Michele and Marcus Bachmann, appearing at the Iowa State Fair, were heckled by a young man who is being identified as an openly-gay high school student named Gabe Aderhold — the same young man who asked Governor Tim Pawlenty earlier Friday why he didn’t stand up and support gay marriage.
The Des Moines Register reports,
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Republican presidential candidate, was 30 minutes late to speak at her scheduled Iowa State Fair soapbox event and spoke for three of the 20 allotted minutes.
She said she was going to shake hands but left the makeshift stage quickly when 17-year-old civil rights advocate Gabe Aderhold of Edina, Minn., loudly questioned her husband Marcus about his counseling techniques to “pray the gay away.â€
Most of her three minutes consisted of frequent campaign rhetoric that she says at many of her stops, such as her chant to make President Obama a “one-term president.â€
You can clearly hear Aderhold shouting, “Shame on you,” repeatedly, as the Bachmanns were ushered away. Aderhold also can be heard shouting that “my friend committed suicide because he was bullied in her district…”
On another note, it is interesting that the media consistently is reporting Bachmann was absent from the stage at Thursday night’s debate whenever there was a commercial break, and that she was late today, and left early.
Additionally, Bachmann has repeatedly refused to answer any questions about her and her husband Marcus’ Christian counseling practice that reportedly engages in harmful “reparative” or  “ex-gay” therapy. Given that these clinics are partially funded by the government, and given that Bachmann is a public servant, she and her husband are obligated to answer the questions the American people have repeatedly asked.
(And yes, this we can call it heckling, though, I’ll still call it an impassioned attempt for survival.)
(Hat tip: Towleroad)