On the church and gays

“I had hoped that [Ted] Haggard [the former head of the National Association of Evangelicals, caught with a male prostitute in 2006], upon feeling the overwhelming shunning wrath of his Christian brothers and sisters after his revelation, would come to an intimate understanding of how the gay and lesbian community feels about the church—how those who claim to follow Christ will turn their backs on you when you need them the most. In that shunning, I had hoped that Haggard might arrive at a new place—where he would realize how painful that is for the person shunned and vow to never, ever do that to anyone if he were ever back in the position to lead a church.” –Candace Chellew-Hodge, Religion Dispatches