Ted Haggard

There are new allegations surfacing about mega-church pastor Ted Haggard having sexual relations with another man, a church volunteer in his 20s.

From the AP:

David Clohessy, national director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests _ which has largely focused on the Catholic sexual abuse scandal but also speaks out on cases involving Protestant clergy _ said the new disclosures about Haggard are more disturbing because they involves a church volunteer.
"Technically, legally, they were both adults," Clohessy said. "Psychologically and emotionally, Haggard was dramatically more powerful. ... By definition, any sexual contact between a congregant and minister is inherently abusive and manipulative."

Obviously it's more than past time for the religious right to admit that being gay can't be fixed with counseling. If you haven't seen Religulous ( my all-time favorite movie this year), there's an amazing scene where Bill Maher visits a counseling center where they attempt to get the gay out. Hysterical, but sad, because the counselor (who is gay) has been programmed to believe that his sexual preference is immoral.

I had friends who were programmed at Escuela Caribe to believe that having gay sex made them abominable in God's eyes. Tragic....