The Company She Keeps Part 1: Bachmann's Gay Hater Pal: Bradlee Dean

Dear Lord: Please Help Bradlee's Hate
Ministry of Ignorance...

Here's the short story: Bradlee Dean is a rap metal drummer christian evangelist in Minnesota who thinks nazis were gay and that homosexuality is illegal in the United States (FYI: It's not, as the Supreme Court ruled in 2003). One of his best pals is Michelle Bachmann, the republican congresswoman and presidential candidate, who has helped raise money for Bradlee and his "You Can Run But You Can't Hide" organization. It seems like an odd pairing, but when you start to look at what he is about, and the hate he spews about gay people (and others), and her glowing praise for his ministry's efforts to enforce christian beliefs in the public school system, you start to understand that hey, they really are quite similar.

Let's take a look at Michelle Bachmann's hate mongering, confused spiritual buddy:

1. Dean believes that all men are created equal (well, almost all men).  He quotes Thomas Jefferson's screed that "“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” meanwhile, he also is on record for saying that castrating and hanging gay people is okay because harsh treatment was used by our forefathers against those who practiced buggery. Gee, Mr. Dean, because our "forefathers" also owned slaves, shouldn't we be able to own slaves as well?

2. Homosexuals are lawbreakers and they want you to break the law, too. He stated on his blog that "radical homosexuals want to re-educate America by teaching people of all ages to hate the laws that expose their crimes."

3. Brown shirts and jack boots? NO WAY Hitler was gay. But Dean Bradless is out to prove not only that, but that his inner circle were 90% gay and would commit horrible acts of violence. Dean's guest, Brian Fischer of the  that his "proof positive, in the twisted world of Dean Bradlee, that gays have been historically proven to be genocidal Dean hosted a radio show during which his guest, notorious gay hater Bryan Fischer of the ironically named American Family Association, stated that Hitler and his storm troopers were all gay. Here's a quote from the nutzi himself:

Ladies and gentlemen, they are Nazis. Do not be under any illusions about what homosexual activists will do with your freedoms and your religion if they have the opportunity. They'll do the same thing to you that the Nazis did to their opponents in Nazi Germany.

So, gay people are not only like nazis, they actually were nazis--get it?

4. Peculiar is one way to put it. Batshit crazy is another. Bradlee constantly talks about his belief in laws and the Constitution of the United Staes. But until 2010, he was a member of an Oregon-based group known as the "Embassy of Heaven," a self-described "Christian Patriot" organization that subscribes to the belief that individuals are themselves sovereign nations and not bound by the laws of the United States. The group, which makes its money by selling fake license plantes and passports, has been identified as an "anti-government group" by the Department of Justice, and counted among its members a violent anti-abortionist who murdered Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas.

Bradlee was a member of the Embassy of Heaven
("God's Government on Earth")

5. MLK is awesome, dude! And he would have denounced Dean.  Dean likes to quote Martin Luther King, Jr. often because, presumably, King was initially thought of as something of a firebrand just like--you guessed it!--Bradlee Dean. My guess is that Dean knows that MLK is a popular figure, and being associated with him is especially useful when he has gone to schools (it's amazing, but true that schools have paid him to come and preach to their kids)--and to justify his own extreme views. Ironically, of course, MLK was a man who fought his entire life against intolerance, hatred, and bigotry. Coretta Scott King, MLK's widow, has stated that he was for gay rights, and quoted him as saying "I've always felt that homophobic attitudes and policies were unjust and unworthy of a free society and must be opposed by all Americans who believe in democracy." (For more on this, and Coretta Scott King's comparisons between the gay and black struggle, click here. NOTE: In January, the Gay community was asked to March in the MLK Kingdom Day Parade!)

6. Let's rock, kids! Oh, and homos and evolution are evil!  Bachmann has helped raise money for his organization "You can Run but You can't Hide" in conjunction with his band, Junkyard Prophet has a reputation for getting gigs where he talks about the evils of drugs and a bad lifestyle (the bait) and then talks about the evils of homosexuality and evolution (the switch). According to the Minnesota Independent:

”In 2003, in Benton, Wisconsin, Dean and his band, Junkyard Prophet, performed at Benton High School for students in grades 7-12.  According to an article in the Dubuque Telegraph Herald, Dean “condemned homosexuality and the teaching of evolution in schools” in the process of speaking about abstinence and drug use.  “They talked about influencing and brainwashing people. Be wise to the fact that is what they were doing. They were using the same tactics,” Neis told the students. (Source: Minnesota Independent)