There has been lots of chatter in the LGBT blogosphere (including on this blog) about Michele Bachmann's lisping, mincing husband who has labeled gays as "barbarians" and recently exposed as a snake oil merchant of "ex-gay" cures. Some in the LGBT community have said that it's not appropriate to ridicule Marcus Bachmann's effeminate mannerisms and speech. I beg to differ because in mocking Marcus Bachmann, there's a big difference between randomly mocking gays in general and mocking cynical hypocrites. And pardon me, but in my view, Marcus Bachmann is a major league hypocrite. How so? First, if he has had even a shred of legitimate psychological training, he knows full well that "ex-gay" therapy is hogwash. Second, his wife's rise in politics has been fueled almost exclusively by her anti-gay bigotry which to be truly successful requires that homosexuality be a choice that can be"cured." To meet this politically motivated need by strange coincidence her own husband peddles the exact snake oil required to make her disingenuous statements that being gay is a "choice" even remotely defensible. Third, from what I seen of him speak and his mannerism, I'd be dumbfounded if Marcus Bachmann isn't a closet case. A religiously brain washed and self-loathing closet case, perhaps, but a closet case nonetheless.*
A piece in the Daily Beast similarly makes the case that the Bachmann's have been dishing out anti-gay bullshit for years, and not surprising that they are now receiving back some of what they have dished out for money and political power. Of course, as the column also notes, among the untethered from reality, Kool-Aid drinking set, the perceived attacks on Bachmann will not dissuade them. The big issue will be the reaction of independents and moderate voters. Here are some column highlights:
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If you aren’t yet familiar with the growing whispers about Michele Bachmann’s campaign—the uncorroborated speculation that the candidate’s profoundly antigay hubby, Marcus, is a closeted gay man—you will be. The chatter has already made its way from the blogs and Twitter (Cher tweeted that Marcus has tripped her exquisitely tuned gaydar) to the alternative press to The Daily Show, . . .
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The wringing of hands about whether it’s fair for the respectable media to promote this sort of salacious chatter is as inevitable as the chatter itself. But this particular assault on Marcus is about more than critics lobbing generic bombs at a fiercely conservative presidential combatant. Michele Bachmann has long been one of the most aggressive anti-gay-marriage crusaders in politics, while Marcus runs a Christian-based therapy clinic accused of dabbling in “reparative therapy,” a controversial counseling technique premised on the notion that you can "pray away the gay."
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The Minnesota congresswoman has lamented that involvement in “the gay and lesbian lifestyle” is a life of “personal bondage, personal despair, and personal enslavement,” while her husband has charmingly likened bi-curious youth to “barbarians” who must be “educated” and “disciplined”—parenting advice that manages at once to sound both draconian and pervy.
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In short, we’re talking here about a couple that has planted its flag on the lush green fields of militant anti-gaydom and dared the deviants to take their best shot. Which is precisely what is happening now—and is likely to accelerate as the congresswoman’s profile and poll numbers rise.
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But while Marcus’s sexuality holds little interest for me, I am interested to see how the Bachmann camp will handle the still-below-the-radar-but-getting-tough-to-ignore buzz. It’s one thing to be attacked during a campaign for your political positions or personal quirks. But in Bachmann Land, where politics is so personal, what will be the reaction to the suggestion that Marcus is the very thing he has long devoted himself to fighting against? Slamming the congresswoman as a Jesus freak or an antigovernment extremist only fills her with pride. But how will she and her camp deal with her husband being lampooned as a closet case?
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Bachmann’s fellow righties have thus far not been leaping to her defense on this most ticklish of issues. She and Marcus have been left to twist in the wind as outlets like Gawker compile the increasingly brutal commentary.
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But here’s where Bachmann has the edge over many other pols: as a conservative Christian, the more she and hers are attacked—especially on something she considers a core moral issue—the more she will be convinced that she’s doing God’s work.
The more personal the persecution of her husband gets, tied as it is to his antigay labors, the more likely it is to steel Michele’s spine and persuade her to stay the course.
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And by staying the course, one can only hope that Bachmann ultimately self-destructs.
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