Evangelical Leader Accused of 3 Year Relationship with Gay Prostitute

DENVER - A gay man and admitted male escort claims he has had an ongoing sexual relationship with a well-known Evangelical pastor from Colorado Springs.

Haggard is the founder and senior leader of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs. The church has 14,000 members.

He is also president of the National Association of Evangelicals, an organization that represents millions of people.



UPDATE: Haggard had close ties to the White House
Rawstory:
The Rocky Mountain News described Haggard as a "giant of the conservative Christian movement, with direct access to President Bush." In May 2005, Harper's Magazine ran a piece on Haggard reporting that the pastor talked "to President George W. Bush or his advisers every Monday." Harper's also noted that when he was asked why Bush "had not apologized for the false assertions used to justify the Iraq war, or for the dishonest smears marshaled on his campaign's behalf," Haggard replied:

I think if you asked the President these questions once he's out of office, he'd say, 'You're right. We shouldn't have done it.' But right now if he said something like that, well, the world would spin out of control! ... Listen, I think [we Christian believers] are responsible not to lie, but I don't think we're responsible to say everything we know.