A leading
evangelist who admitted to ''sexual immorality'' following
allegations of sex with a male prostitute is convinced he is
''completely heterosexual,'' said one of four
ministers who oversaw three weeks of intensive
counseling with the disgraced minister. The Reverend Ted
Haggard, a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, also said
his sexual contact with men was limited to the former
male prostitute Mike Jones, who came forward with
sexual allegations, the Reverend Tim Ralph of Larkspur
told The Denver Post for a story in Tuesday's edition.
''He is completely heterosexual,'' Ralph said.
''That is something he discovered. It was the
acting-out situations where things took place. It
wasn't a constant thing.''
Haggard resigned as president of the National
Association of Evangelicals last year after
allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced. He was also
forced out from the 14,000-member New Life Church that he
founded years ago in his basement after Jones alleged
Haggard paid him for sex and sometimes used crystal
meth when they were together. Haggard, who is
married, has publicly admitted to ''sexual immorality.''
The scandal disappointed Christian
conservatives, whom President George W. Bush and other
Republicans had counted on heavily in the run-up to the
national legislative elections last November, which
Democrats subsequently won.
Ralph said the board spoke with people close to
Haggard while investigating his claim that his only
extramarital sexual contact happened with Jones. The
board found no evidence to the contrary.
''If we're going to be proved wrong, somebody
else is going to come forward, and that usually
happens really quickly,'' he said. ''We're into this
thing over 90 days, and it hasn't happened.''
Haggard said in an e-mail Sunday, his first
communication in three months to church members, that
he and his wife, Gayle, plan to pursue master's
degrees in psychology. The e-mail said the family has not
decided where to move but that they were considering
Missouri and Iowa.
Another oversight board member, the Reverend
Mike Ware of Westminster, said the group recommended
the move out of town and the Haggards agreed.
''This is a good place for Ted,'' Ware said.
''It's hard to heal in Colorado Springs right now.
It's like an open wound. He needs to get somewhere he
can get the wound healed.''
It was also the oversight board that strongly
urged Haggard to go into secular work. (AP)
