Marcus "Ladybird" Bachmann Still Smarting Over 'Ex-Gay' Scandal

One of the Christofascists' biggest lies - there are so many that it is difficult to select the biggest one - is the myth that gays change "change" and become "ex-gay."  True, some tortured individuals who have been subjected to religious brainwashing and suffer from other psychological ills will try to convince themselves that they are no longer gay, but as the continued parade of former "ex-gay" leaders demonstrates, no change ever really occurs.  Thus, it was delicious to see Marcus "Ladybird" Bachmann - one of the gayest sounding men I've ever heard - exposed as a charlatan peddling the "ex-gay" myth and sucking up tax payer funds in the process.  My friend John Becker has a piece in The Bilerico Project that recounts his undercover effort to expose Bachmann's fraudulent "Christian counseling" business.  Here are highlights:

Almost three and a half years ago, I went undercover with hidden cameras at Marcus Bachmann's "Christian counseling" clinic and filmed fraudulent "ex-gay" therapy sessions there. The story made headlines, catapulting the dangerous quackery of "ex-gay" therapy back into the national conversation and presenting Michele Bachmann with the first major obstacle in her spectacularly unsuccessful bid for the presidency.

It also turned Marcus Bachmann into something of a punchline -- and as it turns out, several years later he's still ever so pissed about it. Right Wing Watch reports that in an interview this weekend, Bachmann took the time to defend his use of the dangerous and abusive "therapy":

Speaking with Jan Markell and Jill Martin Rische on "Understanding the Times" this weekend, Bachmann said that he was angry that his clinic faced criticism after several reports surfaced about ex-gay therapy taking place there.

Bachmann insisted that "we are people of ethics" who were only attacked for trying to "speak truth," adding that "people will choose, they will ultimately choose what they are going to do with their life."

RWW [Right Wing Watch] has this partial transcript:

Once the far-left understood that we were actually creating a safe place, a place where people who said I have this issue with same-sex attraction, this desire. I'm a believer, I'm a person of faith and it's conflicting with my values systems. Anyone who would walk alongside and then encourage that person's values systems and their beliefs and bring that in alignment, that is like blasphemous to the other side. How dare you even consider being involved in someone who has decided or is desiring that to influence in any way shape or form another side in the book on this one?

No, seriously, he said that. 

"Ex-gay" therapy and "creating a safe place for LGBT people" are  mutually exclusive phenomenons.  If Ladybird were honest, he's admit that it's all about the money - and convincing himself that he's not gay as a goose.

University Defies Court Order to Keep Controversial Regnerus Documents Secret

 

I have long subscribed to the premise that you truly have nothing to hide, then you don't  act like you are hiding something.  It is only when you do have something to hide that one defies things like a court order directing that documents be released.  The premise apparently unknown to the University of Central Florida or the University indeed does have something to hide.  And what is being hidden?  Some 50,000 documents related to the flawed same-sex parenting study by Mark Regnerus thatwas funded by far right, anti-gay organizations.  Regnerus' "study" never really studied what it claimed to report on, yet has been used by anti-gay organizations in both court litigation and in efforts to influence legislation.  Thus, it is important to see the to date hidden documents which, of course, might help document that the "study" was rigged from the beginning.  HRC has an update on the struggle to keep the documents and the truth hidden.  Here are excerpts (Disclosure: John Becker, who is cited in the article, and I know each other):

The University of Central Florida (UCF) has ramped up its legal efforts to block the release of over 50,000 documents related to the flawed same-sex parenting study by Mark Regnerus that appeared last year in the publication Social Science Research, housed at UCF.  A judge ruled the university had to release the documents, deemed public records under Florida law. Late last week, UCF retained legal counsel and ignored the court order.

The Law Office of Andrea Flynn Mogensen, P.A., and Barrett, Chapman & Ruta, P.A – which represents John Becker, the reporter who initially sought the documents under Florida public records law - immediately filed an emergency motion for civil contempt.

"What is UCF hiding?" asked Becker. "And why are they fighting tooth and nail - spending taxpayer dollars in the process - to keep these public records under seal?"

Judge Donald Grincewicz ruled on November 13 that emails and documents possessed by UCF related to the Regnerus study’s peer-review process must be turned over to Becker. UCF houses the journal Social Science Research, and the editor of the journal, UCF Professor James Wright, led the peer-review process for the research. Grincewicz has since inexplicably recused himself. And yesterday, an appellate court in Orlando granted a stay in the case until such time as a new judge can be appointed.

Regenerus’ New Family Structures Study is a clear outlier among 30 years’ worth of social science that suggest that children thrive equally well in two parent households, regardless of the genders of their parents. Two-hundred scholars and the American Sociological Association were quick to point out conflicts of interest among individuals and organizations that were both funding and working on the study, as well as a questionable peer review process. The study’s so-called “straight” households featured heterosexual parents in committed, long-term relationships, whereas the so-called “gay” households failed to feature same-sex couples in comparable relationships.

"These latest stalling tactics are typical of the way UCF has conducted itself throughout this entire months-long ordeal," said Becker. "Instead of respecting the rule of law in Florida and turning over these public records, the university has stonewalled and obstructed at every turn. Nevertheless, I'm confident that we will prevail in the end and uncover all the public records, including even more of the anti-LGBT animus behind Regnerus' research.”

The sad truth is that no one lies more or is more dishonest than the "godly Christian" folks.   Odds are that if their lips are moving, they are probably lying.