Gayle Haggard is making the press rounds this week to promote her new book, Why I Stayed: The Choices I Made in My Darkest Hour . Gayle is the wife of New Life Church pastor Ted Haggard, who was caught having an affair with a gay prostitute and using meth. On the Today Show this morning, Gayle said that her marriage is “better than it’s ever been,” after going through years of therapy with Ted. Ted told Oprah yesterday that since he started therapy, he has not had “one compulsive thought or behavior,” and bragged about all the sex he and Gayle are having. Though the American Psychological Association has rejected “gay therapy ,” meant to cure people of homosexuality, apparently the Haggards believe it works.
Gayle told Meredith Vieira that she thinks that Ted has been cured of his homosexual urges, and that she believes that “sexuality is conditioned.” This is an issue that’s currently being discussed in the California gay marriage trial , and according to the New Yorker’ s Margaret Talbot (and DoubleX contributor), “The idea that homosexuality is a choice, or a lifestyle, is a crucial element of the conservative argument that marriage equality is not a civil-rights issue.” Though Gayle Haggard says that she was able to change her mind about her husband, it’s unfortunate that her beliefs about homosexuality haven’t budged a bit.
