Totally Not Gay Ted Haggard Offers Words Of Support To Totally Not Gay Eddie Long

Yesterday disgraced televangelist Ted Haggard issued a statement of support for Atlanta’s Bishop Eddie Long, the anti-gay marriage activist now being sued by several young men for coercing them into sex.

Ted Haggard cautioned today that no one should rush to judge the leader of an Atlanta megachurch accused of coercing three young men into sex. “Nobody’s guilty until the court says he’s guilty,” Haggard, the former head of a 14,000-member congregation in Colorado, told AOL News today in a phone interview. Three young men from Bishop Eddie Long’s church filed lawsuits this week claiming he exploited his position and used cash, cars and expensive trips to pressure them into sexual relationships. Long’s attorney says the pastor “categorically denies” the allegations. Haggard said that Long deserves a fair hearing and that if the accusations are false, he will survive the ordeal. “The bishop is surrounded by people that will counsel him well,” he said.

Also yesterday photos surfaced of Bishop Long striking an “Guys With iPhones” pose while wearing a “muscle tee.” One of the young men suing Long says that the opposite-married Long emailed him the photos. Several years ago Long led an anti-marriage equality march to the gravesite of Martin Luther King.