Gossip: Ted Haggard

Ted Haggard, the pastor who was exiled from his Colorado church in a gay sex scandal, is giving interviews for the first time since the scandal broke.

Pastor Ted Haggard, who was exiled from his Colorado church in 2006 in a gay sex scandal, said this week that the incident has altered his views on religion and the culture wars. “The church told me to go to hell,” he said. “I now know more about hatred and judgment than ever before, and I know it doesn’t help.” In his first interviews since the scandal, Haggard, who now sells life insurance, said his marriage is stronger than ever, but that “sexuality is complex and confusing” and “I still have temptations from time to time.” He also said he no longer opposed gay marriage, and that he’d learned that praying did not make his attraction to men disappear.