Ted Haggard's Wife to Oprah: I Knew About Gay Desires

Ted Haggard's Wife to Oprah: I Knew About Gay Desires
Gayle Haggard thought her husband Ted could control his sexual urges, but she was wrong. And the ramifications would put her family in the national spotlight.

Gayle, the wife of former Colorado New Life Church Pastor Ted Haggard, will tell Oprah Winfrey today that she knew about her husband’s same-sex struggles for years and had hoped he had a handle on things. But then, in 2006, their world came crashing down when a male prostitute came forward about a relationship with Haggard. "The first words out of my mouth were, ‘Who are you?’" she said, according to a publicity release issued Tuesday by Harpo Productions.

Adding to the Haggards’ lack of marital bliss is the news this week that Haggard also masturbated in front of a then-22-year-old church volunteer in 2005. The volunteer, Grant Haas, told KRDO in Colorado Springs that Haggard also sent him illicit text messages including "all kind of weird things, texting me about all the different sexual positions, practices he was engaging in and it was just really weird." The church and the man reached a settlement in 2007. Haas says he spoke out now to protest a new HBO documentary on Haggard. Haas says that film, directed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra, seems to paint Haggard as a victim, a label Haas simply couldn’t accept.

Why, you may wonder, would Haggard agree to such a project? "He talked to us because he had nothing to lose," Pelosi said. "He was down and out." But apparently Haggard isn’t too thrilled about the movie. He told the LA Times that he trusted his friend, Pelosi, not to invade his family’s privacy and he wasn’t comfortable with her using videotaped footage for the film. But Pelosi said she wanted to tell his side of the story, since the media did "a disservice" to him.
The documentary, "The Trials of Ted Haggard," premiers Thursday at 8 PM ET.

Books that we recommend;
by Dennis Schleicher
Forbidden Love with a Married Man: E-mail Diaries

by Angelo Pezzote
Straight Acting: Gay Men, Masculinity and Finding True Love

Homophobia, Shame, Fear, to Developing a Positive Sexual Identity

Homophobia, Shame, Fear, to Developing a Positive Sexual Identity.
Angelo Pezzote works to free us all form horrible fear, humiliation and shame, toward recognizing the negative impact of homophobia on us and the importance of developing a positive sexual identity.

Mr. Pezzote, having walked the walk, he helps gay men thrive and sustain relationship in a sometimes insensitive world. He approach’s gayness as something that could be positive, natural, and healthy. Thus, all of his work is in the context of being gay-affirmative. It’s his goal to help change damaging experiences for gay men by: improving the poisonous homophobic atmosphere of our culture, alleviating symptoms or problems arising from these sensitive issues, fostering self-acceptance and self-love, affirming non-shameful authentic sexual identity, encouraging personal growth, and improving relationships.

Angelo feels almost all gay men experience social and psychological trauma because of prejudicial gay stigma, discrimination and oppression. We are significantly stressed and unfairly challenged by the toxic homophobic atmosphere of our heterosexist culture and negatively impacted by the dysfunctional responses of others.

For men both closeted and out, internalized homophobia levels have been found to be largest impediment to mental health for gay men. The experience of societal stigma, discrimination and oppression makes gay men view their sexual identity in a negative way and produces shame. This results in low esteem, emotional distress, physical dis-ease and increased suicide risk. Ask Angelo for yourself at www.AskAngelo.com

Tune into tomorrow's episode as senator Ted Haggard witll tell his own sex scandal.

Oprah Winfrey, panelists take on the 'gift of being gay'

Oprah Winfrey, panelists take on the 'gift of being gay'
By Mark Bieganskion January 8, 2009
Day three of Oprah Winfrey's "Best Life" series took on a revelation even Oprah Winfrey says she's never heard.Responding to a viewer who Skyped into the show to talk about being gay, one of Winfrey's panelists, The Rev. Ed Bacon, declared being gay is a "gift from God."Bacon is the rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, Calif., a well-known liberal and progressive church."Well you are the first minister I've ever heard say being gay is a gift from God, I can tell you that," Winfrey said."We're not talking religion, we're talking spirituality," said Michael Bernard Beckwith, founder and spiritual director of Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles. . "People don't just happen to be gay. When people are born, they have that type of orientation, so he is gay by diving right."
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