Many of you probably remember a certain incident involving Ted Haggard last fall. In case you don't, Haggard was the president of the National Association of Evangelicals when a gay man came forward to announce that Haggard had been paying him for sex.

Haggard, at the time, of course denied everything and then refused to give a comment at all. Eventually he confessed to the deed, trying to minimize the damage. Then it came out that Haggard would use crystal methamphetamine during these "encounters" with his prostitute. Haggard tried to say that he only got massages from the guy and he only bought the meth but never used it.

I haven't done any studies on the topic, but I believe the number of people who simultaneously pay a prostitute and buy crystal meth on a regular basis, but then don't use either, are fairly low.

Plus, why would you get a gay male prostitute to give you a massage when you could just hire a masseuse legally and not have a scandal erupt? Based on this information, it looks like Haggard was telling lies.

In a picture-perfect ending to this scandal, Haggard apparently went for three weeks of intensive counseling and he is announcing to the world that he is heterosexual now. Haggard sent an e-mail to his parishioners apologizing and announcing his new life.

Here's an excerpt from his letter about him and his wife's plans: "We haven't decided where we are moving but so far have been offered two places, one in Iowa and one in Missouri. We are both planning on getting our masters in psychology so we can work together serving others the rest of our lives. Since we are taking our classes on-line, we can live anywhere that's affordable."

As a psychology major, I am sitting here in complete horror because someone who thinks three weeks of counseling will make him heterosexual is planning on getting a psychology degree to counsel and help other people.

Haggard might be gay, he might be straight, he might be bi — he can be whatever he wants to be. The point is that attraction to someone of the same sex and the desire to act upon it isn't an addiction like alcoholism that you can go to counseling for and magically be cured of. Haggard's only fault was cheating on his wife and lying to everyone around him.

People like Haggard go through tons of stress and discomfort over the fact that they have same-sex attractions and want to act on them, and this is due in large part to people like Haggard who publicly condemn this behavior. How ironic.

Haggard, as the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, advocated for banning same-sex marriage and generally giving GLBT people a hard time every opportunity his organization could get.

It's possible to be attracted to more than one sex, or to just one sex, same or different. Haggard could feel like and identify as a heterosexual, but he could still have an attraction for other men; it doesn't mean you should cheat on your wife or that you are an evil person who needs counseling.

It is also being reported that Haggard's ex-church is going to get regular reports on how he is doing. They are making it out to be some pet project, like "save the gay" from eternal damnation where they need to check in on his progress.

Groups like Haggard's seem to think all this bad behavior is caused by having same-sex attractions. The sooner groups like Haggard's realize that it's the stigmatizing of people with same-sex attractions that leads to dishonesty, bad behavior and pain, the sooner people like Haggard will be able to live happy lives.

Reach columnist Hunter Kincaid at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.