The husband of Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) told the Star Tribune that his Christian counseling center is not focused on converting patients into heterosexuals.
Though there has been no evidence of Marcus Bachmann himself practicing reparative therapy, ABC News presented undercover video last week of a counselor at Bachmann & Associates Inc. performing the therapy. The counselor told John Becker, an activist with pro-gay group Truth Wins Out, that God designed men to be attracted to women’s bodies, and suggested his homosexuality could be cured.
“This individual came to us under a false pretense,” Bachmann told the Star Tribune. “The truth of the matter is he specifically asked for help.”
Bachmann did not deny that his clinic practiced reparative therapy, but claimed he does not force the treatment on his clients.
“Will I address it? Certainly we’ll talk about it,” he said. “Is it a remedy form that I typically would use? … It is at the client’s discretion.”
“We don’t have an agenda or a philosophy of trying to change someone,” he added.
The American Psychological Association and American Psychiatric Association have both officially stated there is no evidence that reparative therapy can change sexual orientation.
Bachmann also denied claims that he called gay and lesbian children “barbarians” that need to be “educated” and “disciplined” out of their “sinful nature” in an interview with the Christian radio show Point of View last year.
“I was talking in reference to children. Nothing, nothing to do with homosexuality. That’s not my mindset. That’s not my belief system. That’s not the way I would talk,” Bachmann said.
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