Former Evangelical leader Ted Haggard was on Oprah today to discuss his gay sex/meth scandal. Haggard, who once condemned homosexuality in his preaching, now believes "Christ accepts everyone," because he has proof of that now.
Haggard says he's not totally gay, but "heterosexual with homosexual attachments." He was on the show today to promote the HBO documentary The Trials of Ted Haggard, which premieres tomorrow night. According to the documentary, and what he said today on Oprah, Haggard was molested when he was seven by a male employee of his father's, although he says that he did not consider it to be "abuse," and refers to it instead as "sex." He said that he still has homosexual thoughts, but that they are no longer compulsive, and that he loves his wife.
What's encouraging though, is that when Oprah asked him if he felt like he was "cured" of homosexuality, he said that he doesn't think so because he doesn't think he was ever sick, and that those things are just "part of life." Hopefully, people who once looked up to him will come away from all of this a little more enlightened, and tolerant of sexual identities other than theirs.