Straighten out gays?
A clinic owned by GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, is being accused of telling homosexuals that they can "pray away the gay."
Andrew Ramirez was a patient at Bachmann & Associates, a Christian counseling clinic in Lake Elmo, Minn., in 2004. He claims he was told by one of the clinic's counselors that if he read the Bible and prayed to God, he "would no longer be gay," according to ABC News.
Ramirez told the Nation that the therapist tried to "cure" him of his homosexuality. “He basically said being gay was not an acceptable lifestyle in God’s eyes,” and offered the assistance of an ex-lesbian as a mentor, Ramirez said
Undercover video at Bachmann's clinic taped by gay rights advocates reportedly showing therapists engaged in treatment similar to what Ramirez claims will be shown on "Nightline" on Monday, ABC says.
Bachmann is no stranger to anti-gay rhetoric. Her strategist-husband last year said homosexuals were barbarians who needed to be disciplined.
"We have to understand: Barbarians need to be educated. They need to be disciplined. Just because someone feels it or thinks it doesn’t mean that we are supposed to go down that road. That’s what is called the sinful nature. We have a responsibility as parents and as authority figures not to encourage such thoughts and feelings from moving into the action steps," Marcus Bachmann said as a guest on the Christian-based "Point of View" radio talk show on May 12, 2010.
Bachmann's clinic has collected over $137,000 in annual Medicaid payments for the treatment of patients since 2005, NBC News said.
What's going on at the Bachmann clinic?
"A small business job creator," is how the Minnesota Congresswoman and Republican Presidential candidate described herself in her first campaign ad in Iowa.
“That business is Bachmann and Associates. It's a Christian counseling service located outside Minneapolis. Bachmann started the center with her husband, Marcus who is the lead counselor at the clinic. The aspiring First couple and their children are pictured on the center's web site.
For at least five years, Bachmann and Associates has faced accusations it uses a controversial therapy that encourages gay and lesbian patients to change their sexual orientation.
“"There is insufficient evidence to support the use of psychological interventions to change sexual orientation," one APA report said.
“Marcus Bachmann has suggested parents of gay teenagers can turn to religion for help.
In an interview last year with the "Point of View" talk radio program, Bachmann was asked how parents should deal with a teenager who thinks he or she is gay.
"I think you clearly say 'what is the understanding of God's word on homosexuality,'" Bachmann 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 we're supposed to go down that road," he continued.”
Cassi Creek: In a discussion in a forum spun from a fly-fishing magazine, I posted the following
“I have a problem with the "pray the gay away" therapy. There is no federal standard or guideline for the administration of "prayer" to reverse &/or rescind the sexuality of a patient. This approach is rather like curing clap with brylcreme injections. Fraudulent care is fraudulent care whether physically administered in an anatomically correct point or whether kept in a closet and invisible.”
This type of therapy is not considered valid or helpful by the APA. I feel it to be little removed from casting out demons and expulsion/shunning. The accredited medical world, peer-reviewed, Western medicine centered gave up exorcism along with executing older women as witches.
If the Bachmans believe in around the clock prayer and divine intervention to change one’s genetic make-up, to miraculously convert gays and lesbians into raving heterosexuals: how likely are they to read past the 18th chapter of Leviticus, to the 20th chapter and discover that the punishment for witches and warlocks is death by stoning.
I have little doubt that the teavangelists would be only too happy to begin stoning anyone that Bachman pointed out as a witch. That may actually present a problem for the fundamentalist Ms. Palin, who was videotaped undergoing some sort of anti-witchcraft exorcism. Is Bachman willing to label other hopefuls who gain too much support as witches in order that her minions may discuss the future with them?
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