"Lots of" religious right leaders knew #1 evangelical leader, Ted Haggard, was gay long before the scandal - and did nothing about it

What a bunch of freaking hypocrites. They knew that the number one leader of their movement, a movement devoted to anti-gay causes, was gay, and they didn't do a damn thing about it.

[Being gay] is akin to being a pedophile, in these people's warped, bigoted minds, yet they did nothing about their leader being one of the abominations they daily rant against. They tolerated a known gay man running their entire movement while trying to pass anti-gay legislation to ruin the rest of our lives. They thumbed their nose at the word of God because it was convenient.

It seems that religious right leader Lou Shelon [Traditional Values Coalition founder ] has some questions to answer, including: Who else among the religious right leaders knew Haggard was gay and did nothing about it? From Jewish Week, via Talk2Action and dogemperor:

Sheldon disclosed that he and “a lot” of others knew about Haggard’s homosexuality “for awhile ... but we weren’t sure just how to deal with it.”

Months before a male prostitute publicly revealed Haggard’s secret relationship with him, and the reverend’s drug use as well, “Ted and I had a discussion,” explained Sheldon, who said Haggard gave him a telltale signal then: “He said homosexuality is genetic. I said, no it isn’t. But I just knew he was covering up. They need to say that.”

Boy, Lou Sheldon sure is up on his gay code. I didn't realize that people who think being gay is genetic – like, uh, scientists who have actually studied it – are per se all gay because they think it's genetic. What a fascinating man. And a hypocrite.

- John in DC, AmericaBlog

Andrew Sullivan adds: The parallels with the Vatican are eerie. They too knew they had priests behaving at odds with church doctrine. But they chose to protect them, rather than the children and youths the priests were molesting. Haggard's activity is far less grave than molestation, but it was a manifest contradiction of his own teaching. And many evangelical leaders, according to Sheldon, knew they had a hypocrite on their hands for a long time. And they did nothing. They kept this fact from Haggard's flock. And people wonder why voters put corruption and ethics at the top of their concerns in this election; and why white evangelicals abandoned the GOP in such large numbers. They can smell the b.s. They can smell the hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty. For the last several years, the American right has been full of both. They now have a chance to rethink. Here's hoping they can.