<p>COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Rev. Ted Haggard stepped down as president of the influential National Association of Evangelicals on Thursday after being accused of carrying on an affair with a gay man.</p>
<p>Haggard also stepped down as head of his 14,000-member New Life Church pending an investigation by a church panel, saying he could “not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations.” </p>
<p>The investigation came after a 49-year-old man told a Denver radio station that Haggard paid him to have sex.</p>
<p>Mike Jones told The Associated Press that Haggard paid him to have sex nearly every month for three years. His allegations were first aired on KHOW-AM in Denver.</p>
<p>Jones said that he had advertised himself as an escort on the Internet and that a man who called himself Art contacted him. Jones said he later saw the man on television identified as Haggard.</p>
<p>He said that he last had sex with Haggard in August and that he did not warn him before making his allegations this week.</p>
<p>Jones said he has voicemail messages from Haggard, as well as an envelope he said Haggard used to mail him cash, though he declined to make any of it available to the AP.</p>
<p>“There’s some stuff on there (the voicemails) that’s pretty damning,” he said.</p>
<p>i don’t care if he was gay, it was his hatred of gays while possibly being gay, and that hatred of gays that made gays lives more difficult that bugs me</p>
<p>power seems to be much more important than honesty</p>
<p>Actually, citygirlsmom, I don’t mean this as an excuse, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the guy turns out to have a substance abuse problem of some kind, whether it’s alcohol, oxycontin, vicodin, or whatever. Someone with that much conflict between what he instinctively feels is right for himself and an overt public personna which condemns that very identity is going to be severely torn. It’s not uncommon for people living lives that would be perceived as highly hypocritical to outsiders to self-medicate to dull the pain of the contradictions in their life.</p>
<p>The anti-homosexual crowd would do well to remember that homosexuality didn’t make God’s Top 10 Don’ts, but lying did. I am sad for the Rev. Haggard’s family, because I’m certain he raised them to feel a certain way about homosexuality, a way that is going to make this a very difficult time for them.</p>
<p>Irishmomof2, I’d say it’s pretty common for families to be raised to “feel a certain way about homosexuality”. A surprisingly large number of them learn to adjust pretty quickly. The thing is, when the homosexual is a person you actually know, the reality of the person overcomes the ideology of the despised theoretical construct. It will be a hard time for a while, but there’s no reason that all of them - including Reverand Ted - can’t come out of this healthier and happier than they were before. The biggest problem, of course, is likely to be Mrs. Haggard’s feelings of betrayal and embarassment. If she can overcome those feelings, it may all end well. If not, it’s likely to be a bumpy ride.</p>
<p>I used to be an evangelical, so I kinda understand how painful and destructive when homophobia is internalized. I used to belong to couple Christian groups on campus and I could tell (using my “gaydar”) there were quite a few gay guys that “dated” girls just so nobody would wonder about their sexual orientation. It’s very sad.</p>