BREAKING NEWS

Sunday 14 August 2011

Bachmann: Praying Away the Gay

So, Michele Bachmann, perhaps expectantly, has come top in the Iowa straw-poll. Good news for her campaign, or is it? It inevitably means that her campaign and herself will be subject to ever greater scrutiny and that, I would suggest, may not help her.

OK, I'm biased, I'm inevitably going to find her a scary figure of the right, a religious homophobic loon who wants to take the American people back to the dark ages. I am, of course, going to think that if the prospect of her as President of the United States wasn't so damn scary, it would surely be the funniest joke of the century.

Yet, with greater scrutiny, it might not be liberal Europeans like myself who take issue with Bachmann and her message.

One of the enduring sticks that is used to beat her over the head with his her husband's sexuality and persistent rumours that he might be gay. This is only a story because it represents hypocrisy by the Bachmann's and suggest a phony quality which is generally not regarded as a good quality in a President.

Today, Bachmann displayed her anti-gay credentials by appearing on CNN's State of the Union and declaring that she "probably would" re-introduce Don't Ask, Don't Tell if elected President. She added that she thought it had served the military well.

As Pink News reported last month, the Bachmann family own Bachmann & Associates in Minnesota and Marcus Bachmann, who has called gays “barbarians”, runs the centre. This is a centre that actively seeks to 'pray away the gay', to 'cure' homosexuality. So, let's start with a discussion on the left of centre show, HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher (please Brit TV executives, why can't we have this show?):



A number of satires of the Bachmann marriage have also emerged, such as this one from Second City Network:



More recently, there has been these satire of Michele's appearance on the cover of Newsweek which was seen as displaying her 'crazy eyes'. No doubt, Republicans will spin this as her 'Thatcher like qualities'.




You might think this all seems unfair - especially portraying him as sounding rather camp. Well, here's an exert of him talking from 2010:



For comedians such as Jon Stewart and others, this can lead to intense efforts to repress one's inner urges (with limited success). Check out this great MSNBC report:

Share this:

Chris Ashford said...

I understand your point regarding the 'phony' comment but I was trying to say that's how it would be presented, and that's why it's important - in the context of someone seeking to be President of the United States.

I'm not that familiar with Dan Savage other than this clip and a quick Google search, so you've got me intrigued...why's he a cock?

Elly said...

I will send you some posts i have written about him. I have a whole section on my blog called 'Dan Savage is Annoying!'...

 
Copyright © 2014 Law and Sexuality. Designed by OddThemes | Distributed By Gooyaabi Templates