eBay Nixes Sale Of Haggard Man-Love Massage Table
from 365Gay
A day before bidding was to end on the auction of the massage table gay rent boy Mike Jones used for his trysts with evangelist Ted Haggard eBay pulled the plug.Jones put the purple table up for auction with the money raised to go to Project Angel Heart, a charity that provides meals to people living with HIV/AIDS.
The eBay ad described it as the massage table "where it all happened".
Haggard resigned last year as president of the National Association of Evangelicals after Jones went public, alleging Haggard paid him over a three-year period for sex and sometimes took methamphetamine during the encounters.
Haggard then was fired as pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church. He publicly admitted in November to unspecified "sexual immorality." (story)Haggard, who had been president of the evangelical association since 2003, participated in conference calls with White House staffers and lobbied Congress last year on Supreme Court nominees.
His church was involved in fighting for a constitutional amendment in Colorado to ban same-sex marriage. It was because of the amendment that Jones came forward.
Interest in buying the massage table was high. Bidding started at $400 and reached $1,275 when eBbay removed it from its Web site.
A spokesperson for the online auction site said the sale violated eBay's fundraising policy.
But Jones believes pressure from evangelical groups led to its removal.
So-called "ex-gay" ministry Compassion without Compromise urged its supporters to complain to eBay and called the auction "reprehensible".
"If you contacted eBay to express your concerns or register a complaint, please contact them again for doing the right thing," read a message on the Compassion without Compromise site.
EBay denies public pressure led to the auction's removal.
“It’s just sad,” Jones told the Colorado Springs Gazette. “I wasn’t going to make any money off of it. It was for a good cause. Who it hurts is Angel Heart. It doesn’t hurt me.”
While Haggard is trying to put his past behind him, Jones is writing a tell-all book about his encounters with the pastor.
Bill McCartney
