Michele Bachmann: Gay community wants to let adults "prey on little children sexually"

Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said this week that the gay community wants to repeal age of consent laws "so that adults would be able to freely prey on little children sexually," reports Brian Tashman of Right Wing Watch.

Bachmann, who is not running for re-election to her House seat, made the comments Wednesday on a conservative talk radio show, Faith & Liberty. The former presidential candidate argued that while the gay community's "big push" is currently on transgender issues, they'd soon expand to a push for "multiple marriages," and then "to do away with statutory rape laws." Audio and text of her comments are below:

BACHMANN: "This is an effort to have government coerce, force, speech and behavior. And it's being pushed and advocated by the gay community. This is their ultimate goal, is to not allow for diversity of opinion on this issue. Because they don't want to be celebrated, they want to force everyone to not only agree with them, but also have to finance their agenda. They also believe that they have the right, David, to determine on a near daily basis what their agenda is.

Today the big push is on transgender, and so they're continuing to push this down the road. I believe that we're going to see coming an effort for multiples in marriage, not just two, but multiples in marriage, I think they want to legalize that. I think also they want to abolish age of consent laws, which means children — we would do away with statutory rape laws so that adults would be able to freely prey on little children sexually. That's the deviance that we're seeing embraced in our culture today."

Bachmann has been a longtime activist against same-sex marriage. As a state senator, she was the leading advocate for a constitutional ban on gay marriage in Minnesota. The Washington Post's Jason Horowitz described one ensuing incident as follows: "In 2005, [Bachmann] ran screaming from a bathroom at a constituent forum, claiming that a lesbian had attempted to keep her there against her will. (The woman said she was merely questioning Bachmann about her position on gay marriage.)"

Days ago, Bachmann said she might run for president again in 2016. "The only thing that the media has speculated on is that it's going to be various men that are running," she told Scott Conroy of RealClearPolitics. "They haven't speculated, for instance, that I'm going to run. What if I decide to run? And there's a chance I could run."

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