Gay Men Sexually Abused In Childhood More Likely To Have Risky Sex

An experience of sexual abuse in childhood or adolescence is associated with an increased risk of gay men becoming HIV-positive in adult life, American researchers report in the July 1st edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The research also showed that men with a history of sexual abuse in early life had higher levels of depression and problematic drug and alcohol use, as well as being less receptive to HIV prevention interventions.
“This is the first study…to demonstrate a predictive relationship between a history of childhood sexual abuse among HIV-uninfected men who have sex with men,” comment the investigators.
Earlier research has shown that gay and other men who have sex with men are more likely to report a history of childhood sexual abuse than heterosexual men. Other studies have also shown that a history of childhood sexual abuse is associated with sexual risk-taking by adult gay men. There are also data demonstrating a relationship between the experience of sexual abuse as a child and depression and other mental health problems in adult life, as well as poor social skills and drug and alcohol use.
Studies have also demonstrated that that gay men with a history of abuse have higher rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. But this research has been limited in its generalisability by its cross-sectional design.
Investigators from the EXPLORE study, a prospective study into the effectiveness of behavioural intervention to reduce HIV risk amongst gay men, therefore examined the association between a history of childhood sexual abuse and the risk of becoming infected with HIV. The researchers also explored the relationship between childhood abuse and unprotected anal sex. The mediating role of mental health problems, poor social skills and drug and alcohol use between abuse and infection with HIV or risky sex were also explored.
The study lasted for four years and included a total of 4244 men. These men were recruited to the study in six US cities. All had recently had anal sex with another man, and all the men were HIV-negative at baseline. The men were randomised to receive a behavioural HIV prevention intervention or standard HIV prevention counselling. Every six months they were tested for HIV and provided details about their recent sexual behaviour.
To ascertain if an individual had a history of childhood sexual abuse they were asked on entry to the study to say if they had had a sexual experience before the age of 13 with an individual five years or more older than themselves; and/or if they had a sexual experience between the ages of 13 and 17 with an individual who was ten or more years older.
Of the 4244 individuals in the study, 1686 (40%) reported childhood sexual abuse. There were 258 HIV infections during the course of the study, a rate of 2.1 per 100 person years.
The HIV incidence rate differed according to abuse history. It was 1.8 per 100 person years for men with no such history, but 2.5 per 100 person years for men reporting childhood sexual abuse.
Individuals who reported having experienced childhood sexual abuse had an increased risk of HIV infection compared to those with no such history (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.02-1.69).
Results of the full study showed that the behavioural intervention modestly reduced the risk of HIV infection. This was not, however, the case for men reporting childhood sexual abuse. Men who received the intervention (AHR = 1.06; 95% CI: 0.74-1.52), as well as those who were provided with standard safer sex counselling information (AHR = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.04-1.95) had an increased risk of acquiring HIV infection.
A significant relationship also existed between childhood sexual abuse and the reporting of unprotected anal sex, including unprotected sex with an HIV-positive man.
Evidence was also found showing that mental health problems, poor coping and communication skills, and the use of drugs and alcohol (all p < 0.001) were significant in the relationship between childhood sexual abuse, risky sex, and subsequent infection with HIV. “HIV-uninfected men who have sex with men with childhood sexual abuse histories are at a greater risk of HIV infection, report higher rates of HIV sexual risk behaviour, and derive less benefit from prevention programmes”, conclude the investigators. They suggest that the “efficacy of HIV prevention initiatives may be enhanced by incorporating treatment components designed to address the specific mental health concerns [of those] with a history of childhood sexual abuse.” Aware of the sensitive political nature of their research, the investigators emphasise, “despite the high rates of childhood sexual abuse in the sample, these data do not suggest anything casual regarding the association of abuse and later homosexuality…the majority of men in EXPLORE did not report any type of childhood sexual abuse, so there is little to suggest that childhood sexual abuse ‘causes’ homosexuality, but rather, childhood sexual abuse makes men who have sex with men more likely to engage in HIV risk behaviours.”
from Aidsmap

Senator Pleades Guily To Gay Restroom Sex

In the latest personal conduct controversy to roil Capitol Hill, Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after being arrested by an officer investigating lewd-conduct complaints in a men's restroom.
On Monday, Craig denied engaging in any inappropriate behavior and said he regretted his plea.
"At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions," he said in a statement. "I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct."
The senator's statement came after the incident was first reported Monday by the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, which obtained the arrest report on the June 11 incident at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Craig pleaded guilty Aug. 8. He was ordered to pay $575 in fines and fees and given one year's probation on the misdemeanor charge.
The 62-year-old Craig, who is married, has been a leading congressional voice on issues of importance to the West. The senator, who touts his belief in "limited federal government, free enterprise, private property and individual liberty and responsibility," won election to the Senate in 1990 after serving a decade in the House. He is up for reelection next year.
As word of Craig's arrest spread throughout Idaho and the rest of the country, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign announced that Craig was stepping down as co-chairman of Romney's campaign in Idaho.
"He did not want to be a distraction, and we accept his decision," said Matt Rhoades, a Romney campaign spokesman.
The report of the Minneapolis incident comes after a fellow Republican senator, David Vitter of Louisiana, apologized in July for a "very serious sin in my past" after reports that his phone number showed up among the records of an alleged Washington madam.
According to the Roll Call report, Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a senator and said, "What do you think about that?"
Craig was detained for about 45 minutes and photographed and fingerprinted before his release, the newspaper reported.
The arrest was made after Craig entered a men's room stall next to one occupied by the undercover officer, Roll Call reported.
Craig placed a bag against the front of the stall door. "My experience has shown that individuals engaging in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall," Roll Call reported the officer, Sgt. Dave Karsnia, as writing in the report.
The officer also reported Craig tapping his foot, which the officer called "a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct."
In his statement, Craig said, "I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously."
Craig's colleagues were silent on the incident.
But the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force issued a statement calling attention to Craig's support for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and his opposition to legislation that would expand the federal hate crime law to cover violent acts based on a victim's sex, sexual orientation, sexual identity or disability.
John J. Pitney Jr., a professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College, said, "The incident is bad enough, but the contrast with his stand on family values is appalling. In the culture of Washington, political hypocrisy is just as hurtful as anything that happened in a lavatory."
from The LA Times

Robotic Toilet May Put A Stop To Gay Sex In Public Restrooms

FORT LAUDERDALE - Mayor Jim Naugle has never been shy about voicing his beliefs.
He's called some environmentalists "wackos" and said people complaining about high home prices were lazy, beer drinking "schlocks."
Now the mayor has shifted his attention to a robotic toilet, saying the invention could have a special edge over a traditional restroom in preventing the "homosexual activity" that he said plagues other public restrooms.
The robo-john the city might buy for $250,000 or more allows occupants to stay inside for only a short time before the door opens. Probably not enough time for "illegal sex," Naugle figures.
The restroom, already in use in Atlanta, Seattle and New York, also plays music and cleans the seat automatically.
"We're trying to provide a family environment where people can take their children who need to use the bathroom," he said, "without having to worry about a couple of men in there engaged in a sex act."
Though police say sex in restrooms is no longer a hot crime, the mayor thinks it is. He talked about the illicit sex recently in public meetings, in an interview and in e-mails to residents.
Naugle, not a stranger to public controversy, particularly on the issue of gays, said public restrooms are pickup places for "homosexuals. ... They're engaging in sex, anonymous sex, illegal sex."
The proposed location for the city's experimental automated toilet is the parking lot at Sebastian Street, at what many locals call the "gay beach." Naugle told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that the intelligent commode's security features are vital at this location, which he called "the rainbow parking lot."
"The homosexual newspaper said it's the 'gay parking lot.' That's not me saying that," Naugle said in the interview, "that's what they said. I don't use the word 'gay.' I use the word 'homosexual.' Most of them aren't gay. They're unhappy."
Naugle has been outspoken as a Christian and a social and political conservative.
When the Christian outreach event Beachfest came to town in 2003, he said anyone who had a problem with the city's official embrace of the religious festival "can move to Iraq."
He angered middle class residents last year when he said housing prices would be affordable if people worked more hours instead of sitting on the couch drinking beer. Earlier this year, he refused to sign a mayor's pact to reduce greenhouse gases. Naugle said global warming is not caused by humans and that the pact contained "hate-America stuff that the environmental wackos want in."
His latest comments about gays thus didn't come as much of a surprise to some.
"Excuse me?" said Marc Hansen, a leader among local gay residents. "Thank God this is his last term."
Dean Trantalis, the openly gay lawyer who sat on the Commission with Naugle for three years, laughed when told of the comments. Trantalis said he's proud the beach welcomes gay families and continues to attract gay visitors.
The beach needs more toilets, he said, and the decision shouldn't be made on whether people will use them for sex. And they still might, he said, even in the short time-frame.
"I'm not an expert on public toilet sex," said Trantalis, "but there are those who would say one minute would be enough. Or 30 seconds."
The City Commission still has to vote to buy it, and would use property tax funds from the beach Community Redevelopment Agency, money that cannot be used for police or lifeguards, officials said.
Police officials said male sex in restrooms is actually not a problem, anymore.
"There's no evidence, no reports or arrests made for any men having sex in any restrooms," said Sgt. Frank Sousa.
from The South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Child Abuse Survivors Take Gay Sex Risks

Homosexual and bisexual men who were victims of childhood sexual abuse are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors, says a U.S. study.
Those who reported regular childhood sexual abuse were at significantly greater risk for being HIV positive, were 7 times more likely to have ever exchanged sex for money and were 6.4 times more likely to be a current drug user than those who did not report abuse, according to the study published in American Journal of Public Health under "First Look."
Researchers at the Boston College, University of Minnesota, University of Texas School of Public Health and Boston University School of Public Health recommend further research to help determine how childhood sexual abuse contributes to sexual risk taking in homosexual and bisexual men and the types of interventions that may be most effective.
From UPI

Restrooms Don't Even Need Glory Holes Anymore

ATLANTA - At the world's busiest airport, plainclothes officers patrolling public restrooms in search of luggage thieves have instead uncovered a rash of other, more sordid crimes.
The new restroom dragnet has led to the arrests of more than 30 people in three months for indecent exposure and public sex acts at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Airport restrooms apparently have become such popular meeting places for men looking for sexual trysts with other men that they have been suggested several times as meeting places in personal ads on the Web site Craigslist.
"Hey ... I'm stuck at the airport from 5 p.m. and I'm looking for a good time ...," one ad reads. In another, the person posting says he is stuck at the airport for three hours in the evening and is looking for "discreet, quick action."
The new patrols were started to stop theft, not catch people in sex acts, police officials say.
Officers started monitoring the restrooms after figuring out that thieves were pulling bags off baggage-claim carousels and taking them into toilet stalls to comb through them.
"We're trying to provide a safe environment for everyone at the airport," said Officer Joseph Villafane, a police spokesman. "We're not out to get all that - it's just we encounter it."
Among those arrested is Ed Wall, the board chairman of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. An officer said he saw Wall having oral sex with another man. Wall, who has temporarily stepped down from his post, has maintained his innocence. A court date has not been set.
The other court cases are pending.
James Cates, a clinical psychologist, said airport indecency arrests usually involve people getting caught performing sexual acts. He said it illustrates compulsive behavior known as exhibitionism.
"They're not a lot different from any compulsion ... it's just that this kind of behavior can be offensive to people and can be traumatizing," said Cates, who counsels and performs psychological testing on sex offenders and people with sexual disorders. "They've got to have the thrill and as they keep not getting caught or reported, the thrill gets less and less. It has to become more risky and daring to keep the thrill up."
Still, some say the airport police should have better things to do than stake out restrooms.
"Police have far better things to do with their time than to arrest people for this," said Kenneth Sherrill, professor at Hunter College of The City University of New York. "Being 'sex police' in bathrooms strikes me as a perversion of rational law enforcement activities."
Atlanta's is not the only airport to have had restroom-related arrests. Former Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry was ordered to pay $35,000 in damages to a custodian who said he shoved her and exposed himself to her in a bathroom at Baltimore-Washington International Airport in 2000. A year later, a county judge in Michigan was arrested at Detroit Metro Airport for allegedly exposing himself to an undercover officer, although a district attorney decided not to prosecute.
The Atlanta airport police efforts may be working, as new personal ads have on Craigslist have warned people to be careful.
"Do NOT do anything at the airport," one posting from March 29 reads. "If you want to hook up, do it outside the airport! Have fun but be smart about it. It's not worth going to jail for the night and having your face put on the news."
from The Associated Press

Delta Worker Charged With Seeking Sex At Airport Bathroom

ATLANTA - An employee of Delta Air Lines has been suspended following his arrest on a sex charge at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Atlanta police say 48-year-old James Edmond Westbrook of Long Beach, N.Y., was arrested late yesterday when he propositioned an undercover police officer at an airport bathroom.
At least 30 people have been arrested at the airport on sex-relate charges since December.
The police report says Westbrook was at a urinal when he turned and exposed himself to an undercover officer.
Delta issued a statement saying Westbrook has been suspended while the matter is investigated.
Westbrook's arrest follows the arrest of former MARTA board chairman Ed Wall earlier this month. Wall was arrested for public indecency, a misdemeanor, after police said he had oral sex with a man in an airport bathroom.
Wall, who maintains his innocence, has stepped down as chairman but remains on the MARTA board.
from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Versatile Boy Always Bottoming

Q: I'm a gay boy who's always been versatile, on top and on the bottom, switching things up. My current boyfriend and I are very much in love, and I'm happy. Except for one thing: In the six months that we've been together I'm always the bottom. When I get the urge to top him he shies away and changes the subject. Here's what frustrates me: He had a very promiscuous past and had many sexual partners, and I know for a fact that he bottomed on a number of occasions. So why is it that when his boyfriend proposes the idea of switching things up he shies away? I don't want to make him feel pressured into doing this, but I think he's being silly. After all, he's done it before with almost complete strangers. —Versatile Boy Always Bottoming

A: Maybe your boyfriend came down with a bad case of anal warts during that promiscuous phase and he's not letting you fuck him to protect you. Or maybe your boyfriend only enjoys bottoming when he's fucked up on drugs, and he's not using anymore. Or maybe your dick is so big, so absolutely ginormous, so ass-splittingly huge that you've scared his gay slut butt shut.
I can only speculate, VBAB. The only way to find out what's really going on is to promise not to dump your boyfriend if he tells you the truth.
from Savage Love

Teacher Murdered After Gay Sex

CAIRO - Egyptian police have detained a man for allegedly chopping up a German drama teacher and dumping his body parts in a suitcase because he refused to pay for gay sex, a judicial source said.
Mustapha Maher, who works for a pharmaceutical company, allegedly confessed to killing the unnamed teacher after a suitcase containing the remains was found on a rocky plateau overlooking the Egyptian capital, the source said.
Police were able to identify the victim and the alleged perpetrator because the dead man, who taught at a German school in Cairo, had been packed into the case along with his mobile phone.
Maher was detained on December 27 shortly after the bloody baggage was found and allegedly said he committed the crime because the German refused to pay the agreed sum for sex.
He allegedly said he dissected the body and dumped it on the desert plateau in the hope it would not be found. Maher was ordered held for 45 days pending an investigation of the case, the source said.
from The Sunday Times

14 Men Arrested For Having Sex In Public Rest Area

PINEVILLE, LOUISIANA - Fourteen men were arrested at a central Louisiana rest area during an eight-day sting police launched in response to complaints that people were engaging in sexual acts there.
Those rounded up included a retired realtor, a Rapides Parish school bus driver and a Bastrop mailman. Police say many of the suspects are married with children and grandchildren.
Lieutenant Greg Henley says the men were booked into the Rapides Parish jail on a charge of felony obscenity after police caught them having either oral or anal sex in the park.
This is not the first time a Buhlow Lake area rest stop has been the site of men being caught allegedly having sex.
Former state Representative Tommy Wright of Jena was arrested and indicted in 2004 after a Red River Waterway Commission park ranger said he found Wright and another man engaged in sexual activity in a bathroom at the Buhlow Lake Recreation Area. Last year, both men pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges. Wright admitted to flight from an officer and Charles Locker II of Deville to criminal mischief -- not obscenity. Wright later resigned his House seat.
Henley says the Pineville sting took place at the Fort Buhlow rest area during two, four-day periods that began in November.
He says the alleged sexual acts all occurred in broad daylight in open areas of the park, as opposed to more concealed areas like bathrooms or automobiles.
Police say additional stings in the park are planned.
from KATC 3

Mother Seeks Justice In Son's Gay Bondage Death

A grief-stricken British woman wants to see a Cape Cod man charged with her son’s death, which occurred during a Wolcott Road sex bondage session last April.
Scott Vincent is the sole survivor of a multi-day sex session in the cellar of a neatly kept clapboard house that led to Adrian Exley’s death and homeowner Gary LeBlanc’s suicide.
Rhode Island’s coroner said Exley, 32, died of asphyxiation while wearing a rubber restraining suit on April 23 — four days after he traveled from England to Lynn to meet LeBlanc after encountering the 48-year-old oil executive on a gay bondage Web site.
According to a lawsuit filed against LeBlanc’s estate by Exley’s mother Margaret Horner and the British man’s siblings, Vincent participated in the sex sessions and helped LeBlanc dispose of Exley’s body.
“To me it was murder. I want Scott Vincent to be charged,” Horner said.
Horner traveled to Lynn last month to meet police, who searched for her son for two months until his body was discovered inside a sleeping bag underneath an inch of dirt in a Rhode Island state park.
She met Lt. Glen Deveau, the lead investigator in Exley’s disappearance, and Detective Mark Lee during her November trip and said the pair treated her like a friend.
“I want to thank them with all my heart for what they have done.”
On Nov. 12, one day before Exley’s birthday, she visited the site where, according to the suit, Vincent and LeBlanc buried Exley. She placed flowers on the burial spot and “said a few prayers and how much we miss him.”
“I had to do it for my own sanity. I still can’t believe it happened. I always expected him to have been kidnapped and let go.”
Attempts to reach Vincent Monday were unsuccessful. Horner hopes her son’s death provides a warning to people who search out sex in person or over the Internet.
She described her son as “a happy chappie” who grew up close to his sisters, Rebecca and Vanessa, and gravitated toward acting after completing his education.
He was a recovering drug abuser and male stripper whose top billing in an English club was a point of pride for Horner and Exley’s siblings.
“We backed him. I didn’t mind him being gay. I don’t have a problem with that at all,” Horner said.
Mother and son exchanged their last words online when Exley wrote his sister Rebecca while Horner was present and informed them about his April trip to the U.S.
“We just took it as another adventure for Adrian,” she said.
After Exley missed his return flight to England, Horner said family members panicked. Exley told his sister before he traveled that LeBlanc had asked him not to tell anyone where precisely he was going or who he was meeting, but Rebecca did find a telephone number for LeBlanc.
She called him and he told her Exley was visiting friends in Boston.
“She thought he was lying,” Horner said.
Exley’s loved ones spent the remainder of April and May and most of June in contact with Deveau or sitting by the telephone waiting for news.
“Rebecca was on the phone day and night. She was like a British bulldog. She knew something, but kept a lot from me for my own sake,” Horner said.
She feels sorry for LeBlanc’s loved ones but wishes LeBlanc had heeded the initial advice the lawsuit claims Vincent gave him and sought medical aid for Exley.
“If they had just got him to a hospital so I could have seen him.”
from The Daily Item

Hurting Gays, And Ourselves

We're all familiar with the headlines involving homosexuality. The names of Jim McGreevey, Mark Foley and now Ted Haggard have become known throughout America because of admitted or alleged homosexual "indiscretions." We have not heard as much about their families. That's where I come in. I understand something of what their families are going through because I've been there.
We all understand that reputations were ruined, careers lost and families hurt by these scandals. Apparently what we don't understand is that we are all part of turning these disclosures into scandals. And our clucking and condemnation after they emerge, while a contributing factor, isn't where our real culpability lies. The root of the problem is in our denial that gays and lesbians are as worthy and unworthy, flawed and gifted, as heterosexuals. The root belief that homosexuals are "less than" the rest of us stretches long and deep in this society.
Our condemnatory attitudes began in the latter part of the Middle Ages. Until then the Christian church in Western Europe, and thus the general culture, had largely tolerated or ignored homosexual acts. But everything changed when Thomas Aquinas and other religious writers labeled not only homosexual acts but all non-procreative sexual behavior "unnatural." The Roman Catholic Church continues to promote this idea today, even though most critical thinkers appreciate the relational bonding, tension release and joyous pleasure that sexuality affords along with the possibility of procreation. Of course any practice of sexuality that harms, takes advantage of or demeans another person is wrong, no matter who is involved. Nonetheless, instead of dealing with this and other related issues in a straightforward way, many join the church in simply rejecting gays and lesbians.
Let me hasten to say that I do not intend to single out the Roman Catholic Church for criticism. For several years my own denomination, the United Methodists, has presented invitational ads on national television proclaiming the church to be one of "open hearts, open minds, open doors" while declaring in its Book of Discipline that "the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching." Thus the United Methodist Church, like many others, remains deeply divided over this issue.
It took the Catholics 171 years to accept Copernicus's insight that Earth revolves around the sun. Today too many people are hurting and too much damage is being done to continue to wait for any church to step up and admit it is wrong about its condemnation of the "practice" of homosexuality. It's time we did our own critical thinking and rejected outdated science and theology. For, ironically, the anguish of our rejection of gays and lesbians, as horrible as it is for them, affects us all.
I know this because I have suffered deeply as a result of America's prevailing views about homosexuality. You have as well. I was married to a closeted gay man for 15 years, and we had three children before the truth of his sexual orientation emerged. The emotional devastation of that revelation and our subsequent divorce has been profound for me, my children, my former husband, our extended family and our friends.
I was fortunate to be able to move forward with my life instead of remaining, as one friend recently put it, "a puddle of violated humanity." I remarried, became an ordained clergywoman and served the church for 25 years as a pastor, district superintendent and dean of the cabinet of the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church. Broken relationships with family have been largely, if not totally, healed.
But many people are not as fortunate. They, and our society at large, miss out on the fullness of life that is tragically denied to so many because the rest of us don't want to deal fairly and fully with such a difficult and embarrassing subject. Families are torn apart, careers ruined, gifts and graces underutilized, and lives destroyed. Thus, ironically, the anguish that gays and lesbians suffer because of their rejection isn't visited just upon them, as horrible as that is. It affects us all.
This Election Day the citizens of our country demanded change by voting for different leadership in Congress. Now I would urge us all to seek actively to inform ourselves and change our attitudes about gays and lesbians. For only in this way will we begin to address the real problems that our condemnation has visited upon them, upon those who love them and, indeed, upon us all.
from The Washington Post / Ermalou Roller

Haggard Counseling Team Loses Dobson

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO - Citing a lack of time, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson withdrew Tuesday from the team overseeing counseling for the Rev. Ted Haggard, the evangelical pastor who was fired amid allegations of gay sex and drug use.
"Emotionally and spiritually, I wanted to be of help - but the reality is I don't have the time to devote to such a critical responsibility," Dobson said.
The other two members of the team, Pastors Jack Hayford of The Church on the Way in Van Nuys, Calif., and Tommy Barnett of First Assembly of God in Phoenix, declined to comment.
Haggard was forced out as senior pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church on Saturday after a former male escort alleged they had sex repeatedly and that Haggard used methamphetamines.
In a statement read at the church Sunday, Haggard confessed to unspecified "sexual immorality," accepted responsibility for his actions and asked forgiveness.
The counseling process, called restoration, could take years, said H.B. London, vice president for church and clergy at Focus on the Family.
from The Associated Press

Ted Haggard in Clip From 'Jesus Camp' Movie

Rev. Ted Haggard In 'Jesus Camp' Movie

The Rev. Ted Haggard has been fired amid allegations of gay sex and drug use, but the evangelical leader can still be seen at the height of his powers - preaching to thousands and condemning homosexuality - in the documentary "Jesus Camp."
In one scene of the film, which follows a group of children as they develop evangelical Christian beliefs, directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady visit Haggard's 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo. He tells the vast audience, "We don't have to debate about what we should think about homosexual activity. It's written in the Bible."
Then Haggard looks into the camera and says kiddingly: "I think I know what you did last night," drawing laughs from the crowd. "If you send me a thousand dollars, I won't tell your wife."
Later, another joke for the filmmakers: "If you use any of this, I'll sue you."
The married, 50-year-old father of five admitted in a letter read Sunday to his followers that he was "guilty of sexual immorality." He has yet to address specific claims by a male escort that Haggard paid him for sex over the past three years.
Haggard has acknowledged that he paid Mike Jones of Denver for a massage and for methamphetamine, but said he didn't have sex with Jones and didn't take the drug. He resigned last week as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 30 million people, and was removed Saturday as leader of his own church.
"Jesus Camp" is playing in several cities and expands to more on Friday and throughout the year. Ewing and Grady said that when they shot footage for the film at the New Life Church in October 2005, they were struck by how enraptured Haggard's followers looked.
"Pastor Ted, they were so proud of him. They thought he was hip, young, he didn't have that stodgy James Dobson feel," Ewing said Monday, referring to the Focus on the Family founder. "They all really adored him, that's the first thing I thought - those people, those faces, they hung and took notes on every word he said - I can't imagine what those people must be feeling."
Haggard has disputed the way he's portrayed in "Jesus Camp," saying on his Web site (in a posting that since has been removed) that the filmmakers shot for hours at his church and only used the parts in which he was playing with negative stereotypes.
"You can expect to learn as much about the Catholic Church from 'Nacho Libre' as you can learn about evangelicalism from 'Jesus Camp,'" he wrote. Ewing and Grady say Haggard is the only one who has complained about the way he was depicted in the film.
"Jesus Camp" also shows Haggard speaking to an aspiring young preacher named Levi, asking him whether people listen to him because he's a kid or because he has something to say. His advice: "Use your cute-kid thing until you're 30, and by then you'll have good content."
Grady said that when she first heard about the accusations against Haggard, "I was shocked but I was not surprised in any way because he did come across as somewhat of a hypocrite even in our movie - in a smaller way, of course. He was so cynical in that exchange with that child in our movie, it was odd and it popped out."
Haggard also leads the audience in praying for President Bush to select a Supreme Court nominee who supports their beliefs (it would end up becoming Samuel Alito) and later brags about the rapid expansion of evangelicalism.
"It's got enough growth to essentially sway every election," Haggard says with a smile. "If the evangelicals vote, they determine the election."
from The Associated Press

Haggard Bares His Soul In Note To Congregation

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO - In the hush of a Sunday morning, believers grieved, struggled and forgave as their pastor, the Rev. Ted Haggard, confessed his sins.
"I am a deceiver and a liar," Haggard told 9,000 of his followers in a letter read from the pulpit of New Life Church by one of his spiritual mentors. "There's a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it for all of my adult life."
Men wiped at their eyes. Women clung to one another. A grandfather hugged his baby grandson close, rubbing the boy's small back. Haggard had founded this church in his basement. He had grown it to a congregation of 14,000. He had guided them to God and helped them triumph over sin, and he had done it always with a smile, ever exuberant, ever strong.
They wept to hear what he'd been hiding.
"For extended periods of time, I would enjoy victory and rejoice in freedom," Haggard wrote. "Then, from time to time, the dirt that I thought was gone would resurface, and I would find myself thinking thoughts and experiencing desires that were contrary to everything I believe and teach."
A male prostitute in Denver came forward last week claiming that Haggard had visited his apartment almost monthly over the last three years for sex and drugs. Haggard at first denied it. Then he said he bought meth from the man, but threw it away. On Sunday, he said this: "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."
Having resigned the presidency of the National Assn. of Evangelicals and been dismissed as senior pastor of New Life, Haggard said he and his wife, Gayle, "need to be gone for a while." He pledged to put himself under the guidance of several pastors who will help him work toward restoration.
"Please forgive me," he wrote. "I am so embarrassed and ashamed…. I am a sinner. I have fallen."
Then the Rev. Larry Stockstill, a Louisiana pastor, read aloud a short letter from Gayle Haggard. She said her heart was broken, but she promised to stand by her husband.
"For those of you who have been concerned that my marriage was so perfect I could not possibly relate to the women who are facing great difficulties, know that this will never again be the case," she wrote, evoking a ripple of laughter. "My test has begun; watch me. I will try to prove myself faithful."
The congregation rose as one. For a long minute, they stood, applauding, sniffling. Interim senior pastor Ross Parsley bounded to the podium. "Listen," he said, "we all feel worse than we did a week ago. But we were worse off a week ago. Today, we all are more obedient, more repentant, more transparent than we've been in a long time."
Here and there in the vast sanctuary, members of Haggard's congregation called out: "Amen."
Afterward, in the lobby, many worshipers echoed Parsley's words. Some were angry at Ted Haggard; many were bewildered. But all said that their faith was not shaken; it was renewed. They would hold fast to all Haggard had taught them over the years, including his preaching that homosexual behavior is an affront to God.
"He believes that what he taught us is true," said Carol Groesbeck, 61.
"I don't think there's anything that needs to be reevaluated," said her husband, Jim, 61, an elder at New Life Church. "We know what we believe, but it's difficult to live that out. That's not just Ted's struggle. It's our struggle."
Michelle Gatson, 37, said she felt reinvigorated by the service after a week that left her so spent, all she wanted to do was "be lying on the floor at home, crying." A member of the choir, she said she found healing in the songs of praise — praise not for any man, but for God. "I love my pastor," she said. "But I'm glad I didn't put my faith in him. He's human."
Added Ian Kallenbach, 26: "I hope he can deal with his demons."
Stockstill — who has been the Haggards' personal pastor for years — said he saw only relief in Ted Haggard's face when he informed him on Saturday that he was being removed from his position at New Life.
Haggard had been struggling for three years to balance his duties as pastor with his high-profile role as head of the evangelical association — a job that raised his political profile and got him invited to the Oval Office and in on conference calls with the White House.
Haggard had tried to carve out time to reflect and to write his books by secluding himself now and then in a Denver hotel. That is apparently when he first contacted the prostitute, Mike Jones, who advertised as a masseur in gay magazines.
Haggard alluded to this period in his letter, saying that his pride had prevented him from seeking counseling; he hadn't wanted to disappoint those who loved him. "When I stopped communicating about my problems," he wrote, "the darkness increased and finally dominated me."
As thousands of New Life members poured into the church for the second morning service, an usher bustled through the lobby carrying fresh boxes of tissues into the sanctuary. Children, released from Sunday school, raced toward the church coffee shop for goopy cinnamon rolls and giant chocolate muffins. A few TV crews milled about, filming interviews.
In the church bookstore, a father leaned against a display of Haggard's books and read aloud to his children from "Letters from Home." Published in 2002, the book is framed as a letter to the two oldest of the Haggards' five children, who were preparing for college at that time.
In a section called "Live as if there are no secrets," Haggard listed powerful men brought down by lust or lies, including presidents Nixon and Clinton and the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart. "Major leaders have lost their positions of influence because of what they did alone in a room," he wrote.
"Please don't ever fall into the trap of believing that you can do something in secret, even when you are far away from home," Haggard urged his children. "This is a lie, and it will always come back to haunt you."
from The Los Angeles Times

Gay Sex Forces Closure Of Store Toilets

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Sting Lands Men In Jail

CAJON PASS, CALIFORNIA - A sexual playground hidden by foliage lies just off one of the most traveled freeways in the region. Secret coves, creekside paths, makeshift shelters with mattresses and easy chairs provide meeting places for men to indulge in sex and drugs.
On Friday afternoon, deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department marched a number of men out of the bushes and arrested almost a dozen on suspicion of lewd acts and drug violations.
Blue Cut is an area off Interstate 15 between the Cleghorn Road and Kenwood Road exits. Through word of mouth, the remote area became a known trysting place. Methamphetamine is frequently found on men who are arrested there, said sheriff's officials.
The Sheriff's Department began to hold sting operations at the area after receiving complaints from residents. At a previous sting in August, deputies arrested 17 men on various counts of public sex and drugs.
On Friday, sheriff's deputies Donald Patton and Danny Rosa stepped over rocks and brush, weaving around sexual debris -- used condoms, lotion bottles and lubricant packages, gay pornography, and soiled baby wipes -- packed into the sandy trails. The trove included torn underwear for both sexes, women's high heels and the packaging for a dog collar.
Patton said, "You get some of 'em wearing women's clothing. But they are not women."
The two deputies were looking for the occupants of vehicles parked along Cajon Boulevard, which runs parallel to I-15.
Men can be seen leaving their cars, meeting and talking to other men, and then walking together into the bushes. Sometimes they go into the bushes alone but come out with a companion.
"It's a beautiful area where people should be able to come and experience the outdoors, but they're turning it into a place to do lewd activity," Patton said. "It's not safe for families anymore."
Patton said the visitors sheriff's deputies have contacted include swinging homosexual couples, monogamous homosexual couples, single men, married men with children, and, most frequently, complete strangers.
Other people are keeping tabs on the activity too. The BNSFRailway has officers from the Olympic Security company patrolling its land.
"If someone is anywhere near our tracks or on one of our (rights of way), we escort them out," security officer Carl Perez said. "But if it's not our land, there's not much we can do."
Steve Barrett of San Dimas was sitting near the BNSF tracks watching trains pass. The former Union Pacific employee comes to Blue Cut frequently to watch the trains.
"I often wonder what all this traffic is," he said. "They all go down there in the bushes. There's never any women - just a bunch of kinky-looking guys. It makes me wonder, `Whatcha doin', boys?'
"I think they know better than to approach me. I glare at them and reach below my seat like I've got a gun."
On Friday afternoon, almost every man the deputies contacted in the area said he was there to enjoy the day or go for a walk. When deputies found drugs or sexual paraphernalia, they arrested the men.
Two reserve deputies in civilian clothes walked through the brush, waiting for men to approach them and solicit sex.
As soon as it became apparent they were law-enforcement officers, cars peeled out of the turnout posthaste.
"That's how it happens every time," Rosa said. "They know they're not supposed to be doing this, and they take off."
from The San Bernardino Sun

Gay Sex Victory In Hong Kong

HONG KONG - The Hong Kong government has backed down in a legal battle to keep a law that makes gay sex under the age of 21 punishable by life imprisonment, a news report said Monday. The government has decided not to appeal against a landmark ruling which said the law banning gay sex for anyone under the age of 21 was unconstitutional, the South China Morning Post reported.
A 20-year-old gay man, William Leung, successfully challenged in the High Court a law which gave the courts the power to hand out a maximum sentence of life for buggery with or by a man aged under 21.
The 2005 ruling was upheld by Hong Kong's Appeal Court last month but the government had the option of going to the territory's top court, the Court of Final Appeal, to contest the decision.
However, the government has decided not to lodge a further appeal, a move which will make its law against gay sex legally invalid, the newspaper reported.
Gay rights campaigners say the law put Hong Kong in the same category as jurisdictions such as Bangladesh and India which also have laws carrying a maximum life jail term for under-age gay sex.
Leung told the newspaper: "When you have a law that says committing certain things can put you in jail for life, it must be something really bad.
"It has to be something like serial murder or trafficking arms in huge quantities ... (not) being gay and having a fulfilling gay relationship."
from The Raw Story