Stop Taxpayer Funds to Bachmann's Anti-Gay Clinic

Clicking here will automatically add your name to this petition to Sec. Sebelius and Cmsr. Edward Ehlinger:

"Public money shouldn't fund a discriminatory, hateful religious agenda and medically-unsound ex-gay therapy. In light of recent investigations, please take action to immediately stop funding Bachmann and Associates."

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So-called gay conversion therapy has been denounced by the scientific and medical communities as ineffective, and potentially dangerous.

But an investigation earlier this month exposed that this hateful practice is used by the "quality Christian counseling clinic" owned by Michele Bachmann and her husband¹ — a clinic which was recently discovered to have received over $137,000 in federal Medicaid funds, in addition to $24,000 in other state and federal funds.²

It's bad enough that Bachmann and Associates, after denying for years they practiced ex-gay therapy, clearly encourages patients to pray the gay away. Our taxpayer dollars shouldn't be funding it.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees Medicaid, and the Minnesota Department of Health (DEH), which distributes the funds within the state, should immediately pull public funds from Bachmann's clinic.

Tell Secretary Sebelius and DEH Commissioner Edward Ehlinger: Stop funding Bachmann's anti-gay clinic. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

Going to the Bachmann family for counseling is like attending a peace rally hosted by Dick Cheney.

Their views are extreme, hateful and crazy. Michele Bachmann has called homosexuality "a part of Satan," and "a real issue of sexual dysfunction" while her husband Marcus has called gays "barbarians."

And even as Michele Bachmann's family was collecting over $160,000 in Medicaid and other public funds, she was leading Tea Party calls for drastic cuts to the social safety net — especially to Medicaid which she has said swell the "welfare rolls" — and even voted to shut down the government rather than continue funding Planned Parenthood and the Health Care Reform Act.³

Yet when reports broke of the Medicaid payments to her family, Bachmann suddenly became sensitive to discrimination, declaring "it would be discriminatory not to accept Medicaid as a form of payment."⁴

It would be stunning to keep funding with public money a clinic that promotes an anti-gay, religious agenda and medically-unsound services. HHS and Minnesota DEH must take a stand now.

Tell Secretary Sebelius and DEH Commissioner Edward Ehlinger: Stop funding Bachmann's anti-gay clinic. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

Thank you for fighting publicly funded hate.

Elijah Zarlin, Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets

1. "Undercover Investigation Confirms Bachmann Clinic Provides Discredited, Damaging 'Ex-Gay' Therapy," ThinkProgress, July 8, 2011
2. "Bachmann's husband got $137,000 in Medicaid funds," MSNBC, June 28, 2011
3. "Bachmann voted for government shutdown because of abortion," The Minnesota Independent, March 2, 2011
4. "Bachmann responds to Medicaid payout report, CNN, June 29, 2011