GLITTER-BOMB: Gay 'Barbarians' Perform 'Born This Way' Glitter Baptism at Marcus Bachmann's 'Ex-Gay' Clinc!

A group of gay glitter "barbarian" activists returned to Marcus Bachmann's "ex-gay" clinic Friday where they performed Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" and performed a glitter "baptism" on an activist dressed as Bachmann.

MEOW: Bachmann Security Tangles With Reporters!

Michele Bachmann's presidential campaign is brash and boisterous—and increasingly rough with the reporters covering it, reports Politico. In less than two months, there have been at least five incidents reporters have called unusually hostile, including a Norwegian reporter who says an aide threatened to break his arm. Bachmann's campaign says security is just doing what it needs to keep their candidate safe, but veteran reporters say her security is going too far, well beyond the norms for bigger and more controversial candidates' security. Bachmann's spokeswoman defended one guard, a retired Secret Service agent, who has particularly come under criticism for his rough style.

“He’s guarded presidents and vice presidents and knows exactly what needs to be done,” she said. “When he gives a warning to whoever it may be, the person needs to heed the warning.” On the other hand, with celebrities calling Bachmann a "bigot" to her face—as Kathy Griffin recounted on her Monday appearance on Conan—perhaps her security feels the need to stand up for their candidate.

DUMB: Bachmann Mixes Up Elvis's Birth, Death Dates!

Michele Bachmann stopped in Spartanburg, South Carolina, for a campaign rally today. A fan of the King, Bachmann has said in the past that she has some Elvis songs on her iPod. At the start of her rally, she asked the crowd to wish him a happy birthday, notes CNN. There was just one problem: Elvis Presley was born on January 8, 1935. This was the day that he joined the heavenly choir 34 years ago.

SELF-HATE: Marcus Bachmann Shoves CNN Anchor Don Lemon!

After giving a speech (and being heckled) at the Iowa State Fair, Michele and Marcus Bachmann and their security shoved the press, notably, CNN anchor Don Lemon as he was trying to interview the candidate, CNN reports: After talking for about three minutes, Bachmann waded into the crowd filled with adoring supporters. Moments later, as she tried to exit the area back to a waiting drive cart, Bachmann found herself in the middle of a mob of people: among them many supporters and members of the press including this reporter and CNN anchor Don Lemon.

Lemon says he was shoved by two Bachmann staffers, and by Marcus:

“She came out, after speaking for just a couple minutes,” Lemon said. “There were other reporters and cameras there. And I asked her very respectful questions: ‘How do you think you did in the debate last night?’ and ‘How do you think you’re going to end up in the Ames Straw Poll?’ And her two campaign aides started elbowing me.”

Bachmann: 'Submission' Means Respect?

Michele Bachmann believes wives should be submissive to their husbands—she has said she obtained a tax law degree only because her husband told her to—so would she remain submissive to her husband as president? That question from the Washington Examiner’s Byron York last night drew boos from the crowd at the Republican debate in Iowa but Bachmann took it in stride, AP reports. "Thank you for that question, Byron,” she said. 

“Marcus and I will have been married for 33 years this September 10. I’m in love with him. I’m so proud of him. What submission means to us, if that’s what your question is, it means respect. I respect my husband. And he respects me as his wife. That’s how we operate our marriage. We respect each other. We love each other."

STUNG: Inside the Bachmann Institute for Curing Gayness!

SO GAY: Marcus Bachmann Okay with Being Called 'Silver Fox' as Long as it Doesn't Mean He's Gay!

The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza profiles Michele Bachmann in this week's New Yorker. There's also a section on her husband Marcus, who reveals to Lizza that he's extremely concerned about appearing "gay".

Marcus Bachmann plopped down on the seat next to me, in the back of the plane. He pointed at my laptop and asked if he could take a look. “All I want to know is what they’re saying about me,” he said. “Newsweek came up with the word ‘silver fox.’ Tell me what ‘silver fox’ means.”

“Do you want me to tell you honestly?” I asked.

“Oh, don’t tell me it’s something gay!” he said. “Because I’ve been called that before.” Marcus is a psychologist who runs a clinic that employs people Michele described in 2006 as “Biblical world-view counsellors,” who “reach out and try to bring the medicine of the Gospel to come and heal people.”

I explained that “silver fox” probably had more to do with the color of his hair.

“O.K., I can handle that,” he said. Tera, the assistant, assured him that it was a positive term.

“It’s better than Porky Pig,” Marcus said, with a laugh.

Suddenly, his face appeared on Fox. “Look, you’re on TV,” I said.

“It’s the Silver Fox!” he exclaimed as we descended into Manchester.

BITCH: Michele Bachmann Won't Address 'Frivolous' Gay Issues!

Michele Bachmann has made a habit of avoiding inquiries about marriage equality and her husband's homophobic professional work. 

The Republican presidential candidate dismissed one Iowa news station's questions about her husband's ex-gay clinics, later stonewalled a reporter from that same channel and then dodged related questions at the National Press Club.

Now it appears Bachmann has done the same thing to New Hampshire's Concord Monitor, via Politico. Bachmann cut off an interview last week as she was being asked a question about gay marriage and emphasized that she is focused on rebuilding the economy and repealing federal health care reform. "I'm not involved in light, frivolous matters," she said. "I'm not involved in fringe or side issues. I'm involved in serious issues."

Alexander Burns seems to think that Bachmann is trying to move away from divisive social issues -- part of the elusive culture war "truce" -- but it seems just as likely she's trying to avoid a Pandora's box of a negative news story about her discriminatory politics.

FUNNY: Kathy Griffin Rips Marcus Bachmann's Gay 'Reparative Therapy!

CNN's Piers Morgan quizzed Kathy Griffin on the economy, the debt deal, and the problems on Wall Street, and wound up with an across-the-desk kiss. Griffin also told him about her obsession with Marcus Bachmann.

“You know, his reparative therapy clinic where he tries to de-gay people? For me, that was called high school, and it doesn’t work.”

OPPORTUNIST: NOM releases anti-gay pledge, Bachmann jumps on board!

Political pledges are popular this election season with Republicans, with presidential hopefuls Michelle Bachmann, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum signing the National Organization for Marriage’s “marriage pledge.”

Bachmann previously got press for clamoring to sign another conservative, anti-gay pledge, “The Marriage Vow: A Declaration of Dependence upon Marriage and Family.”

The pledge includes the following stipulations:

Support and send to the states a federal marriage amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman, Defend DOMA in court, Appoint judges and an attorney general who will respect the original meaning of the Constitution, Appoint a presidential commission to investigate harassment of traditional marriage supporters, Support legislation that would return to the people of D.C. their right to vote for marriage.

GROSS: Giffords' Return Prompts Biden-Bachmann Hug!

Gabrielle Giffords' triumphant return to Congress was a rare moment of bipartisan joy—and it even brought Joe Biden a little warm-fuzzy time with fierce Obama critic and 2012 contender Michele Bachmann, reports the Washington Post. “Here I’m hugging Gabby and Michele Bachmann,” Biden recounted to reporters last night. “Seriously! I’m being literal!” “You hugged Michele Bachmann?” asked a skeptical reporter.

“Sure!” Biden responded. “I like Michele Bachmann. For real." What did he say to her? “I said, ‘Great to see you, Michele.’” Bachmann "cares about" Giffords, Biden added. "I mean, look. The thing that sometimes gets lost in this place—maybe I spent too much time here as a senator—there is a basic humanity here, man. It matters between people. I know that sounds corny.” Biden, who has two craniotomies under his belt, says he joked with Giffords about them both being "members of the cracked-head club.” Ba-dum-dum.

Bachmann Shuts Out Iowa News Station Over Questioning About Husband's 'Ex-Gay' Clinic!

Michele Bachmann's 2012 presidential campaign is shutting out news organizations that ask about her husband's clinic and its practice of "reparative therapy" for homosexuality.

A cameraman for WQAD in Davenport, Iowa describes how the Bachmann campaign scrubbed a promised interview because one of the station's anchors had repeatedly asked Bachmann about the Marcus Bachmann clinic and the undercover operation that exposed its "ex-gay" practices.

WQAD writes: At the end of last night's event the Bachmann campaign said the snubbing was based on interview questions News 8's Rae Chelle Davis asked the Congresswoman during a satellite interview two weeks ago. Undercover cameras had captured a counselor at the clinic owned by Michele Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, conducting reparative therapy. ... Due to a pre-planned satellite interview, we were in the unique position to ask her about the controversy first.

During the satellite interview, behind the scenes, it got ugly. In the News 8 control room, campaign staffers threatened WQAD producers that they would cut off the feed if Rae Chelle repeated the question. A follow-up question was asked on the issue. The Congresswoman's answers were aired nationally on ABC World News Tonight and Nightline.

GO-GUN: LaSalvia Says Gays Carrying Guns Would Prevent Anti-Gay attacks!

GOProud's Jimmy LaSalvia, who was the victim of an alleged anti-gay attack earlier this week, talks to MSNBC's Thomas Roberts about why he thinks that gays carrying guns (and not legislation) are the way to prevent similar hate crimes, Think Progress reports.

LaSalvia told the Washington Blade that the group who attacked him fled when they thought he might be carrying a gun in his jacket.

LaSalvia also talks about the group's courtship of Michele Bachmann, but would not confirm that the group had actually secured a meeting with her.

FAIRY DUST: Gay Glitter 'Barbarians' Descend on Bachmann Clinic!

Nick Espinosa, the activist responsible for glittering Newt Gingrich, and several others today launched a colorful action at Marcus Bachmann's clinic where Bachmann is said to practice gay "reparative therapy".

Writes Espinosa in a press release: Today a horde of gay barbarians descended upon Michele and Marcus Bachmann’s “pray away the gay” clinic and demanded that Marcus come out and discipline them for their “deviant” behavior.

Marcus Bachmann, who conducts “reparative therapy” at the clinic intended to convert homosexuals, has said that gays are “barbarians who need to be disciplined.” The horde requested to speak directly with Bachmann and experience some “discipline” for themselves.

When Marcus was no where to be found, the barbarians glittered the empty waiting room and reception area while chanting, “You can’t pray away the gay — baby, I was born this way!”

The action was organized by the same young man who threw glitter on Newt Gingrich, starting a national trend in political protest of anti-LGBT sentiments from political candidates and campaigns.

“Michele and Marcus Bachmann think gay people are barbarians?” asked LGBT activist Nick Espinosa. “I think its clear to everyone who the real barbarians are, based on the Bachmanns’ archaic views on LGBT equality.”

KARMA: Executive Director of GOProud Attacked in Anti-Gay Assault!

Jimmy LaSalvia, the executive director of gay conservative group GOProud, was attacked while on his bicycle by a male teen standing with a group of others. The teen reportedly used an anti-gay slur and punched him as he approached, the Washington Blade reports: “Just as I began to realize what was happening, I heard it. The words are still ringing in my ears as I write this today – ‘F____ faggot!’ LaSalvia said in his email. “It was clear to me in that moment that my sexual orientation had motivated this attack.”

LaSalvia said that after barely catching himself from falling to the ground, he reached into his backpack for his cell phone, with the thought of calling the police. That action prompted one of the teenagers accompanying the attacker to say, “Does he have a gun?” LaSalvia told the Blade.

The attacker and a few of the others with him “puffed up their chests and were clearly ready to continue the attack,” he said. But seconds later, the group fled the scene after he kept his hand inside his backpack, “allowing them to wonder if I was reaching for a gun.”

LaSalvia told the Blade that he planned to file a police report and had visited the headquarters office of the police Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit but was unable to do so there and was directed to call another office.

Maybe this will Halt any attempt in endorsing Anti-Gay crusaders like Bachmann and Coulter!

BRING IT On: HRC Targets Michele Bachmann!

Michele Bachmann has her haters, but now gay rights groups are setting their sights on the Minnesota Republican, with one activist calling her a "target-rich environment." Human rights organizations say they plan to home in this summer on Bachmann's past anti-gay efforts in Minnesota, reports Politico. 

Bachmann and husband Marcus—who one patient says told him to "pray away the gay"—have said that sexual preference is a choice, and in addition to leading the 2004 push for a ban on gay marriage, Bachmann has credited her stepsister's lesbianism to Satan. "Given her husband’s positions and things she’s said in past, she’s going to have a really hard time appearing as a reasonable mainstream candidate,” says a Human Rights Campaign rep. Although Bachmann's first campaign ad avoids social issues entirely, gay rights groups will use her stance to help stir support for President Obama—who hasn't quite lived up to expectations when it comes to gay marriage. "It’s not just that [Bachmann] doesn’t believe in marriage," says one gay rights leader. "She doesn’t believe in gay people existing." 

Bring it on, counters the president of the National Organization for Marriage: “The more that they attack Michele Bachmann on these grounds, the better her chances of winning the Iowa caucuses are."

TRAITOR: GOProud Reaches Out to Michele Bachmann!

Gay conservative group GOProud tells Yahoo!'s The Ticket that the group has requested an audience with Michele Bachmann: GOProud Executive Director Jimmy LaSalvia said that representatives with the organization have already met with some of the GOP candidates to discuss GOProud's legislative agenda--including a commitment to defeat a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, which Bachmann supports--and they're hoping Bachmann will grant them some face time.

"We have requested a meeting with Michele Bachmann," LaSalvia told The Ticket. "We've made this request, as with the other requests, in good faith." He said GOProud officials intend to "discuss issues important to gay conservatives" with Bachmann and "anything she wishes to talk about." ...

...

"We are committed to defeating Barrack Obama (sic) in 2012," LaSalvia said. "And want to be helpful to whoever secures the GOP nomination."

LIAR: Gay 'Barbarians' Tape Not Doctored!

Politico runs a big article on Michele Bachmann and her positions on gays and homosexuality containing perspectives from LGBT rights groups and groups like NOM. Maggie Gallagher predicts Bachmann's homophobia will lead her to victory in Iowa:

 

“The more that they attack Michele Bachmann on these grounds, the better her chances of winning the Iowa caucuses are,” said Maggie Gallagher, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, who said she’d admired Bachmann since 2004. “The Iowa base is extremely upset about same-sex marriage and I don’t think they’re going to look kindly on these attacks.”

The Daily Beast's Michelle Cottle looks at discussion of Marcus Bachmann's sexuality and how it might affect his wife's campaign:

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. “Most social conservatives agree with her about the homosexual issue,” asserts Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, predicting: “Not only is it not going to faze her, it will build sympathy for her among her supporters and admiration that she doesn’t back down.”

On Hardball on Friday, the entire "Barbarians" tape was aired. Bachmann suggested in an interview earlier that day that the tape was doctored and he wasn't talking about gays. It wasn't. In fact, he was talking about children coming to terms with their sexuality and telling their parents. 

BITCH: Dan Savage Calls Bachmanns 'Grifters' and 'Scumbags' On 'Real Time'!

Columnist and gay activist Dan Savage didn't hold back when discussing Marcus Bachmann's "ex-gay" clinic on Real Time with Bill Maher Friday.

Bachmann call Gay Lifestyle, 'Personal Despair'!

If anyone is still confused about where GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann stands on gays, Gawker has discovered a quote that should settle the matter. "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," Bachmann said in a 2004 speech. "It's not funny, it's sad. It's part of Satan, I think, to say this is gay. It's anything but gay."

She adds later in the speech: "If you're involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle, it's bondage. Personal bondage, personal despair, and personal enslavement. And that's why this is so dangerous." Bachmann can't seem to skirt the topic in recent days: There's been much press about the fact that she signed a pledge written by a Christian group characterizing marriage only as the union between man and one woman. Husband Marcus has come under fire recently for his Medicaid-funded Christian counseling clinic, where one former patient says he was urged to "pray away gay" and stop being a sinner.