Thursday, November 02, 2006

Even more hypocrisy from the religious right

I really need to think of a new title for posts that address the hypocrisy of the religious right, because I've used this one about 100 times. It never ends with these guys! Today Ted Haggard, leader of the 30-million member National Association of Evangelicals, resigned amid allegations that he's been paying for monthly installments of gay sex for the last 3 years. Haggard, a fine upstanding moral-values-supporting, gay-marriage-hating christoid married father of 5, denies everything, but says he can't continue to minister under the cloud of these accusations. Oh, riiiiight... if the accusations aren't true, what's the big deal?

Haggard is an outspoken opponent of gay marriage, big mistake in more ways than one. In his case, the hypocrisy of Haggard's public/private persona so angered his alleged paramour, Mike Jones, that Jones decided to go public about their 3-year relationship. Jones, who works as an escort, said a guy named "Art" contacted him through the internet and they began having monthly get-togethers for sex and speed. Later he saw "Art" on TV, identified as Haggard, no doubt railing against the evils of gay marriage or some such shit, and flipped out. And rightly so.

The evidence of the relationship, which Jones says he has in the form of voice messages, has yet to be released. Which probably means that the instant Jones went public, Haggard started throwing hush money at him, and the negotiations are still ongoing. But whatever's going on behind the scenes, Haggard's public behaviour is suspect. People don't resign over groundless accusations; they resign because they know things can only get worse.

Many have wondered about the religious right's bizarre and creepy fixation on gay sex, but it's all starting to make sense. A few more guys like Haggard and their political arm, the Republicans, will go from being known as the "Big Tent Party" to the "Big Closet Party".