Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann Thursday refused to say if she thought reparative therapy could “change gay people into being straight” because it was not relevant to her campaign.

“Recent reporting has revealed the clinic you co-own with your husband engages in a kind of therapy that helps people get over their homosexuality,” National Press Club president Mark Hamrick told Bachmann. “Do you believe that reparative therapy can change gay people into being straight and has any federal funding gone for your clinic?”

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“Well, I’m extremely proud of my husband and I have tremendous respect and admiration for him and we’ll celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary this coming September,” Bachmann began. “But I am running for the presidency of the United States.”

“My husband is not running for the presidency. Neither are my children, neither is our business, neither is our foster children,” she said. “I am more than happy to stand for questions on running for the presidency of the United States.”

“To be clear, you don’t believe your personal finances are something that should be questioned by the American people?” Hamrick asked.

“I am running for the presidency of the United States and I have no doubt that every jot and tittle of my life will be looked at and inspected prior to November 2012,” Bachmann replied.

Watch this video from the National Press Club, broadcast July 28, 2011.

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