A Tale of Two Sex Scandals

My new Advocate column is about what I view as the correlations and differences between the most recent Ted Haggard sex scandal and the Sam Adams (Portland mayor) sex scandal. The reaction to one, I suggest, is really a product of the reaction to the other.

Anyway, I'm getting hammered a bit in the comments over on Advocate.com, so maybe some of you might want to give it a read and comment there -- and here -- if you disagree with them. Of course, you may agree with my detractors, and that's fine too. I'm always up for a good discussion. The basic crux of my argument, summed up toward the end of the column, is this:

Haggard, though a victim of a homophobic culture himself, is what we want to tell the world we aren’t -- and certainly what we want to tell the world our openly gay politicians aren’t. But not being like Ted Haggard doesn’t mean openly gay people, including our politicians, must be -- or can be -- perfect. We fall into a trap when we hold ourselves to heterosexual ideals, ideals even heterosexuals can’t uphold, particularly when it comes to sex and our sex lives—the very things that make us different.

Some of our greatest gay political heroes -- from Barney Frank, whose boyfriend ran a prostitution ring out of the congressman’s house, to the late representative Gerry Studds, who was involved in an underage page scandal -- have been at the center of sex scandals much more serious than Sam Adams’s. I hate to think where we’d be if, at the time, Frank or Studds had resigned and slunk away. We certainly would have made much less progress. And, when it comes down to it, we’d definitely have far fewer truly human role models.

But go read the whole thing (and the Advocate.com commenters) and let me know your thoughts.

Ted Haggard's "Party Formula" and More

In this clip from my interview last week with Grant Haas he tells me that Ted Haggard was using drugs much more than what Haggard has implied, sometimes being high from the pulpit and traveling while doing the "party formula," which he describes as crystal meth, Viagra and poppers. (It should be noted that medical authorities have called the combination of poppers -- amyl nitrate -- and Viagra potentially lethal, as it can drop blood pressure to dangerously low levels, causing stroke, heart attack and death; several such cases have been reported.)

Haggard, according to Haas, would do his formula and connect with men online or masturbate alone for hours to gay porn. Haas describes him going and back and forth from repenting and giving up his "sin" -- including his favorite gay porn film, "Greek Holiday" -- to then going right back to his compulsive, secretive sexual behavior.

During his repenting moments, Haas said, Haggard would also try to to counsel Haas, a young man struggling to come to terms with his own homosexuality. During one such moment Haggard, Haas said, actually urged Haas to date and perhaps eventually marry his own daughter, thus trying to match his daughter up with someone he knew to be confused, like Haggard himself, about his sexual orientation.

Note: There are more clips from the Grant Haas interview here and here.



Note: There are more clips from the Grant Haas interview here and here.

"Ted Two"

These are two clips from my interview with Ted Haggard accuser Grant Haas, whose charges that Haggard masturbated in front of him without his consent (and sent many sexually explicit text messages to him) Haggard admitted to on "Larry King Live" last week.

The first clip is about what Haas said Haggard told him about Gayle Haggard's knowledge of Haggard's drug use and sexual activity. Haas said that Haggard told him that he and Gayle had a dildo molded of his penis -- which they named "Ted Two" -- which Gayle used to penetrate him. Some people have criticized this aspect of the story, asking why it is relevant. Others have said Haas could just as well be making it up, that it's salacious gossip, etc. Yeah, it's pretty hilarious. And yes, I honestly couldn't care less what they do together, and really, I'm happy to see she's actually enjoying herself if it's true!

But Gayle Haggard is complicit in all of this: She went on Larry King and said that "99%" of Ted's sex was with her (something I can't believe she could possibly know) and talked about all of what she described as her and Ted's wonderful sex, as well as the barren times in their marriage. She thus is talking about their sex life publicly, while she is enabling this lying, twisted, closeted freak. She is still moralizing about what is right and wrong. As far as I'm concerned, she and her life are open for discussion. And as far as Grant Haas goes, his track record so far is perfect: He's had his basic story corroborated not only by the taped phone conversations he had with Haggard, but also by Haggard admitting to Larry King that his charges were true. Haggard, meanwhile, has a track record of lying over and over again? So, who would you believe about "Ted 2"?

The second clip is about Haggard's first meetings with Grant Haas and how, according to Haas, Haggard decided he would be Haas's counselor after finding out he was "struggling" with homosexuality. This is the one where he tells Haas that as a "top" Hass can go straight because "an asshole is similar to a vagina."

I'll be posting more on Friday and in coming days.

Note: There are more clips from the Grant Haas interview here and here.






Note: There are more clips from the Grant Haas interview here and here.

Haggard's Pump 'n Go: Serving You 24/7

This is a clip from my interview with Grant Haas, the young man who came forward last week and made sexual allegations against Ted Haggard, which Ted Haggard admitted to and apologized for on "Larry King Live" last week.

But the Colorado Springs TV news station which broke the story reported only a few details -- that Haggard once masturbated in front of Haas and sent Haas sexually explicit messages, and that the New Life Church paid him hush money to stay silent about it -- and did not even remotely present the fuller picture that Grant Haas lays out, which is very much about the abuse and exploitation that has gone on at New Life Church and is likely still going on.

Haas came on my show and spoke about his relationship with Haggard in full detail and about others in the church as well as how the church responded to his allegations. It was a very long interview that stretched over an hour and a half. I've provided a video clip of one part here. I will post more audio/video tomorrow and in coming days.

In this clip we discuss the "Twenty-four/Seven Program" at New Life Church, a sort of Bible boot camp where young men, 18-23, are worked out intensely and get all cut up and muscled while also praying to Jesus, immersed in this 24 hours a day, often being woken up at all hours of the night. Haggard and another man who is described as "struggling with homosexuality" often oversaw the program, including going to the gym with the young men in the morning to work out and shower with them. They often went on training missions -- including simulated counter-terrorism missions, as Christians under attack, and you'll hear about all of that. (Please don't mind the grimaces on my face throughout: I really wasn't that shocked and disgusted about what I was hearing! We had some technical/sound issues in the studio, and I was trying to cope with those problems, on the computer and to my producers, and was pretty frustrated by them, hence some of the looks on my face). As I said, I will post more, and Pam Spaulding pretty much live-blogged the interview with a lot of details.

Note: There are more clips from the Grant Haas interview here and here.



Note: There are more clips from the Grant Haas interview here and here.

Below are some excerpts from the detailed notes of events that Grant Haas wrote in his own words and gave me, and which I used throughout the interview. He pretty much recited these statements back during the interview, as I went through them, and I'll be posting some of our discussions in coming days.

Upon first meeting Ted Haggard, after telling him he was "struggling with homosexuality":

Immediately Pastor Haggard’s eyes light up and he became very concerned. He insisted that I take his personal cell phone number and give him a call Monday morning so he could take me to lunch and discuss my problems....He began to explain that most men struggle with homosexual desires and began to regurgitate information that would be found in Alfred’s Kinsey’s sexual research reports. He described that some of his staff had strong homosexual desires, some had no homosexual desires, but most fell somewhere in the middle (the Kinsey scale of sexuality)..He began asking me questions about my sexual preferences in the bedroom. Questions about what types of sex I like (example: bondage, toys, groups, bathhouses, top, bottom, versatile, drugs). Ted explained to me that since I preferred to be in a “top” position that it would be easy to become straight because “an asshole is similar to a vagina.”

As things progressed Haggard told him about the "party formula:"

Eventually he started asking me what kinds of things I was into (oral, anal, rimming, bondage, porn, etc.). Then he began to explain a “party formula” to me. He explained that the “party formula” usually involved taking crystal-meth, poppers, Viagra, renting pornography and jerking off alone or with others. He told me that he knew a lot of people who were into this type of activity and found it very enjoyable.

Haggard would often text message Haas while Haggard was high, Haas said, which was often, including during sermons but mostly while Haggard was away:

The next weekend I started receiving text messages from him again. This time he was at LAX airport in the VIP-Red Carpet Room. He began sending me messages like “the room is spinning”, “I think I’m gonna throw up”, and “I did way too much”. He began to go into detail on how he had bought porn, poppers, and meth and that he jerked off of over two hours.

I'll have those discussions and much more tomorrow.

Note: There are more clips from the Grant Haas interview here and here.

Pam Live Blogs the Haas Interview

Pam Spaulding pretty much live blogged the interview with Grant Haas today. And she got into many of the most fascinating and twisted details.

I will post some video of it, but it is just too long to post the whole damn thing.

On Today's Show

At 3 ET: Grant Haas went public last week to a Colorado Springs TV news station with new accusations against Ted Haggard and New Life Church. But they only told a fraction of his story, which is quite stunning and scandalous. Today Grant Haas will join me to tell me further revelations and details about Haggard, New Life and others at the church.

Listen to The Michelangelo Signorile Show weekdays live from 2-6 pm ET on Sirius XM's OutQ. Sirius 109, XM 98. Not a subscriber? Not a problem! Listen online any time with a free three-day pass.

Where Mike Jones and Ted Haggard Did It

While in Denver last year covering the Democratic National Convention we met up with Mike Jones, who took us to see the building and the apartment (from the street) where he and Ted Haggard had sex and where Haggard did meth. Since Haggard was back in the news this past week (and we had Mike Jones back on the show) I thought you might like to see the video, which I'd held onto from last August. I think it compliments the video I posted recently which we shot while in St. Paul at the Republican National Convention, inside the Larry Craig bathroom stall. More investigative reporting!

"Heterosexual with homosexual attachments"

On the show today we played the clip of Ted Haggard saying that to Oprah in describing his sexual orientation. Now he just told Larry King the same thing: "heterosexual but with homosexual attachments."

What the hell does that mean? Is that like a Microsoft Word document attachment? Or some sort of attachment you put on? This is just pure hilarity.

On Today's Show

At 3:30 ET: Melissa Etheridge, who performed at inaugural events, will join me to talk about her controversial stand in befriending evangelical pastor Rick Warren and defending Barack Obama's decision to have Warren give the invocation at the inauguration.




At 4:30 ET, I'll speak with Alexandra Pelosi, whose film, "The Trials of Ted Haggard," airs on HBO this Thursday. It's a snapshot of Haggard's pretty sad life these days. While Haggard is promoting the film on Oprah and Larry King Live, Pelosi has done few broadcast interviews. (Our show makes a brief cameo in the film; Pelosi had shot in my studio back when I interviewed Mike Jones during his book tour.)

Listen to The Michelangelo Signorile Show weekdays live from 2-6 pm ET on Sirius Satellite Radio’ s OutQ, Channel 109. Not a subscriber? Not a problem! Listen online any time with a free three-day pass.

Mike Jones: Haggard Sex Allegations from Two Other Men

Former Denver escort Mike Jones, who blew the whistle on former New Life Church pastor Ted Haggard, came on the show today in the wake of the latest revelations from a young former church member, Grant Haas, who says that Haggard masturbated in front of him -- without his consent -- and sent him over 1000 sexually charged text messages. Haas says he stayed silent about it all for over two years because the New Life Church paid him hush money.

Jones told me he not only spoke with Haas about his experiences with Haggard about a month ago, but that there were two other men who also came to him with similar stories but who are fearful of going public. One of them, Jones says, was sexually harassed/abused by another New Life Church "elder" and Ted Haggard knew all about it. The other one had non-consensual sex with Ted Haggard himself, Jones said:

MJ: I personally have had two other men come to me with their stories , personally. It's very difficult for them to come forward. It's something I can't publicly out them on. They need to do it themselves. But --

MS: Were these two other men who were connected to the church, or members of the church?

MJ: Yes, in fact I know one of them, their parents still go to church, New Life Church, which makes that more difficult for 'em.

MS: Was it consensual? Was it any way similar to [Grant Haas's] story, where he says he went to Haggard for help and it turned out that Haggard was, well, abusing him. If someone is exposing themselves to you, masturbation to you, that's not exactly consensual.

MJ: That's right. The interesting thing about all of 'em is that all of 'em went to the church or Ted Haggard regarding their homosexuality, not sure how to handle it, or what to do with it. That's what all three of these have in common.

MS: Were the others consensual or non-consensual?

MJ: Non-consensual. One of them, let me just speak about one of them. One of them was not with Ted Haggard but was with a church elder. But they knew about it.

MS:So there were others in the church?

MJ: Right.

MS: And are those people who are still connected to the church?

MJ:Now, I don't know, because I don't know what the elder's name was. But their stories are very compelling and very believable. I don't see any reason for them to make it up when they came to me. In fact it was very difficult for them to even come to me. Both of them had indicated several times that they had backed away from approaching me. But they finally wanted to talk to me.

There's more in the short clip below from the interview.

Mike Jones Hits Hard

You may have seen the latest allegations -- that New Life Church covered up another Ted Haggard gay affair, and paid hush money -- just as a the Trials of Ted Haggard is to be aired on HBO this week.

Well, Mike Jones, the former escort who blew the whistle on Haggard, takes on Ted, the Human Rights Campaign and New Life Church. We'll get into all of this on the show and I want to hear from you.

LGBTHWI?

Ted Haggard now says he is not bisexual but is, rather, "heterosexual but with issues", which I guess would be called HWI. Nah, let's stick to the old-fashioned term: closet case.