Counselor: Disgraced Evangelist Isn't Gay

(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.

[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.