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Pastor denies gay sex claims
04/11/2006 08:58 - (SA)
Colorado Springs - Reverend Ted Haggard says he bought methamphetamine and received a massage from a male prostitute, but the influential Christian evangelist insists he threw away the drugs and did not have sex with the man.
Haggard, as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, wielded influence in the United States congress and has condemned gay marriage and homosexuality.
He resigned on Thursday after a Denver man, Mike Jones, claimed he had many drug-fuelled trysts with Haggard.
Haggard said on Friday that he had received a massage from Jones after being referred to him by a Denver hotel, and that he had bought meth for himself from the man.
But Haggard said he did not have sex with Jones.
As for the drugs, "I was tempted, but I never used it," Haggard, 50, told reporters as he left his home with his wife and three of his five children on Friday.
Jones, 49, denied selling meth to Haggard. "Never," he told MSNBC. Haggard "met someone else that I had hooked him up with to buy it."
Jones scoffed at the idea that a hotel would have sent Haggard to him.
'I'm steady with my wife'
He said he had advertised as an escort only in gay publications and on gay websites.
Haggard has also stepped aside as leader of his 14 000-member New Life Church pending a church investigation.
In a TV interview this week, he said: "I never had a gay relationship with anybody, and I'm steady with my wife, I'm faithful to my wife."
In Denver, detective Virginia Quinones said she was checking that the alleged drug deal was under investigation.
Jones claimed Haggard paid him for sex nearly every month for three years until August.
He said Haggard identified himself as "Art" and that he had learnt who Haggard was when he saw the evangelical leader on television.
Jones said he went public with the allegations because Haggard has supported a measure on Tuesday's ballot that would amend the constitution to ban gay marriage.
Jones takes lie-detector test
Jones said he was also angry that Haggard, in public, had condemned gay sex.
The NAE's executive committee issued a statement on Friday that praised Haggard's service but said "it is serious when a pastor and prominent Christian leader deliberately violates God's standards of conduct".
The statement did not mention the allegations against Haggard beyond that he had admitted to "some indiscretions".
"Due to the seriousness of Rev Haggard's misconduct while in the leadership roles he held, we anticipate that an extended period of recovery will be appropriate," read the statement.
Jones took a lie-detector test on Friday. His answers to questions on whether he had sexual contact with Haggard "indicated deception", said John Kresnick, who administered the test free at the request of a Denver radio station.
Jones told reporters afterward: "I am confused why I failed that, other than that I'm totally exhausted."
- AP
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