Kids confront Michele Bachmann on anti-gay politics [video]
This week, a couple of videos showcased a teenage girl and an 8-year-old boy putting Presidential Candidate Michele Bachmann (R-MN) on the spot for her anti-gay beliefs. Bachmann is staunchly opposed to marriage rights for same-sex couples, and her husband, Marcus Bachman, reportedly runs a clinic that promises “reparative therapy” techniques can diminish homosexual attractions.
The latest video was posted on YouTube on December 4, and it shows a young boy (identified as “Activist Elijah” in Myrtle Beach) shaking hands with Michele Bachmann at a book signing event. He shyly tells her something, but has to repeat it again so she can hear. Bachmann makes an effort to lean over the table to listen intently to what the boy has to say:
“My mommy — Miss Bachmann, my mommy’s gay, but she doesn’t need any fixing.”
The user who posted that video, put up two other videos that same day of participants from “Occupy Myrtle Beach.” They appear to be protesing Bachmann from outside of the bookstore in which she had been promoting her book.
A second YouTube video, dated November 30, shows a teenage girl at a town hall in Iowa. The teen has been identified by The Waverly Democrat as Jane Schmidt, and in the clip she asks Rep. Michele Bachmann what she is going to do to help protect Gay-Straight Student Alliances in high schools and support the LGBT community. Bachman replies that everyone has the same civil rights, that government’s role is to protect those civil rights. She adds that there should be no special rights based on “people’s, um, preferences.” Schmidt then asks why same-sex couples cannot then be married. Bachmann replies with stunningly ignorant logic that:
”They can get married, but they abide by the same law as everyone else. They can marry a man if they’re a woman, or they can marry a woman if they’re a man…. [A man marrying a man] is not the law of the land…. No, [heterosexuals do not have a marriage privilege], they have the same opportunity under the law. There is no right to same-sex marriage.”
A second young woman in the video question’s Bachmann’s statement, and the candidate tells her incorrectly that:
”Every American citizen has the right to avail themselves of marriage, but they have to follow what the laws are. And the laws are, you marry a person of the opposite sex. That’s the law.”
Bachmann is neglecting to recognize “the law” in seven American regions (Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and the District of Columbia) where gay male and lesbian couples can be legally married. Also, efforts to reinstate same-sex marriage in California and Maine are well under way. And the Federal “Defense of Marriage Act” is being challenged in Congress, as well.
Four years ago, a high school sophomore, William Sleaster, made headlines by asking former Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain about “LGBT” equality. McCain was at first confused because he had never heard the acronym before, but went on to say he did not support civil unions or same-sex marriages because they interfered with the unique “sanctity” of man-woman marriages. Sleaster finished the tense exchange by saying: “I came here looking to see a leader. I don’t.”
Primary voting begins for 2012 soon, but no clear frontrunner has emerged among the Republican contenders. Newt Gingrich is this week’s top pick according to recent polls, but he has only one third of the party’s support. Bachmann was the early leader among social conservatives, but she has since fallen to the way side, as have her subsequent rivals, Rick Perry and Herman Cain. It was assumed by many that Mitt Romney would be the clear leader, but he has not risen above the 25% mark. There is one openly gay Republican candidate, Fred Karger, who says he has been unfairly shut out of the televised debates, but that may be because he is running as an Independent.
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