highlyqualified]

07:11 AM on 10/30/2011

Their blinders keep them safe from the reality around them.

[truth be told again]

11:27 PM on 10/29/2011

Mmmm, that Marcus - what a chunky monkey, chubba hubba.

Keep him away from the chasers ;{O)

[mrld20]

04:28 PM on 10/28/2011

Bachmann is a bigot and there's no way around it!

[Bombadillo22]

06:31 PM on 10/27/2011

"Michele Bachmann said in 2004 that being "involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle" amounts to "personal bondage, personal despair and personal enslavement." She added that she was not "bashing" anyone."

I'm not bashing anyone when I say the very same thing about zealous practitioners of organized religion. Their blind devotion to voluminous nonsense from the past is akin to personal bondage, personal despair and personal enslavement!

Bachmann should devote herself to GOODNESS that everyone knows, instead of the cruel, misguided tenants of a jealous god that no one knows---for her own good but especially if she wants to be everybody's president.

[dzadzey]

07:49 AM on 10/27/2011

Hmmm..."Personal bondage" and "personal enslavement". That's a view into the private lives of Michele and Marcus Bachmann that I really didn't need. Yukk!

[elizlucinda]

07:26 AM on 10/27/2011

One fruit fly has more intellectual ability than these two combined.

[atomicrob]

06:45 AM on 10/27/2011

How long will the press continue to discuss the rantings of this bipolar religious zealot? How could anyone reasonable take her statements seriously?

[Rogr1667]

02:36 AM on 10/27/2011

Ya know the 'happy place' we all go to sometimes when reality is a little too harsh and we need to escape for just a little while?
The demented duo went there and never returned.

Someone needs to find the air nozzle on Michele and pull it out.

[WyckedNite]

02:01 AM on 10/27/2011

Thus far, the candidates & campaigns have closely resembled a poorly scripted, poorly organized reality tv show.

And Bachmann is the Snooki of this campaign.

[Janet Inkley]

01:56 AM on 10/27/2011

She's just going to crawl back into that hole that she belongs in after all this is done, right? Sad she'll be alone since her hubby will have to crawl back into the closet.

[peegan]

01:51 AM on 10/27/2011

What ever personal baggage Marcus has , he needs to quit projecting it onto others.

[sskepticall]

01:25 AM on 10/27/2011

I gotta love those so called Christians who claim that they are the more perfect followers of Christ. They aren’t. They just speak louder, embrace their book harder and really seem to ooze sincerity, but don't look too closely-you may discover the real reasons for their "mission". The peace, loving and caring for others different than ourselves that you would expect from their beliefs is always cascading with hate and fear of others - whether they be gay, poor, ethnic or (just choose your own observed victims of these so called Christians). Those that claim that they walk the closest to Christ's teachings are expected to behave one would think, gosh - more Christ like. They just never are. Yet, they had the gall to speak on how Christ would treat people who are not like themselves. Their self imposed right to do so just reveals how their biases and hypocrisy.

Michelle and her self loathing fraud husband are the classic examples of their own inner turmoil being the antitheses of their life's work or public persuasion of being the leaders for righting everyone else's wrongs as it relates to homosexuality. It is clear to me why they are so focused on homosexuals and why her visceral reaction is to run away from someone who wants to talk to her and it is not about what it is they are saying to her or even how it is they are saying it - it is because they are homosexuals ...period.

[Neenerpuss]

08:17 PM on 11/02/2011

Betty Bowers is a better christian than you, Michele Bachmann.

[TarzanaGirl]

01:06 AM on 10/27/2011

"Personal Bondage? Personal Enslavement? Barbarians who need to be Disciplined?" Hmn........ Freudian slips (?) ... or or just what goes on in the Bachmann home after hours......

[sskepticall]

01:55 AM on 10/27/2011

Now I am totally creeped out. Darn visual images, darn visual images.

[TarzanaGirl]

01:52 AM on 10/28/2011

Sorry 'bout that sskepticall - LOL !!!!

[Joseph Glackin]

12:42 AM on 10/27/2011

"Personal bondage, despair, and enslavement. The need to be disciplined."
That is entirely TMI about the Bachmann relationship for me.