Michele and Marcus Bachmann pledging allegiance in Waterloo, Iowa
Steve Pope, Getty Images
"Pray the gay away," as ABC News put it. It seems to be that simple for Marcus Bachmann, PhD, husband of Michele, the woman sitting in the Iowa caucus catbird seat. And he does it using commingled state and federal Medicaid funds—over $161,000 worth according to msnbc—at Bachmann and Associates, the so-called Christian counseling center located in the Minneapolis suburbs of Lake Elmo and Burnsville. The clinic is jointly owned by Marcus and Michele. So what does it matter?
For starters, there is the small matter of big-time hypocrisy on how to spend big bucks wrested from taxpayers to fund bogus treatment modalities. Note to file: you don’t “cure” homosexuality by prayer or reparative therapy. The use of prayer to a specific end has no place in clinical psychological treatment. Here’s the deal in a nutshell: Bachmann and Associates conflates pastoral counseling with psychological counseling. And however so-called Christian psychological practice is conceived, you can’t charge Medicaid for a cure-by-prayer or reparative therapy. For years, Marcus has denied that his practice attempts to cure homosexuality through reparative therapy—reorienting behavior by thought control of one variety or another, because he knows the practice is not accepted by the American Psychological Association, or any other association having anything to do with the human psyche.
That he did engage in the practice was pretty much an open secret since a Minneapolis City Pages article by G.R. Anderson Jr.that appeared on October 4, 2006. The article quoted witness Curt Prins, a gay 35-year-old marketing executive who attended a Marcus Bachmann presentation entitled "The Truth About the Homosexual Agenda." At the conclusion of the session Bachmann trotted out three individuals who had “renounced” homosexuality; in other words, they had been “cured” through the efforts of Bachmann and Associates. Said one, “If I was born gay, then I'll have to be born again.”
The lid came off Mr. Bachmann’s I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-therapy tightrope walk with the Friday publication of article in The Nation highlighting the hidden-camera sting on B&A conducted by the organization Truth Wins Out. The piece clearly demonstrated how the pray away the gay approach is used in the Bachmann practice. Each session, for starters, began and ended with a prayer. And, according to Truth Wins Out, the therapist explicitly promised “that sexual conversion could occur as a result of prayer and therapy at the clinic.” The material hit ABC News on Monday in a Brian Ross investigative piece based on the sting that further raised the profile of the questions it raised.
John Becker, Director of Communications and Development for Truth Wins Out stated categorically to ABC’s Brian Ross that the Bachmann and Associates therapist promised the unpromisable. “He could cure your homosexuality?” asked Ross. “Yes,” replied Becker, referring the representations made by the therapist. So Truth Wins Out concluded in in a July 8th blog that Bachmann actually does practice textbook “reparative therapy.” [Italics theirs.]
In that well-reasoned piece by Wayne Besen, Truth Wins Out presented six indicators that supported their conclusion. To what degree did religion rear its head? Therapist [I use the term advisedly] Timothy Wiertzema, MA, MFT, actually said, “God designed our eyes to be attracted to the woman’s body, to be attracted to everything, to be attracted to her breasts.” A boob man’s cure for sure.
Barbarians Need to be Educated
Marcus Bachmann seems to believe he can hide in plain sight, denying engaging in any controversial psychological practices despite his statements on the record that many would characterize as virulently anti-gay. On the Point of View Radio Talk Show on May 12, 2010, he said:
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…
And let’s face it: what is our culture, what is our public education system doing today? They are giving full, wide-open doors to children, not only giving encouragement to think it but to encourage action steps. That’s why when we understand what truly is the percentage of homosexuals in this country, it is small. But by these open doors, I can see and we are experiencing, that it is starting to increase.
The importance of all of this is that it offers a glimpse of life under a Bachmann regime. Federal money is hijacked for wacko therapies (that have been linked to the potential for suicidal outcomes). Distinctions between a purely subjective pastoral counseling are conflated with actual psychological interventions. Ideology invades clinical practice. But hey, it’s only a nightmare if they choose to act that way.
Marcus Bachmann writes in a sign on the wall of his clinic that the book “Called Out: A Former Lesbian’s Discovery of Freedom” by professional reformed lesbian Janet Boynes contains “the truth to set people free.” That truth, as Bachmann sees it, is in her words, “living proof that there is hope through Jesus Christ.” And yes, she is talking about “the cure.”
Yup. Your tax dollars at work: living proof.
Candidates should never be evaluated merely on the basis of who their spouses are. But this case is different. Michele Bachmann co-owns that clinic. For years it put the food on her table—that is, the food that didn’t come from federal farm subsidies or money from the foster care system. It bankrolled her launch into politics as the stable family income. And she walks the walk and talks the talk of a true anti-gay zealot.
Here’s a sample:
It isn’t that some gay will get some rights. It’s that everyone else in our state will lose rights. For instance, parents will lose the right to protect and direct the upbringing of their children. Because our K-12 public school system, of which ninety per cent of all youth are in the public school system, they will be required to learn that homosexuality is normal, equal and perhaps you should try it. And that will occur immediately, that all schools will begin teaching homosexuality.” -- On “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, KKMS 980-AM, March 6, 2004.
Mr. (and Mrs.) Bachmann has been collecting Medicaid money under the shared-payment Minnesota system for at least six years. Maybe now, on the eve of the Ames, Iowa straw poll that symbolically kicks off the Republican caucus race there, we might pay attention to that little fishbowl, and this Big Fish of the Republican Tea Party insurgency for whom things are going so swimmingly at the moment. I have said this before: Michele Bachmann is not a joke. She is a threat. She is standing on or very center stage in the slow-summer media months and she has a plan to make life exceedingly miserable for gays in every American family, including her own. (A close family member has been in a committed gay relationship for years.) She thinks she possesses a clinically defensible basis for her religiously-induced homophobia and she knows how to get the government to pay for it.
In the broadest terms, it all points toward some weird, ersatz theocratic impulse. Think that’s an overstatement? According to Thinkprogress.org, Bachmann tried to pass a state law protecting these so-called Ex-Gay Therapists way back in 2006, “a year before the American Psychological Association began investigating ex-gay therapy.” I wonder who tipped her off. You should pay just a little attention to her before you hit the remote—and in that moment ask yourself… “What if?”
* * *
“Don’t misunderstand. I am not here bashing people who are homosexuals, who are lesbians, who are bisexual, who are transgender. We need to have profound compassion for people who are dealing with the very real issue of sexual dysfunction in their life and sexual identity disorders.” — Minnesota State Senator Michele Bachmann, speaking at EdWatch National Education Conference, November 6, 2004.
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Lawrence Britt's research on Fascism found 14 major characteristics Fascist nations had in common, and the USA has all fourteen well-entrenched for some time now. This big move toward privatization will take funds for public education, for example, and give them to the Fascists and their friends. (Cronysism is one of the 14!) Pennsylvania and its new governor, Corbett, offer perfect examples of what I'm saying. Read what Corbett is doing now while Pennsylvanians protest fracking and the ruin of the PA water supply!
At the Thinkprogress.org link you posted above, it says in regard to the Expanded Healthcare Practices Act she tried to pass in 2006:
"The “Minnesota Expanded Health Care Practices Act for Licensed Health Care Professionals” (SF 2984) sought to create a legal right to “expanded health care,” defined as any treatment or approach “not generally considered to be within the prevailing minimum standards of care of a profession or that are not standard practices of a profession in a particular community.” It also would have established legal protections for any practitioners who offered such expanded health care..."
Legal protection for practices not within the MINIMUM standard of care for a profession????
What a nightmare. Who would want to be treated by health care professionals who are not accountable to any kind of minimum standards (as appears to actually be happening in the Bachmann clinic, as you point out above). It's creepy, immoral, and sounds like an illegal use of Medicaid funds.
Whatever happened to the bedrock of medical ethics, Primum non nocere, first do no harm.
Thanks for posting this...
still, if there is a dollar to be made from the good fight, go ahead. if you get some internal satisfaction from describing half of america as bible-clutching half-wits, enjoy. i did it for years with the naive belief that if i pointed out that the emperor had no clothes, people would shake their heads and agree. heh, heh.
people look at the bachmans not for information, but for re-assurance. they get their world-view as a child, and people like the bachmans see a good living in telling them bible school is all the education they need.
I'm a little unclear of their thinking on the genesis of homosexuality. When they claim (though not for attribution) that it can be cured, it implies they believe it a congenital disorder, maybe like Asperger's. When the worry that education may lead to experimentation, it sounds like a choice. Either way, why bother to care what adult X's consenting physical relationship is with adult Y?
Not only would Humphrey be rolling in his grave, but Minnesota also produced and tragically lost Senator Paul Wellstone and his wife Sheila in a plane crash during the 2002 election.
No two people did more for mental health in the state of Minnesota. They took on Blue Cross and Blue Shield when they were denying 100% coverage for those with mental disorders. Humphrey's son "Skippy" was Attorney General at that time, and he and Wellstone put their heads together and decided a class action suit was not necessary.
The law was already on the books in Minnesota, insurance companies could not pick and choose the diseases they will cover and Introduced the "Mental Health Parity Act" which put all insurers on notice if you want to do business in the state of Minnesota you cover all diseases equally.
Neither Wellstone considered being gay a disease nor a mental disorder, and would be right out front with you on this one. I'd like to think they are watching from on high.
If she does well in the upcoming caucuses and primaries, I'm going to be very anxious about the future of this country.
If people can get the word out and show the hypocrisy of a Republican candidate/representative telling everyone we need to cut Medicare (who relies and relied on it to make their "nut") and that we need to "Treat" homosexuality like it's some sort of sexual aberration, or that the purpose of disenfranchising a segment of the country's population is protecting everyone else's rights -- well you just can't ignore that. If you can only convince one person out of twenty, then that's that many less who'll pull the lever and provide the stupid vote.
It's a shame that so many seem to vote a Party Ticket and just do not do more than listen to a sound bite or two before they make their decision. It's not an informed constituency the Republican Party wants -- it's an uninformed knee jerk name recognition trick, much like the carney who guesses your weight and age. People all love a good trick -- unless it's played on them.
Steve, wonderful and insightful. Thanks, the more I hear about all the different Republican candidates, the more concerned I am. Maybe Democracy 2.0 isn't such a bad idea after all? (D20 is where we gather momentum to get rid of every politician in office and replace them with completely new and previously unelected people to 'wash away' the layers of "good ole boy" politics -- at least for a while.)
AUWE (Alas)
As I always say, when someone is loudly outspoken about their morality, check their hard drive for pornography.
It will be years, if ever, before this country returns to civil debate over the issues pressing ever harder on what our children inherit.
Sad, sad, sad.
Rated, more's the pity.
Has anyone heard from any of their twenty-three foster children? They are out there somewhere.
Mr Klingaman is clearly a anti-religious bigot with an axe to grind with anybody who does not view the world with the same narrow closed-minded hatred for religion that he bears.
The Democrats used to be the party of tolerance, but the rage of people like mr Klingaman (and many of the commenters here) against anyone with a Judeo-Christian value system is disturbing, and has no place among people who claim to wish for a world where people with all types of religious backgrounds are permitted to have their opinions heard.
We used to think of it as a civil right to to be able to get an education from an organization that respects one's values. We also believed that it was acceptable to get medical treatment (including mental health treatment) from a practitioner who would be sensitive to one's religion or lack thereof.
Mr. Bachmann's views regarding homosexuality may be different from most of the online community here, but it ought to be aknowledged that perhaps Mr. Bachmann is serving the needs of those who seek care from him.
Something tells me Mr. Klingaman would support the idea of someone who is Muslim seeking mental health treatment from a counselor who incorporates Islamic teaching in therapy. I imagine Mr. Klingaman would even support overtly religious practices being coordinated with proven psychological therapy techniques during a counseling session. And perhaps he may even support medicare billing for said services. (particularly if said Islamic therapist is not married to a Republican running for office)
If an individual is homosexual, but they decide at some point in their life to embrace the teachings of a religion that views homosexuality as a sin they may experience anxiety, depression, or stress in resolving the conflict. They may decide that the teaching of the religion will supercede their previous lifestyle and may wish to no longer be a homosexual. If in this process they experience stress, anxiety/depression should they be forced to seek mental health services from an individual who refuses to help them address what they are identifying as the root cause of their distress?
Why would we deny them the ability to receive care from a counselor who will take the time to pray with them before and after a session?
Many people have gone to Alcoholics Anonymous (some even court ordered) and discovered that prayer/spirituality is an importan aspect of the treatment program.
Do Mr. Klingaman and his fans here have a problem that prayer/spirituality is being used in treatment, or are they mostly enraged by the fact that he sometimes treats something that they think ought to never be treated?
Additionally Klingamans claims that no association dealing with the human psyche approves of this type of therapy. Perhaps he should have qualified that statement by saying no associations that meet his narrow-minded religiously bigoted standards approve of said treatment. It is worth noting that there are still a variety of Christian universities and Seminaries in this country that train practitioners in counseling. Not all of these are evangelical, nor are they all conservative. They teach a variety of approaches to therapeutic healing from Cognitive-Behavioral therapy (a mainstream therapy that Klingaman likens to 'thought-control') to Humanistic Rogerian type counseling as well as Retional-Emotive counseling, BioFeedback therapies.
While the American Psychological Association is the largest organization of psychologists in the nation, they are not the governing board that determines what is and is not acceptiable psychological treatment. Its members include the most mainstream type practioners, as well as a host of practitioners of the bizarre to the archaic including hypno-therapists, as well as practitioners who still prescribe ECT (shock therapy). This is not to say that they should not be trusted, but it is to indicate that therapists who incorporate religion into their practice are not the most eccentric members of the community.
We live in a free nation. One of the freedoms we have is to practice any religion we want. Mr. Klingaman and his buddies at Truth Wins Out should aknowledge that there is room for therpaists like Dr. Bachmann in our world, and he needs to aknowledge that even conservative christian counselors provide important treatment that helps patients move into recovery.... even if they are trying to recover from something that not everyone finds troublesome.
That doesn't mean I think Mr B is secretly gay, but that I'd throw a few bucks at Ladbrokes at current odds hoping to cash a big ticket later, just in case...
Hell, I got 500-1 on Ted Haggard. This time I'm going to bet more than 20.
And frankly the only people I've ever heard say homosexuality is natural are homosexual researchers and homosexual psychologists. I mean really. Really?
I don't agree with the Minnesota Expanded Health Care Practices Act for Licensed Health Care Professionals, which Ms. Bachmann apparently supported. This would remove any minimum standard of care for treatment, and, from my interpretation of it, the referring provider would not be legally responsible for any kind of harmful outcome. This would open the door to all kinds of abuses.
As it already stands, therapists have quite a bit of leeway in choosing how to practice. There does not seem to be the same tight oversight that there is on other areas of health care. If an internist treats your blood pressure, he or she cannot deviate from the standard care without legal reprecussions or loss of licence. Opening the door wide open to any kind of treatment (and reimbursement) without any minimum standard would not be in the best interests of anyone; except the people trying to make a profit without offering a proven treatment. This type of law could cause a lot of harm. I don't know why anyone would support it.
Our health care system is lacking in equitable access of care for everyone, but the high standard of healthcare that is available in this country is because there are laws, review boards, etc...dismantling these safety measures would be disastrous.
I have no problem with partisans being disgusted with the case I present. Or calling me a bigot, or whatever names they chose. The case I present, with citations, stands on its own.
What does disturb me is people who do not read well; that is, not well enough to discern the actual message in a piece. Take for example my piece entitled “Islam is Not the Problem. Try Hopelessness, Fundamentalism,” [Islam, here] indirectly cited by one of the commenters as evidence of my anti-Christian stance. In fact, the piece takes a stand against religious fundamentalism, regardless of the brand. In addition, it ascribes economic hopelessness as a (not the) root cause of religious extremism in some societies.
How that makes me an anti-religious bigot is beyond me.
But I do detect a whiff of fundamentalism, or at least theocratic purity, in two critical comments above. Nowhere do I say cognitive behavior therapy equals thought control. I admire cognitive behavioral therapy—just not as a tool to attempt to reprogram sexual orientation. Nor do I support prayer as a clinical tool to change behavior in the context of clinical psychological practice. If practitioners associated with the American Association of Christian Counselors don’t like that, that’s too bad. No counselor under the sun has the slightest shred of evidence that prayer can reassign sexual preference. To pretend in that direction is quackery, and quackery is dangerous.
I am offended by ignorant statements to the effect that “gay men live 10 to 30 years less [sic] than heterosexual men,” but these are just artifacts of ignorance of a type that abounds in certain circles on the web. I let them stand as comments so readers can get a sense that what I am talking about—at best a misinformed intolerance of genetic diversity—exists all around us.
For the record, Marcus Bachmann holds a PhD in counseling from the Union Institute & University of Ohio, and institution that offers instruction in part by what used to be known as “correspondence” courses. Mr. Bachman is not licensed to practice in Minnesota, but state law allows “certain clinics” to employ unlicensed counselors. According to the New York Times, the source for all the information in this paragraph, he lists his role as that of “clinical therapist.”
On Friday Marcus Bachmann issued a qualified “denial” to this emerging story that, in effect, acknowledged that he engages reparative therapy, but only “at the client’s discretion.” [NYT] Many people raised in conservative or homophobic households are extremely distraught when they perceive that they may be gay. For Bachmann and Associates to hold out reparative therapy as an option for those who feel that way is, at best, unethical, given that it is universally acknowledged to be an ineffective, potentially dangerous therapeutic option.
As to Michele Bachman’s attitudes towards gay people, the article above includes two quotes from her 2004 EdWatch speech that deserve more context. I have transcribed a longer portion of her speech, as broadcast on the CBC radio showAs It Happens
last Wednesday. I think it speaks for itself:
“Don’t misunderstand. I am not here bashing people who are homosexuals, who are lesbians, who are bisexual, who are transgender. We need to have profound compassion for people who are dealing with the very real issue of sexual dysfunction in their life and sexual identity disorders.
This is a very real issue, it’s not funny it’s sad. Any of you who have members of your family that are in the lifestyle—we have a member of our family that is—this is not funny. It’s a very sad life. It’s part of Satan I think to say that this is “gay.” It’s anything but gay. And so we are not here tonight—in fact, I wish this whole room was filled with the gay community, because we would reach our hand out in love.
And it’s profoundly sad to recognize that almost all, if not all individuals who have gone into the lifestyle have been abused at one time in their life, either by a male or by a female; there’s been profound hurt and profound things have happened in almost all of their lives. And this gives us great compassion. So this is not to talk about gay bashing, do we understand that? That’s not what this is about.
Because if you’re involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle, it’s bondage. It is personal bondage, personal despair and personal enslavement. And that’s why this is so dangerous.”
I want to thank all of the other commenters to this piece. Your thoughts and points are well taken, and add nuance to the discussion at hand. If it were possible, it would respond to each comment in detail.