Questions about gay rights plague Bachmann campaign in California
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 8:20 am
- 9 Comments
Michele Bachmann’s weekend trip to the Golden State to gather support and funds for her presidential bid drew protests and sharp questions from Tonight Show host Jay Leno over her stances and statements on rights for LGBT people.
At a campaign rally in Costa Mesa, Bachmann was asked by a rally-attendee what she plans to do about bullying in her district. The Anoka-Hennepin School District is largely within the district represented by Bachmann and has seen many high-profile events surrounding the bullying of LGBT students. Six of those students are suing the district.
“That’s not a federal issue,” she said, dodging the question.
Two days earlier, Tammy Aaberg, a mother in the district who lost her son to suicide in 2010, presented Bachmann’s district office with a petition signed by more than 100,000 people asking her to take a stand on bullying in schools. Her office said Bachmann might eventually respond to the petition.
Bachmann has spoken about bullying in school before. At a Minnesota Senate committee hearing on bullying in 2005, Bachmann said, “I think for all us our experience in public schools is there have always been bullies, always have been, always will be. I just don’t know how we’re ever going to get to point of zero tolerance and what does it mean?”
“One question would be what would be our definition of bullying? Will it get to the point where we are completely stifling free speech and expression? Will it mean that what form of behavior will there be, will we be expecting boys to be girls?” Bachmann asked. ”I just don’t know how we can realistically expect a zero tolerance of bullying behavior.”
Bachmann was in town to speak at the California Republican Convention in Los Angeles and found herself the target of a flash mob. About 100 people protested her stances on LGBT issues to the tune of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer.”
Then it was Bachmann’s time for an appearance on Jay Leno, where she would once again be questioned on her LGBT record.
Leno asked her, “That whole ‘pray the gay away’ thing, I don’t get that.”
Bachmann tried to deflect with a joke: “When I heard that I thought it was a mid-life crisis thing, ‘pray the gray away.’”
Leno pressed her, “To me, when I was a kid, they used to try and teach me to write right-handed … to me that’s the same thing if you’re gay. I’ve been married 31 years, first wife, very happy. Two gay guys get married, how does that affect my marriage?”
Bachmann responded: “The whole thing is, with clinics, whatever issue anyone has, we don’t discriminate, we don’t discriminate with people’s issues.”
Leno wanted to know why the gay thing was even an issue, and Bachmann responded, “The family is foundational and marriage between a man and a woman is what the law has been for years.”
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Comment posted September 19, 2011 @ 8:35 am
“we don’t discriminate, we don’t discriminate with people’s issues.”
So what’s with the “we” thing suddenly? In the past Bachmann has said she has nothing to do with the operation of these clinics. It was all under the direction of her husband. Now she’s saying she is involved. At least that’s what “we” implies.
Jay made her squirm real nice. That was good to see.
Comment posted September 19, 2011 @ 10:54 am
Bachmann responded, “The family is foundational and marriage between a man and a woman is what the law has been for years.”
Families aren’t solely one man, one woman and their biological children. Only 25% of society falls into that category. Families come is a variety of combinations (step-parents, grandparents, single-parents, and same-sex couples). Just because Michele doesn’t want to acknowledge that reality, doesn’t make it so.
As for marriage being between a man and a woman because that’s the way the law has been, implies that marriage has never changed. That simply isn’t true. In 1691, only whites could marry; in 1724, black slaves could marry with the permission of their white owners; in 1769, the wife was consider her husband’s property; in 1899, polygamous marriage was banned; in 1900, a woman could own property; in 1965, contraception was legalized; in 1967, interracial marriage was legalized; in 1975, a wife could have credit in her own name; in 1981, husbands were no longer the owner of all marital assets; in 1993, marital rape was deemed illegal. So Michele’s version of marriage has only been in the United States for the past 18 years. Michele also hasn’t proven that same-sex marriage is a threat to opposite-sex marriage, families, or society. Simply saying so, doesn’t make it so.
I also find it the pinnacle of hypocrisy for her to say that bullying isn’t a federal issue, when she believes that marriage should be. Perhaps she can explain why discriminatory laws aimed at a segment of society should be written into our Constitution, but laws that protect children, shouldn’t.
Comment posted September 19, 2011 @ 11:51 am
Ah, gay couples with children aren’t “family”… You can’t reason with bigots. Thanks, Jay, for trying.
Comment posted September 19, 2011 @ 2:05 pm
Why doesn’t Michele Bachmann just come out and say it and be done with it..
“Gay people are not patriotic Americans! They do not deserve to serve in the US Military, have Marriage Equality rights, or ANY rights for that matter because they DO NOT matter in the scheme of things.”
Bachmann prefers to beat around the bush(pun intended) than to be direct regarding her homophobic views.
Comment posted September 19, 2011 @ 2:09 pm
Sure, she would rather not talk about gay rights. It might do her a lot of good with the base. To most of the rest of America, including the mainsteream media she is so anxiously courting, she is on the wrong side (except, of course, for the mass of folks to whom the issue is not particularly important).
Unfortunately for her, she can’t do it. Her prominence came from her gay bashing, and she has to face that fact. As she tries to pray the issue away, she should perhaps meditate on Hosea 8:7 (“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind”)..
Comment posted September 19, 2011 @ 4:32 pm
Here is a video of the full flash mob performance! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrrmeECJzoo&feature=player_embedded
Comment posted September 19, 2011 @ 5:18 pm
“The family is foundational and marriage between a man and a woman is what the law has been for years.” This is FALSE.
Comment posted September 19, 2011 @ 6:48 pm
I think the thing to take away from Bachmann’s performance on Leno is just that she is a master of not answering a question when answering would make her look bad. This just shows willing and able she is to tell lies when she thinks it will advance her political career.
Pingback posted October 4, 2011 @ 12:20 pm
[...] when cornered on the subject, Bachmann claimed anti-gay bullying of school children is “not a federal issue.” Recently, a 14-year old New York student, Jamey Rodemeyer, died by suicide after being [...]
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