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8 Nov 2006

fallen gay-bashing evangelist to undergo ex-gay 'therapeutic restoration'

Disgraced former US evangelical leader Ted Haggard, who was fired amid allegations of paying for gay sex and drug use, will undergo "therapeutic restoration" conducted by Focus on the Family's James Dobson and two other pastors.

Not long after the resignation of gay Republican Congressman Mark Foley, one of America's most influential and politically well-connected religious leaders has quit after being accused of paying for sex with a male prostitute has admitted he bought drugs.

The news broke just one week before voters in eight American states - Colorado, Idaho, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin - will decide on gay marriage bans among other issues such as abortion and stem cell research on Tuesday's national midterm elections. [As of this writing, amendments to ban gay marriage won approval Tuesday in Idaho, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin while results were pending in Arizona, Colorado and South Dakota. Similar amendments have passed previously in all 20 states to consider them.]

Ted Haggard, a vocal and staunch opponent of gay marriage, resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and head of his Colorado-based New Life Church after Mike Jones (inset), a former male escort, alleged they had engaged in sex repeatedly.
Ted Haggard, a vocal and staunch opponent of gay marriage, resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, an umbrella group which represents more than 45,000 churches with 30 million members, and head of his Colorado-based New Life Church. His move follows allegations he met monthly with a gay prostitute for three years. He and his wife Gayle have five children.

After initial denials of knowing his accuser, Haggard has since admitted to "sexual immorality" and buying methamphetamine.

Haggard's alleged extracurricular activities came to light when his accuser, Mike Jones, told a US radio station on Nov 1 that Haggard had been paying him for sex, about monthly, over a 3-year period. He had only however learnt of the 50-year-old preacher's identity several months ago when he recognised Haggard on TV.

Gay rights advocates as well as some conservatives have charged the party that prides itself on family values as having a hypocrisy problem.

Five weeks ago, Foley, a Republican congressman resigned and was forced to come out after he was found to have sent sexually explicit instant messages to teenaged former male pages.

"The attention focused on these cases will inescapably lead people to think about these people's hypocrisy," said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

"They make a career out of defaming gay people and preaching family values, when it's clear that it's just a veneer."

Jones, said in an CNN interview: "For someone who is up there preaching that marriage should only be between a man and a woman, and he's going behind his wife's back and seeing a gay man for sex, I felt like I owed it to the gay community to expose the hypocrisy."

His account of events however also came under scrutiny last Friday after he voluntarily took a polygraph test two days after making his allegations. The polygraph examiner concluded Jones showed some 'deception'. Jones told the news network that the part of the test he failed was on the question of whether he and Rev Haggard had sex. "I don't understand why I failed the part about Haggard," he said.

While gay rights activists point to these high-profile cases to show (as studies have) a link between homophobia in men to self-denial and suppression of their homosexuality, and the hypocrisy of gay-bashing religious leaders; the ex-gay movement might ironically get some unexpected mileage out of the case by making Haggard their new poster boy.

During Sunday services at New Life, it was announced that Focus on the Family's James Dobson, with a team of two pastors, would be overseeing Haggard's "therapeutic restoration."

Michael Cobb, the author of God Hates Fags: The Rhetorics of Religious Violence, said in a Salon.com article: "They can show through Haggard that something actually happens. In some ways it's so scripted, so perfect."

Reader's Comments

1. 2006-11-08 17:06  
ban on gay marriage... so why do all churches have such hatred for gays.... and yet killing a person .. u can still get away with a few years under manslaughter... raping .. u can get away with a few years... family abuse.. you can get away with a few years or none at all... divorce.. so why are divorces allowed again? drugs.. you can get away with a few years.. of course unless you are in some particular countries....massacre done by the UN .. they still get away with it ... so how is being gay such a wrong thing, sooner or later they'll make it "illegal" and calling it "mental illness" again... lol
2. 2006-11-08 17:37  
It just goes to show that the same kind of charade and hypocrisy that has come to light as a result of the Foley and Haggard cases is not only prevalent in homophobic America but can and does exist EVERYWHERE :-)
3. 2006-11-08 17:42  
na dun judge a book by 1 chapter... this is maebi 1 hypocrite that is refered to from the bible as a pharisee... one that is a hypocrite... but well not all christians hate gays.. that's a fact n there r mani gay christians as well! and gay churches does exist.. even gay christian networks...
4. 2006-11-08 18:11  
I've decided to enjoy this "outing"....I find it a relief, and very humourous that such a prominent "religious leader" has been exposed for(two of) his hypocricy(s). I'd bet that in his case, this is just the proverbial "tip of the iceberg". And I'll bet that Mr. Haggard himself is GLAD t hese secrets are OUT in the open and all the years of lying and deceiving his family, friends, his congregation (and himself) have finally come to an end. Mr. Haggard is 100% responsible for his current situation...HE made his current life what it is and his current actions and words will make his life what it has yet to become. This is also an opportunity for the GAY community to show our maturity and our abiltiy to love and forgive. We ALL have our own hypocricies, whether great or small...and yes, the world sometimes seems full of hate, fear, hypocricy, lies and deceipts but it is also full of love, and love is the greatest energy....love is "winning"..in that fact, let's have confidence.

I personally with to send Mr. Haggard and his family love and positive energy. May he find the wisdom and strength to use his current and very public situation for good, rather than an opportunity to spread more homophobia, hate, blame and fear.
As for his alleged "theraputic restoration"...he is not simply a piece of furniture that can have the old finish stripped off and a new one laquered on. The "New Life" services will simply condition him to supress his god-given natural desires for men, and over time, he will either wither up and die (of his own accord) or will again go out in "secret" to pay for sex and drugs with another male prostitute....OR perhaps someday he will accept himself for who and what god made him...a (handsome) gay man.
5. 2006-11-08 19:11  
Hey, I'd love to read an intelligent fridae-column on the "sanctity of marriage"..what is .Mr. Haggard's view on the priveledge denied 15% of the American public because they're HOMOS, yet publically abused by him and countless other (so-called) heteros.....and check out Brittany Spears...such a role model for our young...right???yet another public example of how the heteros (and those pretending to be) use-and-abuse these alleged "rights of sanctity".....barely 24 years old she is...married and divorced twice!!! Yet, HOMOS who REALLY want to be married and believe in marital "sanctity" are squarely denied on the basis of morality and "god"....HA....what a three ring circus this world is!!!
6. 2006-11-08 20:49  
NZ has its share of over-zealous Christians but Helen Clarke and her government were strong enough to be not be afraid of their votes, unfortunately Bush is.. and so are the local government.. To them it is not about governing to make life better but who can keep them in power..
Thank GOD for Helen.
7. 2006-11-08 21:26  
I think Mike Jones spoke the truth. I dont trust Haggard. I mean, he LIED. He said he didnt know Jones but later admitted he knew him but didnt have sex. Once a man lies, he can't be trusted. And... Oh wow! Haggard is a religious leader. Don't they teach that lying is sinful????

Im really glad and happy that Haggard is caught with his shameful scandal. Not to mention, gay scandal.
8. 2006-11-08 21:50  
James Dobson has since withdrew from participating in the 'therapeutic restoration' of Ted Haggard, citing "I don't have the time".

Right...

http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?date
=2006/11/07/6
9. 2006-11-08 22:24  
if half what you read is true, then I find it hard to feel any sympathy toward these guys..the ones that take the high moral ground but then..
may they continue to be exposed
10. 2006-11-08 22:26  
A Christian fundamentalists like Haggard who preach against gay marriages, yet engaging in adultery acts outside marriage with a guy some more?! I am Christian and I am Gay... What the...?

This goes to show how hyprocrites like these ppl, give Christianity and Homosexuals, such a bad bad name!???
11. 2006-11-08 22:38  
Oh well, this goes to show - bottom line - practice what you preach - and be true to yourself. Don't lead a life of controversy and of double standards. It doesn't do one any good.

However it is good that the exposure comes about, so as to raise public awareness that 90% of homophobics and anti-gay fundamentalists are closeted gays themselves. It is because of their upbringings and strict regimental lifestyles that go against their own well beings and true idenities, that pressurised them to channel their frustrations against their own kind....

It is like a 'If I cannot live a life of a gay - then NO ONE CAN' syndrome. It saddens me to see people like these are so judgmental yet hypocritical. I feel bad for Haggard's family and I wish them all the best & God be with them as they have to go through this terrible ordeal.

But I am happy to mention that this article goes to show that God is indeed FAIR and JUST - cos what goes around comes around. =)
12. 2006-11-08 22:51  

It never ceases to amaze me that many gay men forget the troubles that many of us or our friends had in coming to terms in accepting our homosexuality.
Rev. Haggard is not alone in his denying his natural orientation, his efforts to cover them up or his words of criticism directed towards homosexuals.

This is a painful time for him and his family. To think that any person could take pleasure or happiness in his "fall from grace" is sick and indicates the hatred the gay community is capable of.

I am and likely many of this sight's users have accepted our homosexuality, but please remember that for many, if not most gay men, especially of Rev. Haggards age and social experience, coming to terms with our true nature can be dark, lonely and painful and that is often as much a cause for his public attacks on homosexuality.

Additionally, I know that not all gay men are in support or redefining marriage and adding same gender as an option. Maybe we can redefine pork as beef so the Jews and Muslims can have a ham sandwich. It is silly that in our strong desires to have what others want we create our own fantasy of what is real.

Kurt in New York City

13. 2006-11-08 23:56  
Rev. haggard is a mother fucker.
14. 2006-11-08 23:59  
Yeah right,... he's just, well in a simple word: hypocrite........
15. 2006-11-09 00:44  
Well one reason why many GLBT folk are turned off by friendly overtures from non GLBT-hating Christian groups is the perceived hypocrisy of the Fundamentalists.

I think they forgot what Jesus came to do, and who He came to love. Not those who were self-righteous but people who recognized their need and indeed even more the marginalized of society.

16. 2006-11-09 19:37  
I don't think that we should just keep quiet or even just be acceptive when people call us "abnormal" or "mental illnesss". As the truth we are not. Maybe way back before 70's such stigmatization and labelling did exist, and homesexuals were generally condemned and discriminated, however, it should not be the case now anymore. You may refer to DSM-IV or WHO or any psychiatry authorities.

and yes i agree not all christians are anti-gay. But there are, at least, quite a number who are... Well, what can we say? They interpret the bible and that book is all source of their faith..

maybe fortunate enough that in buddhism gay relationship is viewed as something just natural and as normal. I do not have the struggle as last time when i was, well, in christ.

Just my experience.
17. 2006-11-09 22:32  
If many leaders of anti-gay movements are closet cases themselves, then it shouldn't be difficult to disarm them.

If anyone had some fun with James Dobson, the leader of the totally sick Focus On Family, in the past, please do us all a favor and expose the f***er too.
18. 2006-11-09 22:34  
The Singapore branch of Focus On Family is still allowed to go to secondary schools to tell teenagers lies and spread fear and hatred.
19. 2006-11-10 00:15  
WHO ARE WE TO JUDGE?

Were we there when Haggard had sex with Jones?

AREN'T WE HYPOCRITES AS WELL BY MAKING JUDGMENTS OF OTHERS WHOM WE FEEL ARE MAKING UNFAIR JUDGMENTS ON US GAY PEOPLE IN THE FIRST PLACE?
20. 2006-11-10 02:15  
Who are we to judge?

We are the ones that bear the brunt of attacks socially, mentally, and spitirually, because of who we are. I judge Haggard, not because he is gay, but because of how he has chosen to deal with his sexuality.

As a gay man who grew up in church, I know firsthand the difficulties and challenges of coming to terms with ones sexuality when your religious training strictly denounces it. I struggled deeply, but always personally, never seeking to hide my truth by attacking someone else

He chose to hide himself as the expense of gay men and women, exerting social and political influence against them. He denounced them from the pulpit and sought to block political progress towards equality

As a private citizen, struggling with his sexuality I have compassion for Haggard, however as a public figure, responsible for feeding the flames of sexual bigorty in the guise of religious faith I feel has earned the pain he is now experiencing as payment for the pain he has caused.

Religion is one of the deepest and most powerful tools used to create obstacles to greater equality.
Religious leaders such as Haggard have a powerful influence on how society views issues such as homosexuality. They continue to play a pivitol role in the oppression of gay people everywhere and must be held accountable for that negative impact
21. 2006-11-10 11:29  
Well said cocosushi.

I'm sure we would all be emphathetic if he was dealing with his sexuality in private. But what he has done is to make gay bashing his career. And we all know that these Christian groups get a lots of donations from the American public by campaigning against same-sex unions and equal rights for gays. Not only they are manipulative, they are also acting out of greed.
22. 2006-11-11 06:22  
i think he doth protest too much - but how many of us are the same. i meet guys in singapore who swear they hate all whites, but spend all night taking a peek every chance they get. i meet guys in london who say they hate blacks but their tounges drop out of their mouths when a cute black guy walks past. i meet "straight" guys who grimace at the mere mention of the word gay, but spend a little too much time with their gaze lingering on cute guys. we can hardly be surprised - hypocracy is part of human nature.
23. 2006-11-11 15:56  
it is unfortunate that haggard and foley and other hypocrits are not being caught first. typical like bush and his conservative jerks
24. 2007-08-22 02:27  
i dont care about who are to judge or hipocracy.....i just hate this haggard guy...... as for me why dont we all try to live peacefully and not hurting others...i know that not anyone can accept all differences in the world, but that doesnt mean you have to hate differences......
but then again maybe haggard is just a product of an extreme doctrine when he was a child, i pity those guy...live in denials, cant show who they really are,is live thats so restricted is a life that worth to live?i bet they always in depression and pressure......

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