During an online debate on the issue,
Ted Haggard argued that gay marriage should be legal.
Haggard is the evangelical pastor who
ran afoul of his Denver congregation after admitting to a three-year
pay-for-sex affair with male prostitute Mike Jones. Immediately
after Jones reveled their sexual association in 2006, Haggard denied
being gay, saying only that he had committed “sexual immorality.”
Since that time, Haggard has said he's undergone intensive
counseling. On February 6, 2007, Tim Ralph pronounced Haggard
“cured,” adding that Haggard is “completely heterosexual.”
The married father of five says
everyone – including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people
– is welcome at his new church, St. James in Colorado Springs.
While Haggard supported the 2006
referendum which amended Colorado's Constitution to say that only
heterosexual couples may marry in the state, he now argues otherwise.
In
the online debate against Rabbi Benjamin Hecht, director of
Orthodox Jewish think tank Nishma, Haggard said he sees a distinction
between biblical law and civil law.
“We've reached a point where human
dignity and mutual respect is so important,” Haggard said. “If
someone is dealing with same-sex attraction or homosexuality, and
they want someone to be their life partner of the same gender, though
we would oppose that in our churches, it should be allowed by the
state.”