Ted Haggard Blames His Attraction To Men On Child Abuse

(Via--big surprise--Towleroad.)

The AP also has a story up about this.

If Haggard was actually molested as a child, I truly feel sorry for him. No one should ever have to suffer such a terrible trauma. Because I am not a victim of such abuse, I can't even imagine how damaging it could be.

However, asserting that being molested turns people gay is not only unfounded, it's quite harmful. Sadly, many fundamentalist Christian groups claim that the psychological harm caused by events like child abuse is a primary cause of homosexuality. This belief is in no way supported by legitimate psychological research. The reason this notion is so pernicious is that it convinces many religiously conservative parents of gay children that their kids must have been abused. Obviously, this can make the coming out process even more difficult than it generally already is.

Gay people aren't sick. Arguing that we are is incredibly insulting. And irresponsible. It needs to stop.

Anyway, I promise the blog won't be so homo-centric next week. There really are other things I'm interested in.