Michele Bachmann spoke at a church service in Iowa on Sunday that featured a separate sermon about “immoral” gays as well as a video presentation promoting gay conversion therapy.
“We inherently know that homosexual behavior is immoral and unnatural,” Pastor Jeff Mullen told churchgoers during a half-hour presentation, according to NBC. Afterward he played a recorded testimonial from a man who claimed to have been cured of his homosexual urges through the power of prayer and is now married with an expecting wife “I am so happy God has given me natural affection for a woman,” he says in the video.
Bachmann spoke before Mullen, urging congregants to stay “encouraged” in the face of disheartening news this week like the S&P downgrade and the death of 22 Navy SEALS in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. She stayed until services concluded and posed with Mullen for a picture afterwards.
Bachmann recently signed a pledge opposing gay marriage and her husband, Marcus Bachmann, has been accused of practicing gay conversion therapy out of his Minnesota clinic, a charge he denies. Mullen told NBC the choice of topic was a coincidence. “It just so happens they were here today,” Mullen said of the Bachmanns. “And we were teaching on both marriage and homosexuality.”
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
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