Not since former President Bill Clinton claimed to have tried marijuana “once – but I did not inhale” had the nation been entertained by such an implausible account of recreational drug non-use. The country, it could be argued, was long overdue for such entertainment, though this time the source of the hilarity was on the other end of the political spectrum from Clinton. And this time around, the issue of illicit drugs was overshadowed by the specter of “the love that dare not speak its name.”
Before his fall from grace, Colorado evangelist Ted Haggard was president of the National Association of Evangelicals and leader of the New Life Church, a megachurch in Colorado Springs. Typical of evangelicals, he stood firm against homosexuality, extramarital sex, recreational drugs, and all of the usual culprits that threaten those Christian family values politicians and conservative clergy are so fond of talking about. He was a very outspoken opponent of gay marriage, though curiously enough, he wasn’t averse to civil unions for homosexual couples. And though he condemned homosexual activity in general, citing, of course, the Scriptures, he did make an effort to reach out to gays early in his Colorado Springs ministry, frequenting gay bars and inviting gay men to his congregation.
For some time there had been rumors in the local gay community regarding Haggard’s own sexual behavior, but nothing substantial until November of 2006, when a personal trainer, former escort, and masseur named Mike Jones came forward with some devastating allegations. Jones claimed that Haggard, a married father of five, had paid to engage in sex with him for three years, and that the pastor had also purchased and used crystal methamphetamine. According to Jones, he had only recently learned of Haggard’s true identity as an evangelical crusader against gay rights; his reason for coming forward, he explained, was that it made him angry to see a man preaching against gay marriage while having gay sex behind the scenes.
Mike Jones said he had previously known Haggard as “Art” (Haggard’s middle name is Arthur). He said “Art” had paid for sex with him on an almost monthly basis over the previous three years, and that the relationship was strictly physical, not emotional. He was, he said, typically paid a “couple of hundred dollars,” but sometimes Haggard would pay him extra.
Jones said that Haggard had first brought up the subject of meth about a year into their “relationship,” asking, “Hey, Mike, what do you know about meth? I don’t do it personally, but I know people who do.” When Jones said that some people felt it enhanced their sexual experience, Haggard asked if Jones could help him get some. “I located someone he could connect with,” said Jones, who to this day claims not to deal in any sort of drugs. “After that, he got it on his own.” Jones claimed Haggard had often used drugs in his presence, and that Haggard said he loved snorting meth before he had sex with his wife.
His outing of Haggard, explained Jones, was a response to Haggard’s political support for Colorado Amendment 43 on the November 7, 2006 Colorado ballot. The amendment would ban same-sex marriage in that state. Jones told ABC News, “I had to expose the hypocrisy. He is in the position of influence of millions of followers, and he’s preaching against gay marriage. But behind everybody’s back [he’s] doing what he’s preached against.”
In the wake of the “outing,” Haggard resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and stepped down as leader of his Colorado megachurch, pending investigation of Jones’ allegations.
At first Haggard denied the sex allegations, but admitted that he did buy meth from Mike Jones because he was curious. “I bought it for myself but never used it,” he told reporters. “I was tempted, but I never used it.”
In short order Haggard owned up to “sexual immorality,” and to being “a deceiver and a liar,” but still denied being a meth-head. In a letter to the congregants of the New Life Church he wrote, “There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I’ve been warring against it all of my adult life…. The accusations that have been leveled against me are not all true, but enough of them are true that I have been appropriately and lovingly removed from ministry.” Haggard reached an agreement with New Life Church on a severance package that would pay him through 2007, and in April of 2007, he and his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona to start anew. After the scandal broke, membership at the New Life Church dropped, as did financial support.
Just how much of a role meth played in this debacle is open to debate. Though Haggard claimed not to have used the drug, Mike Jones, of course, tells a different story. He told it in some detail in his 2007 book, I Had to Say Something: The Art of Ted Haggard’s Fall, written with the help of biographer Sam Gallegos.
On the Advocate.com Web site, reviewer John Ireland wrote: “Over the course of three years, Jones explains, the closeted leader of 30 million evangelicals progressed from shame-filled orgasm in the near-dark to a voracious pursuit of kink and mind-altering substance…In a detailed passage that reads as if it has been cleared by an attorney, Jones describes the day Haggard showed up eagerly ‘waving a small packet of what I assumed was meth.’ Reluctantly, Jones showed him how to crush and then smooth it into a line. He ‘simulated’ how to snort it through a rolled-up dollar bill. Haggard clearly sought out instruction in his regular interactions with Jones.”
And then, according to Jones, once meth became a regular part of Haggard’s “appointments,” the evangelist began to build his own collection of sex toys and videos, which he carried with him in a small black canvas bag. He would often begin their sessions with a dramatic show-and-tell of his latest purchases, at times asking Jones how to use them. Before long, he was asking Jones to arrange orgies.
Some have speculated that Ted Haggard is unlikely to write a book of his own, but at this point nothing he does should surprise anyone. Because Haggard was forced to give up his pastoral career, he had to find a new way to make a living; after all, the severance pay from his old church wouldn’t last forever. In August of 2007, an Associated Press story reported that Haggard had sent out an email asking supporters in Colorado for financial assistance while he and his wife pursued their studies. He explained that he was seeking a master’s degree in counseling at the University of Phoenix, while his wife studied psychology. According to the email, the couple and two of their sons planned to move to the Phoenix Dream Center, a faith-based halfway house in Phoenix, where Haggard and his wife would provide counseling.
“It looks as though it will take two years for us to have adequate earning power again, so we are looking for people who will help us monthly for two years,” the e-mail said. “During that time we will continue as full-time students, and then, when I graduate, we won’t need outside support any longer.” Haggard, of course, is not the first person to be faced with the need to reinvent himself after being disgraced, but asking those whom he had betrayed to fund that reinvention did seem to be a bit of a brash move.
The Ted Haggard scandal is just one of numerous events involving what some refer to as the hypochristians, those blustering crusaders for family values who fail miserably at living up to their own standards. This type of scandal is not limited to members of the clergy, of course; politicians are equally vulnerable, as recent headlines indicate. Just ask US Representative Mark Foley (R-Florida), who resigned from Congress in the fall of 2006 over allegations that he had sexually harassed teenaged boys serving as Congressional pages. Or Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) who was caught in the summer of 2007 allegedly soliciting gay sex in an airport restroom in Minneapolis. Although US politicians on both sides of the aisle have been embroiled in sex scandals (the beleaguered former President being among them), it seems that most of the incidents involving homosexuality have occurred among the right-wingers. Perhaps this is because those on the left have traditionally been a bit more open and honest about issues of sexual orientation.
Illicit drugs such as meth and Ecstasy are not always a factor in these scandals, of course, but they surface here and there. And although its use among gays seems to be decreasing somewhat, at least in those areas that have benefited from concerted public-health campaigns, meth is still pretty popular in the gay community. It isn’t much of a stretch to imagine an erring pastor, having already gone so far astray by indulging in “deviant” sexual behavior, venturing yet a little further and adding meth to the mix. From there, the path to ruin can be steady and rapid. Meth, as has been amply documented, reduces inhibitions, making people of any gender and orientation far more likely to engage in risky behavior. Seeking ever greater thrills, they will gamble their health, their families, and their careers. For some of the more elite tweakers – those with a strong support system, and those in the public eye who have a genuine stake in appearing remorseful and eager to reform – use of meth may not be a direct route to Crazy Town. But it is, at the very least, a vehicle on the road to a damaged reputation and a forced career change.