Tag Archives: gay scandals

It dawned on me, sometime between last night and this morning, that I hadn’t actually said in yesterday’s post “why I think it matters” that Marcus Bachmann might be gay. I was, I will admit, kind of worked up!

So, here’s why I think it matters:

1. If Marcus Bachmann is gay, and has spent his life not just in denial but actively persecuting people like himself — OMG, look at what our shared homophobia can do to a person. If Marcus Bachmann is gay, then in among the wasteland of the lives ruined, wasted and shattered by the homophobia that he so spews with such venom, is his own. And furthermore:
2. If Marcus Bachmann is gay, and has spent his life not just in denial but actively persecuting people like himself — OMG, look at how fucked up our society is. Not only did we produce this monster, but we are aiding and abetting the damage that he is wreaking.

We’ve already seen all of this in the long list of outed anti-gay crusaders to which I referred last night, and the fact that our cultural norms and mores can produce and support such a disturbing level of self-hate is, or certainly should be, deeply, deeply troubling.

None of which is to say that if Marcus Bachmann is not gay that he gets a pass on his malignant homophobia. It is odious, it is genuinely life-threatening, and it must not be allowed to further warp our national dialogue. And it remains a very clear indication of just how fucked up we are.

It’s just that if he (or one of his children, or his wife) is gay — all that gets turned up to eleven. And a half.

Updated, below.

Not very long ago, a bit of audio tape emerged in which Marcus Bachmann, husband of Presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann, likened gays and lesbians (and, one presumes, the entire LGBTQ community) to “barbarians”:

We have to understand: barbarians need to be educated. They need to be disciplined. Just because someone feels it or thinks it, doesn’t mean that we are supposed to go down that road. That’s what is called the sinful nature.

Given the virulence of the hatred in those remarks, not to mention the fact that Mr. Bachmann appears to have been involved with/aggressively pushed the so-called “reparative therapy” designed as a “cure” for homosexuality, much was subsequently made of the fact that Mr. Bachmann’s voice sounds not dissimilar to that of the standard-issue stereotypical “gay man” — a bit foppy, a bit high-pitched, the hint of a lisp. Much was also made of the fact that he dances in a mildly flamboyant fashion. The idea underlying all of this japery was and is, of course: OMG it’s so funny, he hates gay people but dude is soooooo gay!!1!

Here’s the problem with that:

Continue reading →