Counselor: Disgraced Evangelist Isn't Gay

Minister Who Oversaw Counseling Says Rev. Ted Haggard Is Convinced He's "Completely Heterosexual"

(AP)  A leading evangelist who admitted to "sexual immorality" following allegations of sex with a male prostitute is convinced he is "completely heterosexual," said one of four ministers who oversaw three weeks of intensive counseling with the disgraced minister.

The Rev. Ted Haggard, a vocal opponent of gay marriage, also said his sexual contact with men was limited to the former male prostitute who came forward with sexual allegations, the Rev. Tim Ralph of Larkspur told The Denver Post for a story in Tuesday's edition.

"He is completely heterosexual," Ralph said. "That is something he discovered. It was the acting-out situations where things took place. It wasn't a constant thing."

Haggard resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals last year after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced. He was also forced out from the 14,000 New Life Church that he founded years ago in his basement after Jones alleged Haggard paid him for sex and sometimes used methamphetamine when they were together. Haggard, who is married, has publicly admitted to "sexual immorality."

The scandal disappointed Christian conservatives, whom President Bush and other Republicans had counted on heavily in the run-up to the national legislative elections last November, which Democrats subsequently won.

Ralph said the board spoke with people close to Haggard while investigating his claim that his only extramarital sexual contact happened with Mike Jones. The board found no evidence to the contrary.

"If we're going to be proved wrong, somebody else is going to come forward, and that usually happens really quickly," he said. "We're into this thing over 90 days and it hasn't happened."

Haggard said in an e-mail Sunday, his first communication in three months to church members, that he and his wife, Gayle, plan to pursue master's degrees in psychology. The e-mail said the family has not decided where to move but that they were considering Missouri and Iowa.

Another oversight board member, the Rev. Mike Ware of Westminster, said the group recommended the move out of town and the Haggards agreed.

"This is a good place for Ted," Ware said. "It's hard to heal in Colorado Springs right now. It's like an open wound. He needs to get somewhere he can get the wound healed."

It was also the oversight board that strongly urged Haggard to go into secular work.

[gauchazo]

The United States does not have an official language --nor an official religion, nor an official history, nor an official ideology, nor an official ***. It is still a multicultural country, an open society were every people can express freely (as freely as they know) different thoughts, religions, sexual orientation, ethnicity, languages; where a man is not persecuted by his race nor for his or her sexual orientation...

[gauchazo]

OK, I understand. In fact, I love English. But, why in the rest of Latin America (not to mention in the World) Americans speak English? Is Spanish a foreign language in US?

[lale561]

I have one question...
Why would Rev. Haggard have to leave Colorado Springs for a fresh start? Why would he feel the need to leave a community full of loving, evangelical Christians to find redemption and forgiveness? Oh, I forgot, today's "christians" don't do that anymore. It's all or nothing now, like "abstinence only" or to hell with you...

[gauchazo]

Es decir, la sexualidad es "algo que se descubre con el tiempo". Primero condenar, luego averiguar... Como en la antigua y pagana Grecia, como en tantas tribus "primitivas": los "hombres de verdad" se hacman teniendo relaciones sensuales con otros hombres. Segzn la teorma antigua, eso ayudaba a ser buenos maridos.

[gauchazo]

Es decir, la sexualidad es "algo que se descubre con el tiempo". Primero condenar, luego averiguar... Como en la antigua y pagana Grecia, como en tantas tribus "primitivas": los "hombres de verdad" se hacman teniendo relaciones sensuales con otros hombres. Segzn la teorma antigua, eso ayudaba a ser buenos maridos.

[bildooreilly]

He's not gay, he just pays male prostitutes so they'll let him suck their meat stick. He's not really gay, ask George Bush, he's Dubyas personal preacher.

[dbstevens]

Someone who is truly promoting the teachings of God does NOT focus such attention on themselves, but rather on the teachings of God. This man is a businessman trying to salvage something of his business; he is not a man of the Word. The issue of gay or straight is a moot point (I personally respect anybody who accepts themselves and avoids twisting talk of such things into the realm of "perversion" etc. That's nobody's busines but their own). The main issue here is this man's credibility as a man of God. And that has nothing to do with his sexual orientation, but EVERYTHING to do with his handling of the situation.

[gunownerdan]

The more a gay person is in the closet, the more homophobic they become.

[meboard]

All I have to add is... P A T H E T I C!!!!!!!
I'm with you Fryedbread, Ted's off the team!

[lieberman18]

Oh, by the way, GOP-bashers, should I bring up the late, and very unlamented Gerald-ine Studds, who convienently kicked the bucket at the time of the Foley scandal.

The brainless and clueless Libs in "his" district kept re-electing "him" time and time again even AFTER it was revealed "he" was a pervert.

Or how about McGreevey - who destroyed two marriages but knew how to procreate. Dina Matos is devastated, but don't let that stop you, pervert Dem "Jim".

Again, bring up Teddy girl - I agree - but clean out your own closet too, LIB - erals.

[zykracosmos]

Another example of how people who choose to believe in the supernatural are naively mislead by those who find it easy to prey on their weaknesses.

[bluestardad]

Jimmy Swaggart is still on the TV trail taking old ladies money so why can't this guy too. the problem is that these guys give religion a bad name and other preachers promote this type of behavior in one way or another.

[bluestardad]

Hey the fox said the wolf did not eat the chickens!

[skyk-2009]

I'm not interested in weather this Slime Dog is Gay or not, doesn't matter to me. If the Religious Reich didn't hate *** and didn't go around preaching their "Equal but Different" *** about them then it would be someone else. The History of these people is a clear one and is as Fascist as anything to ever come out of Italy. The ENTIRE outfit is nothing but a constant and continuing LIE! If you listen to the Snake Oil they sell the only place you'll be going after death is the Garbage dump. Don't think so? Well put your head back on and go get some newspapers, LOOK at what they have said and done about EVERY SINGLE Social and Moral event we have over come in our history. Against Laws to allow Women and Blacks to vote, For Child Labor, against safety in the Work Place, For the right to Teach "Equal but Different" to our school kids. These slimy creatures aren't human folks, thinking they are will certainly doom you to take the place of those stupid people who stood by as 80% of their leaders joined the KKK. That's RIGHT! The last time the FBI had files on these creatures better than 80% of them belonged to the KKK! But HEY! It's your after life!!

[fryedbread]

How can you say something that is researched and documented in over 500 species of animals "goes against nature"? What is your definition of "natural"?

[hsmagst]

To firststate: You missed the point of my earlier post which is why a gay man can have s3x with a woman and still be considered gay but if a hetero man has s3x with another man, he is also suddenly completely gay. Sounds to me like too many people are way too quick to put labels on others sexual experimentation. I personally think Ted is very confused but is also hetero. It what he prefers as a general rule.....just like some women occasionally are curious about other women.....and most men would love to be involved with it. Personally, I believe that believe that homosexually goes against nature if for no other reason than how the human plumbing is designed and its biological function, which is propagation of the species.

[fryedbread]

Haggard is in serious denial, but that's ok. We don't want him. :)

[firststate]

hsmagst
It wasn't just one time for Ted, was it? Didn't he keep paying the same gay-hooker that we know about for a period of over a year? After several times, doesn't continuing the experiment mean the experience was enjoyable? Most heterosexual men his age don't suddenly decide to check out a gay-hooker ***/drug experiment. There's a lot of experimentation but it usually happens much earlier in life. If it were a situation where people found themselves together for some other reason, you might be able to sell it. Calling in a gay-hooker several times over more than a year is a lot more likely to be carefully calculated behavior. This wasn't a case of his hand accidentally falling onto a guys crotch in the next sleeping bag, he got a room and made the phone call. The degree of calculation and planning involved make it unlikely to have been a first time experience. He made sure that no one would see him searching for someone to scratch his special itch. He more likely just got caught in his hypocritical life.

[mrlord1]

It's a sad day for this religous group. Don't try to rationalize what he has done....let him go it alone and stop dragging others down.

Lies, deceit, hypocrisy, infidelity, then off to a counselor who can only proclaim that Haggard is not a gay, please tell me that the press release stating this had more details than just proclaiming he is hetero. Thank goodness it only took him 3 weeks to work threw that, now he can spend the next two years exploring and explaining his other more concerning actions.

Gay/Straight is not the big issue, being a moral person in that position is the big issue. Sure everyone has mishaps and learns from them. But if you choose to bury them and dodge them the only thing his church and society should expect to see is mysterious credit card charges at a bath house in some other foreign country where he runs to continue to hide his secrecies.

I hope he is seeking a psychologist and not thinking about becoming one.......but most likely this will be a platform for him to write a novel about his actions and make millions from it, don't get snowed the only thing that makes this situation better is hitting bottom for this fellow and it hasn't happened yet! He needs to ingest what he has done, rationalize it, own it and then become a better person......and that doesn't happen in three weeks.

[spammenot995]

"Completely heterosexual"?

Puh-LEEZE.