I wasn’t really aware of evangelical Christian pastor Ted Haggard, apparently the leader of some Colorado giga-church with tens of thousands of followers and an advisor to G. W. Bush to boot. And an outspoken ‘defender of marriage’ (read: critic of gay marriage).

Well, he’s just quit his job amid allegations of gayness. In a really awkward way.

A few things:

1) Why do people say that gays want to destroy marriage? Some gay people are among marriage’s most passionate defenders.

2) Are there any Republican anti-gays who aren’t gay? I know I’m falling victim to the availability heuristic, but the number of outed homophobes is surprisingly high. Foley drafted laws to protect kids from the very kind of exploitation that he was perpetrating. Former Spokane mayor Jim West, notoriously anti-gay, resigned after he was found to have a thing for boys. Now when I see someone denouncing homosexuals, I wonder if I’m not looking at some kind of closet case. Because who else would care about it if they weren’t so obsessed? (As always, see Wolcott for the last word.)

3) Though it may seem unrelated, this is really bad for Republicans so close to the election. Voters are no longer surprised by hypocrisy, and this will only confirm the impression that people who tout good-old fashioned morality are getting up to something on the side. That reflects badly on Republicans, who, having tied their fortunes to the evangelical Christian vote, are now ill-equipped to disassociate themselves from the actions of prominent evangelical Christians. Plus, mass disillusionment is bad for the status quo.

4) Watch: the Right Wing will complain that lefties are anti-gay. We’re not. We’re anti-hypocrisy, like many (though not all) on the Right.

5) It’s really sad that he was living a double life for so long. It’s hard to feel happy when you’re doing something you think is wrong. Maybe now that things are in the open for Mr Haggard, he can put himself together, live the kind of life he wants, and feel like he has integrity for the first time in years.