Grant Haas -- the New Life Church volunteer who recently came forward with new sex and meth claims about Ted Haggard and how his relationship with Haggard drove him to drugs, alcoholism and a suicide attempt -- revealed a few NSFW details about Pastor and Mrs. Haggard.
According to Grant Haas's radio interview with Michelangelo Signorile the pastor told Haas -- who was struggling with his own homosexual feelings -- that Gayle Haggard was a "freak" who shared the some of his sexual interests. The couple had a very open and erotic relationship, visiting sex shops together and buying bedtime toys.
Haas adds this scintillating detail: While on vacation, the couple had a dildo molded in the shape of Ted's tumescent member and would use it on each other, nicknaming it "Ted Two."
Now it becomes clearer what the Haggards meant when they assured Oprah and America they had a great sex life.
In the HBO documentary The Trials of Ted Haggard, the former pastor happily states:
You know all the surveys say that evangelicals have the best sex life of any other group.
Just Google "Christian bondage" and you'll see that not all evangelicals are uptight, repressed, anti-sex meanies. They just think all the fun -- from vanilla to rough trade -- needs to be kept in the context of marriage. Now if only the definition of "marriage" would be expanded to include same sex couples....
So what if the Mr and Mrs H got a little kinky and adventurous? What's really wrong about Haggard's behavior is his hypocrisy and hurtful actions.
Haggard was sharing personal details about Ted Two and his wife's taste in lingerie with other people, violating a deep bond of trust. Haggard also deeply violated Grant Haas' trust in him as pastor and friend by taking advantage of him and basically using him.
Haggard's belief system stresses the importance of fidelity in marriage and he couldn't stick to that. The gender of those with whom he had affairs shouldn't matter, except that Haggard was also hypocritically preaching against homosexuality while practicing it.
You can watch the video interview with Haas here, with additional links for more of the interview and additional details.
Lisa Derrick is La Figa on Firedoglake.com.