America's shrinks repudiate gay-to-straight therapy

...which raises the question: how will this affect Michele Bachmann's personal income stream?

One of the key influences on Michele's political career has been her husband, Marcus Bachmann. Marcus acted as Michele's political advisor during her first run for Congress and was one of her go-to guys on an issue that launched her national political profile: pernicious and unrepentant gayness.

In a City Pages profile of Bachmann that appeared in 2006, the paper reported an account of a Marcus Bachmann presentation at Grace Church in Eden Prairie. Marcus' presentation was entitled "The Truth About The Homosexual Agenda." Marcus argued that homosexuality was "a choice" and introduced the assembled to three former homosexuals who had decided not to make that choice, anymore.

This quickly led to speculation that "reparative therapy" (or "de-gaying" patients) was one of the therapeutic treatments offered at Marcus' extensive Christian counseling practice. That's often asserted, but Marcus has never confirmed it. (And Marcus declined to answer City Pages questions about his "Truth About the Homosexual Agenda" seminar.) If you look at Marcus' Bachmann and Associates web page, therapy is offered for many different sorts of problems--but "reparative" therapy for sexual orientation is not listed.

Which is just as well, because this week the American Psychological Association declared that mental health professionals should not tell gay clients they can become straight through therapy or other treatments. (We were directed to this article by DB commenter Lady. Thanks, Lady!)

Instead (of telling gay clients that they can become straight via therapy), the APA urged therapists to consider multiple options — that could range from celibacy to switching churches — for helping clients whose sexual orientation and religious faith conflict.

It's a very interesting article. The report the APA relied on (based on two years of research) concluded that no solid evidence exists that therapists can reliably "de-gay" their patients. It also points out that "some research suggests...efforts to produce change could be harmful, inducing depression and suicidal tendencies."

Here's a YouTube video from Ken Avidor of Marcus Bachmann in action, glad-handing supporters, circa 2006.