HomoQuotable - Ted Haggard

"I think the government should recognize the union between people whether they're gay or not in whatever the language they choose, whether they call it a marriage or a civil union, it's up to them. If the government is going to be in the business of recognizing people grouped together as couples, then they need to that across the board. It's a big change for me.

"It's not a change in my view of civil liberties. I've always believed this. It's a change in semantics. I'm saying prior to the crisis [his downfall], I would defend marriage as the sacred term for the church to use for heterosexual monogamous couples. Now I've broadened that and said it's not worth having a war over the definition of a word. I believe that under civil law people should be respected. And it should be equality under the law. So either the government needs to get out of recognizing that couples are together and make everybody file the same tax returns, etc. Or they need to recognize all of them. I don't think it's wise for the government to separate based on what goes on in a person's bedroom." - Disgraced evangelical Ted Haggard speaking to the SF Chronicle in an interview promoting the upcoming HBO documentary The Trials Of Ted Haggard.

The interviewer notes that less than an hour after Haggard made the above revelation, a spokesman for HBO called to say that Haggard wanted to be sure that it was clear that he actually opposes marriage equality. Seems like Haggard is slowly getting there, albeit against the advice of his handlers.