Michele “Killer Clown” Bachmann’s husband runs an ex-gay clinic for educating gay “barbarians.” He’s also got a remarkable case of gay voice that’s been widely mocked in the LGBT blogosphere.
But Mr. Bachmann has found an unexpected defender in a chairman with Minnesota’s Stonewall organization. Why would a Stonewall member defend a ex-gay therapist of a homophobic GOP spouse? Let’s find out.
On Independence Day weekend, Minnesota’s Stonewall DFL chairman David Joseph DeGrio issued the following letter speaking entirely on his own behalf:
I know it’s a holiday weekend but I need to share some disappointment I have with members of the LGBT and ally community because it reached a tipping point this morning.
In the past week I’ve had several people, including some from the LGBT activist community, make comments mocking the perceived sexuality of Marcus Bachmann. I find this completely unacceptable. Think about the terrible example being set for kids who overhear such intimations about Marcus Bachmann.
We oppose this exact kind of mockery and bullying in the schools because kids commit suicide over these exact same jokes and perceptions.
If, by some chance, Marcus Bachmann is living a lie we should have compassion and understanding. We know what it’s like to live each day hiding truth and fearing discovery by others.
I respect your right to free speech, but I must speak out when I see injustice even when they injustice is levied against those who oppose all that I am.
So please, in the future, don’t spout any of this crap in my presence because I don’t want to feel the need to exercise my freedom of association and walk away.
Have a happy Independence Day and keep fighting for liberty and justice for all.
But is Grio right? Yes, it’s weird for persecuted gays to turn around and use their own sexual identity as an insult, but anti-gay bigots are fair game, right? But there’s no evidence (beyond his voice and the word of Cher) that Mr. Bachmann is actually gay. Does baselessly accusing him of being gay make gay people look like catty, petty bullies.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Or have we merely stumbled onto something that may be true? If he is gay couldn’t our mockery lead to the dirt-digging that might ultimately expose him as gay and potentially unseat the clown princess of the GOP?
Hmmmm….
Lucas
The LGBT’s “bullying” of Marcus Bachmann doesn’t even hold a flame to his bullying of the LGBT community. What he’s doing has serious, long-term, negative effects on people; making fun of his perceived “gay voice” is light-hearted taunting now that he’s been thrust into the national spotlight by his wife’s farce of a presidential campaign.
rl
no
next
Eric
I think this falls in the area (or at least an adjacent area code) of satire.
Chris Lemig
I have to agree with Mr. DeGrio. If we’re going to call people out on hateful speech, then we should make the effort to be extra mindful of our own.
Arthur
He’s right. Bachmann’s asshattery doesn’t make it any less hypocritical trying to claim moral high ground from the gutter.
Ted C.
We’re not mocking Bachmann for possibly being gay. We’re mocking Bachmann for possibly being a *closeted* gay.
Being gay is nothing shameful. Being a *closeted* gay is totally shameful, pathetic, and worthy of mockery, especially if the person hates other gays, runs an “ex-gay” conversion clinic, and is a prominent Republican of the sort who probably trolls for “wide-stance” sex in public lavatories.
Mike in Asheville
OF COURSE IT IS BULLYING! To pretend otherwise completely deflates our concern and efforts to stop anti-gay bullying.
BUT, no one, particularly me too, is free of being human and a tad hypocritical from time-to-time. No sympathy for a true bully; and the Bachmans, both of them, are the worst sort of bullies, the scoundrel. Per Samuel Johnson: Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” Oh how right he is.
christopher di spirito
Nope.
Scott Rose
In saying that the ridicule directed at Fatass Bachmann is mocking her for her “perceived sexuality,” DeGrio is mischaracterizing the ridicule. She is being mocked not for her perceived sexuality but rather for the size of her clitoris, her manifest idiocy and her fathomless ignorance. Fatass openly defamed an entire minority by alleging they are “barbarians” “in need of discipline.” She should be mocked to scorn by whatever means, including on the basis of the characterstics of her speaking voice. She is not a well woman and should consult a gynecologist immediately.
tjr101
If there is one person in the world that deserves bullying is that “her majesty” and his wife. Cry me a river, this douche and his family are doing a lot more damage to gay teens and their future that any gay jokes can.
Politically Incorrect Thug
Jesus Christ, get a load of all the hypocrites posting here. Why not just call him a faggot? A pole smoker? A KY cowboy? Of COURSE it’s wrong for us to criticize the man for having a feminine voice. It’s like Al Sharpton calling Hermain Cain a ghetto nigger. If you people could only take a step back and see yourselves as you really are, I wonder if you’d recognize hatred in its purest form.
MakesYouWonder
No, no it’s not since it’s obviously not seeming to do any harm, would you take a ‘barbarians’ words to heart? no, this guy’s ego, self-esteem etc isn’t affected by what we say, his actions/words which are directed towards us however in my opinion is not only bullying but harassment in it’s purest form.
PhillipX
@Politically Incorrect Thug: You must be new here. We react to hate with hate. Civil right’s didnt hapen because blacks sat at home.
Jeffree
Pointing out that the “Emperor has no clothes” isn’t automatically the same as bullying, but it’s easy to cross the line.
How could Dr. & Mrs Bachmann fail to note the obvious: Marcus’s voice & vocal mannerisms are (stereotypically) effeminate, yet he’s built much of his career on helping gay men to “change.”
Same case goes for Dr. P. Cameron & Dr. G.A. Rekers. Although it’s not a 100% sure thing they are gay, they’re deluding themselves if they think they bring up the obvious questions everytime they open their mouth.
Some parents, somewhere probably thought to themselves: “Wait, *you’re* the guy who’s going to butch my kid up? Really??”
Politically Incorrect Thug
@PhillipX: Wow. Not only do I suspect that you’re a deeply disturbed, hate-filled sociopath, your spelling and punctuation suck.
David Ehrenstein
http://fablog.ehrensteinland.com/2011/07/06/it-takes-two/
Zito
Fuck this excusing-homophobia bullshit! He does not deserve sympathy, especially if he is actually gay! He wants to demonize LGBT individuals and push them into freak status, and I do not give a flying fuck if people mock him in any way. Hell, all politicians need some mocking, but especially hypocritical ones who would want asylum for the LGBT community.
Andy
Is having a feminine voice wrong? No. Is it good to point out a possibly gay self-hating politician? Yes.
Effeminate gay kids don’t commit suicide because of their effeminacy but because their effeminacy is treated as a disease by people like Mr. Michele Bachmann.
NickadooLA
Calling Marcus Bachmann gay is about as homophobic as calling Casey Anthony a whore is sexist.
Cam
The people claiming this are idiots.
If somebody is trying to punch you in the face and you push them away and mock them for the weakness of their punch, then you are NOT bullying them.
This man advocates for a cure to homosexuality and wants gays ended. His wife was the main force behind anti-gay bills in the state. To claim that mocking them is “Bullying” is the most sick perversion of the term imaginable.
If women in Saudi Arabia mock the police who are beating and arresting them, I’m curious….are those women bullies too?
Scott Rose
Queerty should do a blog post “Fundamentalist Christians are Barbarians in Need of Discipline.” Interview a few S&M dungeon dominatrixes about what might be done with and to a hypothetical anti-gay bigot from Minnesota. Include a quote from a prominent archeologist apropos of what scientific documentation, if any, exists that Christian holy texts are “the word of God.” Get statistics on how many persons convicted of anti-gay hate crimes are Christian as opposed to say, Jewish or atheist. Also include opinions from at least two members of the American Association of Psychiatrists as to whether there is some appearance that Marcus Bachmann could be committing fraud by implying that the “Dr.” in his title corresponds to a medical community endorsement of what he does in his (of course non-barbarian) “Christian therapy.”
Patrick
It’s not bullying unless the person being bullied is smaller than you are. It’s not bullying if the other person started the fight. Retaliating against Bachman is not bullying.
It is, however, immature to go after his voice and mannerisms. I agree that such insults buy into the anti-gay system. There’s no reason to use them, especially when he can be called a quack and an idiot for practicing psycology without looking at the wealth of scientific evidence that ex-gay treatments do not work and are harmful to the patients. Besides, we can say he’s probably a closeted gay (aren’t they all) without going so low as to insult his voice.
Greenluv1322
If bullying this fat ass leads to suicide…well I’m not really against at all.
Cam
@Patrick:
The reason to use them is because it points out the well known fact that large numbers of people that are incredibly anti-gay often turn out to be closet cases themselves.
gregger
Dear Minnesota Stonewall DFL Chairman,
blow it out your politically correct ass. Any closet case queen such as Marcus Bachman, Terry Dolan, Roy Cohn, Larry Craig, Aaron Schock, and how many others that want to keep us in our closets or push us in to reparative therapy are part of the problem. By protecting these people you have sided with the oppressors.
Sincerely,
Sick of all the bullshit that homophobes pull and then get defended by twits like you.
Ian Awesome
If I feel the urge to make fun of someone for being a big fat homo, that’s my right. I was going to post on this story myself but then said “Pffffffft. Queer.”
gregger
@PhillipX: he’s not new. I’ve had repeated bullshit sessions with him. Don’;t feed that one.
Jim Hlavac
The best defense is a good offense — and these culture warriors call it a “war” against us, they are all set to rid us from the planet and therefore we have a 2nd Amendment Right to self-defense. The Supreme Court ruled recently that “God Hates Fags” is protected speech, ergo, “God Hates Gay-haters” is protected speech. Go full blast at every single anti-gay person or group — on these grounds: denial of religious liberty, OURS! Denial of free speech, denial of right to assemble — and oh, on and on through the Constitution and Declaration of Independence — all men are created equal and endowed by their creator, with certain inalienable rights … — and if their creator didn’t create gay folks, then our Creator wants a word with theirs. When they accuse us of going after kids, or molesting kids — then file “false criminal complaint” charges against them. When they attack, attack back — who the hell do they think they are to tell me or us what to do? I don’t care what they believe — but they should shush on the hustings — but if they want to make it a political issue — well, then, all is fair in love and war. We have nothing to lose.
And if they come to their senses then they can sit down and apologize and join with us — until then — who cares about their feelings? They will not relent, neither should we. What gives them the right to force some religious belief upon me? My family came here for religious freedom, not to have one of their own attacked constantly. Screw Mr. Bachmann and his sissy voice — show him what it feels like. Give him and the rest of them a taste of their own medicine. Take ’em to court, bankrupt them. I really don’t care — and we have nothing to lose. We live in a Free Republic of Individuals with Freedom for Individuals, not some theocracy on their behalf.
gregger
@Jim Hlavac: Thank you!!
tjr101
@Jim Hlavac: I must admit it’s the first time I completely agree with you!
McMike
Give me a f’n flippin break. MB flung that door wide open when he got his queer as f*ck gay ass on his soap box to proclaim how wrong it is to be gay. It would be obnoxious, IMO, for ANY of us the gay community to just sit back and NOT point out the obvious.
He’s as gay as they come and no amount of his homophobia being verbalized is going to change that.
If you’re in a closet that is your choice and should be respected unless you start mouthing off about the so-called evils of homosexuality.
I hope Michelle Bachmann gets the nomination because the LGBT community needs to make her husband, and thus their homophobia, our prime target.
BlueBird
If you dish it, you best be able to take it…
nowliveit
I understand David DeGrio’s comment and do not agree fully.
If this man had a different profession and was just the husband of Mrs POTUS wannabe then he would not have made it to the press until much further in the process. BUT this man is harming young gay people every day of his waking life. He is intentionally taking action to hurt the CORE of young lgbt people… wounds that will last a life time if they survive the process.
He is a legitimate game player in this war on our youth, even if he wasn’t her husband. The fact that he may be a closeted gay man based on one fact and one observable human behavior is legitimate in this war on our youth. The fact is his stereotypical gay man’s voice which may or may not be the smoking gun that outs him. The human behavior that has proven reliable is that those who protest too much (push against an idea too much) may have an internalized self-hatred in play because they have deeply hidden desires for what they profess to hate [Refer to article Homophobic men most aroused by gay male porn http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-big-questions/201106/homophobic-men-most-aroused-gay-male-porn%5D.
To me, these are openings for us to push back (i.e. fight back) in this legitimate push for LGBT to be equal to all others in all ways in all of society’s benefits to singles and to couples. Mr. Bachmann is fair game and these are fair tactics in war.
Most minds can see the difference between bullying a defenseless, helpless confused gay youth and calling out a powerful H8er. There is a difference!
Tatterdemalion
I think what concerns me most about this whole brouhaha is the fact that if a guy has an effeminate sounding voice then everyone assumes he must be gay.
What I’m obviously forgetting is that we ALL have to conform to the flaming, running-around-making-noise queer stereotype that has been perpetuated by movies and television since time immemorial. I do apologise.
“If I can’t tell who’s gay, how will I know who to discriminate against”
-Sue Sylvester
Can’t help but think we might be doing ourselves a disservice somewhere here…
(I’m actually quite conflicted on this whole subject, but that’s the opinion that’s at the forefront of my mind at the moment!)
Jeffree
Marcus Bachmann should consider speech therapy if he doesn’t want to ping gaydars whenever he opens his yap. People with speech impediments, strong regional accents, or vocal cord issues do it; so do some transitioning trans people, and actors/announcers in training.
I’ll stand up loud & for any of my effeminate gay male friends, but that’s because they’re not trying to deny who they are or change other people.
How come Dr. Bachmann doesn’t realize he’s more stereotypically “gay sounding” than many of the men he’s supposedly helping?
He’s our next shrink caught with a “travel companion” when Michele is out of town campaigning to be Chief Theocrat of the USA…
TMikel
By all means, walk away. You state, “Think about the terrible example being set for kids who overhear such intimations about Marcus Bachmann.” What about the example HE is setting for children with his hatred for gays and his attempts to “cure” them? He is a public figure and therefore fair game for ridicule and that include’s his faggy voice. Mr. DeGrio, you are indeed entitled to your opinion and we to ours. As far as I am concerned, any aspect of Killer Clown is fair game for ridicule and you might get over yourself as well.
Jewed Law
This is a stupid argument. My boss is as hetero as they come, but everyone thinks he’s gay because he has a feminine lilt to his voice and acts all-around a little fey. Sorry, folks, but having unconventional mannerisms does not a homo make.
Jeffree
He’s not a real doctor……We can talk all day about whether Dr. B is gay or bi or str8, but meanwhile, he’s providing reparative therapy without a license as a psychologist, clinical counselor or social worker. His PhD. was online, but he’s still listed as a mental health provider and being reimbursed as one.
If there’s a smoking gun here, it’s not the voice, it’s the fact that he’s performing treatment that is ineffective, deceptive & harmful.
VictorG
Anything short of taking these fascist bigoted liars, drawing and quartering them and burning them at the stake is perfectly acceptable. We should charge admission for the other stuff.
Oli
It is absolutely not bullying. It is pointing out hypocrisy.
Tommy Shepherd
Well, that bitch opened her mouth to call us barbarians first. If she’d kept her mouth shut, we wouldn’t have noticed the huge dazzling pair of ruby slippers that flew out at the same time.
If that’s bullying, then I’m all for it. That’s what “barbarians” do – and lady-complainer – this is one case where it don’t “get better”, it’s gonna get worse the longer you keep it up! We ain’t going nowhere.
Shocked
I’m kind of shocked when I hear people say that they can go for him because he “deserves it.”
Firstly, it’s extremely hypocritcal to make fun of someones apparently effeminate voice when you are calling them out on being homophobic. He may have so many faults and be a hypocrit himself, but seriously, is the best thing to insult him over is a perceived gay trait? It is essentially homophobic to say “Ah, he speaks like a girl, GAAAAAAAAAAAAAY” No ifs, no buts. You don’t get gay rights to use insults, because that incourages other people to use the same thing. You can’t say one thing and do the other yourself.
Secondly, you are not going to turn people over to your point of view by insulting them. You don’t make friends by being an asshole, and you don’t get people to agree with you by being hostile. All that does is push people away and confirm that you are a horrible person.
Being a dick to someone who is a dick, doesn’t make them any less of a dick, it just makes you a bigger one.
Tommy Shepherd
It is only homophobic to say he speaks like a girl if you think speaking like a girl is a bad thing. I love speaking “like a girl” or rather, I love speaking like a big old queen. I’m shouting him out on his own homophobia. If he thinks talking like a girl is a bad thing, then that’s his problem, not mine.
And I don’t want the right-wing-nuts and religious freaks to “be my friend”. Basically, if there’s anyone left in the western world who’s homophobic, then they’re c*nts. They have no excuse. This isn’t the 1950s. They’ve had plenty of time to “get it” and if they don’t get it by now they NEVER will. So I’m not interested in getting them to like me. They need to be crushed, humiliated and made to be frightened of us, because that’s the only thing they understand.
I’m with Margaret Cho on this one. I DO want to sink down to their level and show them just how bitchy and vindictive we can be.
Mar
I think the only part that bothers me a little is the assumption that feminine voice + walking = gay. I admit that he pings my gaydar and I said the same thing others said when I saw a video of him, but my gaydar has been wrong once or twice. I can’t say that I know for sure that he’s into men, because I don’t have anything to go on besides my gut.
That having been said, if he is in fact gay, then he should be outed. It amazes me how many closeted politicians get away with it. Why don’t their sex partners spill the beans?
Southside Shorty
@Shocked: Thank you. Finally, someone with common sense. All of the “tolerant” people on this site have shown their true colors by really baring their claws for this guy, and frankly, it ain’t pretty. Your level-headedness is an appreciated diversion in this sea of pettiness and name-calling.
gregger
@Tommy Shepherd: nail on the head. THAT!!
McMike
Wow, I can’t believe some of you are actually trying to defend how some of us in the LGBT community are calling this m*therf*cker out on his obvious queerness.
Sure, having a gay sounding voice doesn’t make one gay but walking like a duck, talking like a duck while your profess how much you hate ducks definitely makes you a f’n duck.
The guy is gay. There’s no way around it. Anyone who is trying to say differently just has their heads shoved up some friggin highway.
declanto
Sorry, dears. It’s just so irresistable to mock the rasshule. He seems so queenie my camping equipment just starts bristling out of my Prada and clattering onto the parquet. Hooot! And if he can’t take it he’s welcome to drag (oops!) his hag to the wilderness and contemplate his manicure. All this chatter about fair and level-heads and PC whatever makes me yawn.
Cam
@Shocked: said…
“Being a dick to someone who is a dick, doesn’t make them any less of a dick, it just makes you a bigger one.”
________________________-
That is the line of B.S. that the Mormons tried to lay out because they wanted to avoid having the gay community call them out on their bigotry.
Our rights only started quickly moving in the last few years when the community started attackting these bigots. When we sat back and said nothing, is when our rights were at a standstill.
Your argument basically is, let them say what they want and don’t do anything. Pointing out his obviously gay traits combined with research showing that the more homophobic folks out there are often times closeted calls him out on hypocricy and will have them playing major defense. Something good for the community.
Jason
@Politically Incorrect Thug: Awwww, shudddup with the faux outrage. If you’re gonna mount a cross, at least do it for someone worth the sacrifice.
Jason
@Jewed Law: OK, so let’s just call him a nellie, fascist hetero.
JKB
All I know is that queen needs to STFU.
Ganondorf
DeGiro’s a concern troll. Concern trolls are concerned.
Ganondorf
It did get him attention. This, of course, is the concern troll’s main objective.
gregger
@Cam: Thanks!!
gregger
@Jason: actually wouldn’t mind seeing that troll mount a cross, rectally.
Shocked
@Cam:
So it’s not possible to have a reasonable debate with someone without it turning into a fight? Really?
If someone is not going to listen to a firm but polite, well reasoned and considered arguement, then they are not going to listen to name-calling and bitching.
“sitting down and doing nothing” implies that a person is going to sit down and do nothing, instead of educating, discussing and being visibly, you know, nice human beings who are strong in what they believe in.
The gay rights movevemt has gone forward so much because more people have been exposed to gay folks who they can relate to and who they respect in some way. I’m not saying that in order to win over the anti-gay community you should restrict yourself, lay down and let them crap all over you, nor am I saying that if someone is violent you should put up with it, what i’m saying is that people learn to like things when there is something worth liking about it, and if you turn yourself into a douche, you aren’t going change their opinion, you are going to reinforce it.
For all we know, if this person is indeed gay (Which he may be, may not be, who knows. I thought we were allowed our right to self-identity buy w/e) he didn’t become resentfull of his sexuality because his voice was made fun off as a kid? I know that my voice was made fun off as a kid, and that is probably why I hid my sexuality for longer than I would have otherwise, because I got so used to denying the alligations.
Cam
@Shocked: said…
“@Cam:
So it’s not possible to have a reasonable debate with someone without it turning into a fight? Really?
If someone is not going to listen to a firm but polite, well reasoned and considered arguement, then they are not going to listen to name-calling and bitching.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
I am absolutly unconcerened if the Bachmans listen. They are a lost cuase, however, what they do respond to is politics, fear, publicity etc… Her husband is no different than George Reckers, and her odd obsessive, foaming at the mouth fear of gays no doubt stems from her deep seated fear and anger that her husband is one, combined with her husbands loud anti-gay bigotry he is using to cover for his own closeted status.
In answer to your comments that our rights moved ahead because more people know gays, that is incorrect. Favorability for gay marriage was moving up at about 1% a year. HOWEVER, as soon as we went on the offensive after Prop 8, and began attacking the Mormon bigots, and others who pushed that, called out the closeted preachers etc… support nationwide for gay marriage went up by 15%.
So we attack, and support for us goes up. We say nothing and support barely moves. Say what you want, but those numbers are incontrovertable.
PLAINTOM
NO, This would be anti-bullying. Bullying the bullies. Throwing bullshit right back at the bullshitters. Confronting the bullies on their own level.
Adman
Journalists these days and their false equivalencies. You guys are so bereft in your “methods of inquiry” you would deny a whole world it’s liberal sensibility in order to label it comparable to monsters. Yeah, we gays are denying somebody something by pointing out a turncoat who browbeats the 90-odd percentile to hate their own friends and relatives for personal gain. Yeah, there’s federal subsidies, and tax free status to this queer hate industry, so what? You would do the same thing if only you weren’t gay, right? Fuck you Queerty, you fucking yellow dogs. You’re a goddamn chicken shit group, and you can’t turn that around to save your lives, fucktards.
I find personal solace in the fact that this site only prolongs the torture of parents friends and family members of LGBT’s who are too weak and cowardly to step up and call out the haters. I mean, after all, they learn it from the likes of you, right? Not only does an indoctrinated Xtian robot cannibal redstater face nothing but torture from the straights in it’s life upon learning it’s loved one is gay, it’s got the fact that Queerty is “softening the blow” of what a fucking chicken shit asshole it’s been working to divide it’s own family for the sake of the “inquiring” breeder apologists among us. Good going, losers, save it for Perez Hilton.
Cam
@Adman:
THANK YOU!!!!!
This is no different than the idiots who attacked the Dutch govt. as bullies when the Govt. there went after the groups of immigrants who were attacking gays and saying they should be killed. The Dutch were supposedly bullies for trying to “Force” them to leave gays alone. (Eye Roll)
It’s the same here, David De Grio is either a right wing plant, or he is so engaged in false intellectual masterbation that his alliance is irrelevent because he has paralyzed himself with this type of thinking.
He needs to resign and let somebody else take over the group.
Sigh
This sort of tortured “let’s not go for the jugular, that would be mean” logic is why we lose to these idiots.
Their aim for us is complete and total destruction — annihilation to the last man, woman and child. We shouldn’t worry about how mean “fighting back” is.
We need to get the soft, bleeding heart liberals out of the front lines, since every time they go into the fight, they use kindergarten language like “Unfair and Wrong!” and spend as much time lecturing us on being kind and politically correct to our enemies as they do fighting those same enemies.
question
this raises the question of whether or not all queerty authors are straight. why do they always go for the jugular and accuse everyone they hate of being gay?
hf2hvit
VOTE BACHMANN!!! BECAUSE HER HUSBAND MAKES LIBERACE LOOK BUTCH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8oyA5JV7kA&feature=player_embedded
L-InAustin
David DeGrio,
I think one of the weaknesses of being so very conscientious, which your sentiments reflect, is that we empathize way too much with how the opposition feels and then we consider ourselves politically incorrect? wtf? All while they could care less about any of our feelings or concerns. They do not value our very existence and they will psychologically abuse and in the name of God religiously abuse our young ones who have not found acceptance for their soul’s identity yet here on earth.
I, for one, think this is an opportunity to bring a greater awareness of the many issues that lie within this story and we must do so by calling out this H8er who concocts ways to cause others harm in the name of God. As someone who considers himself spiritually-inclined I care deeply about his soul however his human intention must be stopped. It hurts people as my first post went on about 😉
This is a story that caught enough attention that it was on the Ed Show tonight, MSNBC; I caught half of it.
I had a teacher one time who always said: When someone tells you that you’re acting like an ass ignore them, it’s their stuff. And when someone else does it then do the same. But if many people starting saying it then it is time to look in the mirror to see how you’re being an ass. I think it’s time that Mr. Bachmann hear us saying loud and clear that he is being an ass… and, maybe, eventually, someday, he might look in the mirror; yeh, pipe dreams but still…
Orion
I don’t see how gays calling him names is a problem.
Isn’t he a big enough man to not be affected by it? Bachmann is stopping other people from living out there lives and being with who they love, so when those people point out a trait that he happens to share with them it’s considered “unfair” “bullying” and “mockery”?
I don’t get how kids, who I’m sure don’t care about politics let alone understand what’s going on, can see what Bachmann is doing and say, “Oh well,it’s his opinion.” and then see what we are doing and say, “that’s mean! They shouldn’t do that!”
Is what we’re doing remotely close to the effect that his actions have on us?
Aihong
@PhillipX: It didn’t happen when MLK went around making fun of whites either. It happened when they put on nice clothes and carried out peaceful protests, showing the world what wicked people the racists were and how wrong the white stereotypes about them were.
And something the the civil rights protesters certainly didn’t do is childish name calling and personal insults. Most people stop viewing this as an effective tool for changing hearts and minds at about the same time that they graduate from elementary school.
Aihong
@L-InAustin:
That’s a broken analogy, because they’re not calling him an ass, jerk or whatever. They are making fun of his voice. If a bunch of people say you have a weird voice (big nose, bad teeth, fat, whatever), then maybe you have a weird voice (big nose, bad teeth, fat). Nobody thinks when they hear they have a weird voice, “oh gee, I have been treating gays badly, haven’t I.”
SebastianWilMa
Um…aren’t most “ex-gay ministries” led by ex-gays themselves? Gay voice, one thing but an ex-gay group led by a straight man? Doesn’t seem kosher. It would be like…a non-Christian leading up a group of missionaries or bible teachers. I wonder if the wammy they will punch will be Michelle Bachmann coming out & saying he used to be gay himseld. I can see it now. “Homosexuality can be cured,” Michelle says, then squeezes Marcus’ hand, their heads lower at the same time, eyes closed. “We know this because Marcus himself used to be a sodomite homosexual.”
SebastianWilMa
If that happens…BTW I can see the anti-gay people lining up top vote for the Bachmann’s. Oh, I also heard he’s her personal shopper. I’m jut sayin!!!
Joe stratford
No it’s not bullying to say he has a stereotypically gay voice.
Mr. Bachman is supposed to cure gayness by teaching people to lowers their tine, walk and talk like a macho man, and assume gender roles that straight men have.
Ironically, he can’t even teach himself to “talk like a man” and if you have seen the you tube videos, he can not “walk like a man” either.
If gayness can be cured the way he says it can. And if gayness is nothing but a collection of mannerisms that can be “disciplined”, Then, at present ladies and gentlemen, Marcus Bachman is gay!
Diana
If his words are listened to very carefully, when he is discussing how “gay people” need to control their behaviors and not act upon them…it seems to me that he may talking about a perscription for his own life. However sad it would be,I might actually have more respect for him, if he were to say, “This is what I have done in my own life and I am a happier person for it”. For him this might be true…I think it has less to do with is affect and voice intonations and more to do with what he says and believes that make me question his sexuality. What he has to say and what he chose to do as a profession are hateful and unkind and I feel he has opened himself up for ridicule.
As to making fun of him for his affectations, he opened himself up for that. If you live the life of a bully and then get bullied, tough noogies.
Ashton cruz
No, bullying is when someone attacks a gltlb supporter constantly for no apparent reason other than jealousy … Like Queerty does to Lady Gaga.
L-InAustin
@Aihong: I may not have been clear enough. My analogy was not about his voice. I wasn’t making fun of his voice; that is just a possible indicator to who he really is.
I use the analogy concerning his so called treatment methods to turn gay youth straight. That is him being an ass. I was commenting more on the story about him and his day job.
David Ehrenstein
@Cam: I have yet to discover an incredibly anti-gay person who WASN’T a closet case.
of course
It’s pretty counter-productive when queeniness or other forms of effeminacy are as a basis for sneering at people.
It doesn’t really matter who the target is. Every sissy kid — and every girl — living in the culture these kinds of slurs help create is hurt by it.
Terry
Dear Minnesota’s Stonewall DFL chairman David Joseph DeGrio, It saddens me that the most appropriate response to people like you in a situation like this has become an overused, hackneyed throw-away phrase. Although we have all heard it at least 4 times today just in passing, please allow me to say it one more time with heartfelt earnest and every fiber of my being behind it: Fuck you.
Josh
Mr. DeGrio,
After reading your letter released about the bullying of poor Dr. Bachmann, I believe you will find many in the gay community using our “freedom of (dis)association” should we ever come in contact with you. Making fun of Marcus Bachmann is immature; not bullying. I understand that in your position, you may be accustomed to proper, formal gatherings, but that has never been what moves our country and our public. I find it vital to provide my (usually uninformed) conservative friends and family abreast of the hypocrisy that they support, in order to change their attitudes and ideas through their own education. While I can make formal, politically correct, and well-researched assertions month in and month out, they will not gain attention in most crowds of the American public. Do you truly believe anyone that actually cares to be informed and is willing to do the research, to look beyond the layers of beliefs that have been ingrained in them, is still supporting the Conservative Movement? I don’t think you will find many. Those that are interested in informational debate without a spark to initially interest them in the issue were swayed long ago to the plight of the LGBTQ community.
To review a little of what I learned from “spreading the Gospel” back in my Evangelical childhood may better explain the fundamentals at work here. The first step to getting someone’s attention, to changing their perception, is to knock them off balance a little bit. Get a little dirty. And play on the level that they are actually interested in. Once they realize that you’re on the same wavelength, they’re a lot more likely to tune in to what you are saying, rather than speaking over them in your polished and, for something that may not personally affect them, boring rhetoric. So why not use a little immaturity to grab attention back from a “man” calling for my discipline for loving my MAN (a true man); to take it further, a “man” calling me a barbarian for having the COURAGE to openly and freely love who I truly love.
While you are, of course, free to discern your own beliefs and positions about evolving issues and situations, it is not your duty to reprimand others for something without looking beyond the surface level or seeking alternative perspective. Working from and for the LGBTQ community, I would think you would have learned to be slightly more flexible and, frankly, human than that.
XO, Jhoag
iDavid
I Don’t think I’ve seen a couple more apt towards Satanic worship than those 2.
Paul Lynde
There is nothing wrong with having a higher pitched voice and it’s perfectly fine to sashay around like you are queen of the ball. Nuff said. Not judging that at all.
Making an observation about it in Bachmann’s case doesn’t fall in the bullying category when Bachmann is the one practicing spiritual abuse of children.
And for cripes sake the guy seems frutier than Charles Nelson Reilly. Why is the religious right so in love with “closet land”?
Tiredofhypocrites
Its not bullying. Its fair game because of their hyporcrisy and anti-gay garbage. Mr Bachmann is typical of self hating deeply closeted gay men who can’t come out because they have too much invested in being a straight acting evangelical. They are often very homphobic to deflect from their obvious gayness. He is such a nelly gay, he looks like the love child of Liberace. This makes Michelle a frustrated beard. No wonder she hates gays. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is outed by a former paramour or trick.
Abirdwillingtobeitself
@Ganondorf: Amen.
backwoods_intellect
There may be ‘straight’ men out there who are as flamboyantly effeminate as Mr. Bachmann, but in nearly five decades living across the country I’ve never come across one. While not all gay men have the traits that the good ‘Doctor’ does, effeminate men tend to be gay. And I’ve never come across a well-adjusted gay man who didn’t embrace their femininity. I find the internalized homophobia among some gay men regarding effeminate behavior appalling, particularly when those men fancy themselves leaders in the gay community.
And comparing the ‘bullying’ of Mr. Bachmann to the bullying done by Mr. Bachmann to gay teens is grotesque.
McGullen
@backwoods_intellect: I thought it was strange though that Bachmann would embrace his femininity if he has a problem with being gay. In the audio in this video, he seems to have good self-esteem.
backwoods_intellect
@Tommy Shepherd:
Well said.
backwoods_intellect
@McGullen:
In one of the many videos I’ve seen Mr. Bachmann refers to how his fascination with his daughter’s dress probably sounds strange and scary. That isn’t a sign of strong self-esteem. Further, Bachmann has placed himself in a community where being an effeminate man is the elephant in the room that noone dare mention.
Again, he may well be a straight man with highly effeminate mannerisms, but in five decades I’ve never come across such a being.
Arrant
But what about the children? Won’t anyone think about the children?!!?
When adults bully one another it’s called mockery and it has been an established part of political dissent since, well since forever. As for those fictional bully-in-the-bud teenage boys who have dropped their X-box controls and raced to the blogosphere to read all about the latest contretemps in Presidential politics—the don’t exist.
David
No, he’s made a business degradation of LGBT folks. He is a public figure and closeted [and most likely miserable] so no holes barred. [no pun intended]
Shannon1981
He makes his living bullying us. Eye for an eye. A few comments here and there on some blogs are a drop in the bucket compared to the harm he and his wife do to us.
MattGMD
“Bullying” specifically denotes an intent to intimidate and harass. Not sure what I’ve read/seen/heard would meet that standard. Seems more like “calling him out” or “mocking”, both of which aren’t going to upset too many GLBT people considering the consistently venomous comments we have heard from Bachmann. He’s done a good job at keeping himself out of the spotlight or at least out of the lenses of videocameras. He’s perhaps not a publicity whore like Reekers and that crew, but there are a few video morsels for The Gays to chew on here and there.
Henry
I don’t like the way that people use the word bullying in relation to gay-bashing. It makes bigoted behavior sound almost like a joke. Call it harassment, that’s the proper name for it.
martinbakman
His excellency Saint DeGrio never uses disparaging remarks about anyone. Me, not nearly so saintly, am apt to call a spade a spade. It is no wonder the forest rangers won’t let that flamin’ queen Bachman near the Minnesota woods during fire season.