Dear Commons Community,
Michele Bachman’s views on gays was the subject of a number of recent media reports.
The Huffington Post has an article (including an audio file of a CBS News interview in 2004) quoting Ms. Bachman referring to gays as being “part of Satan”.
The Huffington Post article also quotes Republican presidential candidate Fred Karger, the first openly-gay contender to vie for his party’s nomination, from an exclusive interview with the Michigan Messenger in which he took specific aim at Bachmann over controversial therapy methods practiced at her husband’s Minnesota clinic. The Nation reported that the clinic practiced reparative therapy, which treats being gay as a curable disorder. A report released by ABC News offered an inside look at the treatment offered at the clinic and includes a counselor advising a gay man to pray to God for a cure.
“She’s a liar ..a hypocrite and a bigot.” said Karger.
Our country has major problems. The fact that she is leading other Republican candidates in the Iowa Caucus Poll is surely one of them.
Tony
Sir,
The issue of homosexuality is simple. Those who believe it is an “acceptable alternative lifestyle” have made the choice (it is NOT a right) to believe so in spite of all evidence both scientific and inherently spiritual that exists contrary to their perception.
Homosexuality along with other issues involving morality cannot be viewed objectively because all sexuality (whether homosexuality or heterosexuality) is experienced within the realm of emotion, which is never objective. So in order to take an objective (meaning honest) position on the issue we must look where we find objectivity outside our own bias and prejudices. In the world of the Christian that would be God.
Since the homosexual and its advocates cannot address God face to face we become the object of their discontent with God’s view because we side with Him. So those of us who side with God (meaning His Word) are labeled homophobic, judgmental and haters simply because we are stating that we believe what the Bible says about homosexuality (and all immorality for that matter).
God Himself has either been removed from the moral debate or redefined as a Creator Who thinks it is within the logic of universal order and reason to create a person genetically one way but mentally another. Anyone who claims to be objectively reasonable sees the folly in such an argument. And I believe those who believe the lifestyle acceptable also know this occasionally in moments of clarity.
This heightens the sense of rebellion and the guilt that goes with it to the point the homosexual’s or its advocate’s main objective becomes getting others to see from their point of view and thus accept that view as they do in order to no longer be reminded of their choice of lifestyle as being contrary to God’s design for them.
That said, if those who condone the homosexual lifestyle would simply go on with their lives with the same acceptance they expect of those who do not condone it, there would be no need to force acceptance on others, the debate would subside and acceptance would come eventually.
And that is the crux of the debate. Live whatever lifestyle you choose but quit trying to force everyone who doesn’t agree with your choice to accept you on your terms. The homosexual just might find that we can get along albeit from a different position.
Tony, come one, respectfully, you said Ms. Bachman “refers to gays as part of Satan.” That’s not what she said.
Her quote was “It’s part of Satan, I think, to say this is gay. It’s anything but gay.”
“It’s part of Satan” does not modify the preceding sentence, nor is it an incomplete sentence begging for clarification. Rather, she’s very clearly saying it’s part of Satan to SAY that the gay lifestyle is gay.
Her comments only seem condescending to you because you support a perverse lifestyle that is harmful to both those who practice it and society as a whole. She in fact, makes no condescending remarks about gays. There are certainly hateful people who do, and you would be right to call them on it. But Ms. Bachman makes it crystal clear that she cares for those who are caught up in the homosexual lifestyle, has a family member in that category, and wants the best for them.
You clearly support this destructive lifestyle. You’re a professor at a college in NY, so that’s not terribly surprising. However, I would expect that you would have the decency and desire for truth not to distort her position but rather just say that you disagree with it.
After all, distortion is a practice of Satan, and there’s no dispute about that.
Thank you for your comment. I did refer to a piece in quotes from the Huffington Post and a sentence reads: “It’s part of Satan” that refers I believe to gay life. Furthermore, Ms. Bachman’s context is not compassion but condescension.
Tony
Liar, liar pants on fire! Shame on you Tony!
Michelle Bachman did NOT refer to gays as being part of Satan. But rather, she suggested that we need to have “profound compassion” for gays and that calling the homosexual lifestyle “gay” (happy) is an act of Satan in that the homosexual lifestyle is anything but “gay.”
Bachman, like many real Christians, cares for and expresses love for people caught in the destructive and deceptive homosexual lifestyle.
If you don’t agree with Bachman, fine. But don’t lie to paint a woman who has compassion for gays as someone who is hateful.
Here’s Bachman’s exact quote in the Huffington Post which you linked to:
“We need to have profound compassion for the people who are dealing with the very real issue of sexual dysfunction in their life, and sexual identity disorders,” she said, Gawker notes. “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 this is gay. It’s anything but gay.”