You Can't Cure Homosexuality

I am one who believes Ted Haggard, the minister caught in a gay-sex scandal, got what was coming to him. Haggard ministered to his fellow evangelicals by decrying gays and the gay lifestyle, abortion, and all of the other negative politics of the "moral" majority. And all the while, he was living a lie. By his own admission, Haggard spent his adulthood fighting the demons of his dark side that led him to unspecified sexual immorality -- but based on the statements of a former gay prostitute included gay sex. When you read Haggard's confession to his congregation, it is very clear that what he alludes to is a lifetime trying to deny that he is gay.

Now comes news that his fellow pastors are going to "restore" him through some kind of ritual healing -- let's call it an exorcism, for lack of a better term -- back to the "straight" and narrow. What a disservice to, and what a mistreatment of an already broken man.

Mr. Haggard is gay. I'll say it again, he is gay. And no amount of preach therapy is going to change that. He can't be scared back into the closet, nor prayed back in, or healed back in. Haggard's troubles all stem from the fact that he has spent his lifetime avoiding acknowledging his baseline sexuality. He married and had children, but as he says, fought with his dark side. You can watch him rant against gays, but in light of these revelations, you're watching him rant against himself. It is sad.

Someone near and dear to Mr. Haggard should help him find the right kind of therapy to ease his pain. And that is not one that will shame him back into the closet, but rather help him come to grips with his authentic self and his authentic sexuality. For his sake, his wife's and his children's. Because none of them will be at peace until he embraces what is his personal truth.

I don't like his politics, but I do wish him godspeed and good luck. He will need it.

The Dukes of Haggard

Ted Haggard was fired from his church over the weekend after their investigation -- still on-going -- confirmed that he had committed some "sexually immoral acts." Haggard sent his congregation a letter that was read to them at Sunday services "confessing" his sins. In particular he speaks of his "dark side" and giving in to some "repulsive" behaviors throughout his adulthood.

Reading between the lines, the former head of the National Association of Evangelicals seems to be confessing to be gay all of his adult life and trying to suppress it by marrying a woman and having five children.

I wonder if he gets the irony of his situation: this staunch opponent to gays and gay marriage would be leading a much happier life if he was open to his authentic self -- a gay man -- and married to his authentic partner -- another gay man.

I hope his former congregants will look deep inside themselves and ask whether all this vitriol over gay rights is worth it. A gay man led them, convinced them to join his church, ministered to them on Sundays, fellowshipped with them at other times, joined them in matrimony, baptized their children, laughed with them when they were happy, cried with them when they were sad, helped them bury their dead. They liked him, they followed him. If they answer truthfully the answer would be, "No, it's not worth it."