Once again, Michele finds herself on the receiving end of a bad news cycle.
Michele want this news cycle to be about whether or not Rick Perry violated conservative core principles by attempting to mandate vaccination. Instead, this news cycle focuses on whether tried to spread nutty lies about the side effects of those vaccinations.
And at this writing, that story line is swamping this storyline:
The mother of a gay teenager who killed himself is pressuring Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann to speak about the issue.
(CONTINUED)
Justin Aaberg, 15, who went to school in Minnesota’s Anoka-Hennepin School District, hanged himself in 2010 after suffering anti-gay bullying...
...Justin’s mother Tammy is to deliver a 130,000-signature petition to Ms Bachmann on Thursday to ask her to condemn anti-gay bullying...
...(Bachmann) was asked in June to speak up for gay bullied teens but has refused.
The mom with the petition is from Bachmann's district.
If I were Bachmann, I'd condemn the anti-gay bullying. Not for moral reasons (she seems to have no morals when it comes to politics.) I'd condemn the gay bullying simply because it makes me look like "less of a hater."
She probably doesn't give a rat's a** about teen suicide among gays, she's certainly a homophobe. But as an opportunist, she can see a political upside to making a speech condemning the bullying (not "accepting the gayness as 'un-harmful.'")
She's spoken on this issue before, but she didn't accept the idea that some gay kids are committing suicide because they're getting bullied or victims of bigotry. In 2004, Bachmann criticized the leader of a teacher training workshop who cites discrimination as a cause of suicide among homosexual youth, and I quote:
“(He) also fails to acknowledge other psychological factors that could contribute to homosexual youth committing suicide, like family problems or abuse or maybe the fact of what they’re doing.”
— Senator Michele Bachmann, speaking at EdWatch National Education Conference, November 6, 2004.
LINK:
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/...