US: Anti-gay Republican Michele Bachmann leaves Congress
Notoriously homophobic Republican Michele Bachmann has finished her final term in Congress.
The Tea Party politician – who has sat in the US House of Representatives since 2007 for Minnesota’s 6th district – is making an exit from Congress as the current session closes this week, as she did not run for re-election earlier this year.
Bachmann has become well-known while a congresswoman for her often-surreal, illogical arguments and extreme opposition to gay rights.
She claimed in July: “I think [gays] want to abolish age of consent laws, which means we will do away with statutory rape laws so that adults would be able to freely prey on little children sexually.
“That’s the deviance that we’re seeing embraced in our culture today.”
In September she mystified conservatives and liberals alike when she said of same-sex marriage: “It’s not an issue. In fact, it’s boring.”
Her husband, Marcus Bachmann is the former head of a clinic which supported ex-gay therapy – but he insists it created a “safe place” for gay people.
Dan Savage mocked the couple earlier this month, saying: “Look at Marcus Bachmann, Michele Bachmann’s husband. Anybody who has gaydar—anybody who has eyes—looks at him and sees a tormented closet case who has externalized his internal conflict and is abusing other people, doing his reparative-therapy bullshit. It’s so sad and pathetic.”
She will officially be out of office when the new Congress sits next month.
Ms Bachmann has not said what she intends to do after leaving Congress – but will not be stepping away from politics. She has ruled out a run for President in 2016 – likely after her crippling defeat in the 2012 Republican primaries.
