Ted Haggard

Now that he's completely heterosexual (my, that was a fast bit of therapy, there, wasn't it? Only took three weeks), he's even made it to Talking Points Memo. Do I suspect Josh Marshall of a bit of skepticism here.

Yep.

(I should point out that Marshall is marginally less scathing than any of the gay blogs I've seen this story on. Marginally.)

From the NYT story, this comment caught my eye:

It was also the oversight board that strongly urged Haggard to go into secular work.

Up front: I don't know anything about the therapy that Haggard has undergone other than what has been printed in the papers ("printed" being used more or less metaphorically here). I am not a psychotherapist, nor do I play one on TV. I do have an undergrad degree in psych, and I'm not a dummy -- I did keep up with the field for a while after school. So I'm left wondering just how many "suggestions" the oversight board made. And please notice this dodge: Haggard has not been "cured" -- he was straight all the time. Now how do you think that NARTH is going to react to that? (Although it seems that both NARTH and Exodus have dropped the "cure" scam recently. Now people just learn not to indulge their basic natures. Maybe real science is starting to penetrate, just a wee bit.)

Frankly, I wonder exactly what he was acting out. Just on the face of it, for someone with Haggard's beliefs to "act out" by patronizing a male prostitute strikes me as self-destructive in the extreme. What was he acting out on?

However, on to the future. Pam Spaulding posted this e-mail from Haggard:

Jesus is starting to put me back together. I have spent so much time in repentance, brokenness, hurt and sorrow for the things I've done and the negative impact my actions have had on others. That sadness continues as my family and I, along with so many others, go through the painful consequences of my actions. Jesus and his followers, though, have saved my life. As part of New Life's efforts to help me, they sent Gayle and me to Phoenix for a three-week psychological intensive that gave us three years worth of analysis and treatment. We all wanted to know why I developed such incongruity in my life. Thankfully, with the tools we gained there, along with the powerful way God has been illuminating His Word and the Holy Spirit has been convicting and healing me, we now have growing understanding which is giving me some hope for a future.

At this point, I'm inclined to cut the snark on Haggard. The man is a little more genuine than most of his fellow travelers, I think, or at least he has a better handle on seeming sincere. I'm sympathetic if Haggard really wants to change. Some people simply can't handle being gay. Quite honestly, when I was fifteen or sixteen, if I had had a choice, I would have opted for straight -- it's a hell of a lot easier. But I'm uneasy that Haggard may have given into untoward pressure because of his religious beliefs, and I'm honestly concerned that he may be doing himself and his family more damage long-term. As for his becoming a psychotherapist, one reason I decided not to go on and get my Ph.D. was that I didn't think I was warped enough. Every therapist I know (and I dated one for a while, quite aside from those I studied under) is emotionally damaged in some way; they've just learned to live with it. So Haggard can't be worse than my ex.

Update:

Jack Balkin has a post on this that states clearly and succinctly one of the major issues in the Christianist attitude toward homosexuality, and the area that contains the major disjunction between them and people who are -- well, either more scientifically informed or less ideologically driven. It's short -- read it.