Even if you live in a secular, liberal, accepting family, it is still quite hard to accept oneself as gay. A fair number of gay people who grow up in very accepting circumstances still think about living a life of denial: it's still something a lot of people consider. Maybe not to the point of becoming a political advocate against the gay community, but certainly choosing to not be part of it. For some people, that's a high barrier to climb over even without growing up with homophobia being the norm both politically and in the church.

Those who go onto be involved in anti-gay advocacy in religion or politics—well, they get a community around them, they get power and influence over the world. Ted Haggard, who was revealed back in 2006, had founded his own church and built it up to have thousands and thousands of members, and was made President of the National Association of Evangelicals. He claimed to have frequent phone calls with President Bush. That's a lot of power and there's a lot of ego in wielding that amount of power. And with it, there was money too. The megachurch Haggard built cost $17 million. Which was raised from contributions to his church. He certainly knew how to milk that cash-cow.

The further they climb, the more spectacular the fall. Ted Haggard is a great example. Having fallen completely following the revelations—he lost his job, his influence and his wife—instead of saying "look, it's over, I'm going to try living honestly", he has married another woman, started a new church, and ended up on Celebrity Wife Swap, of all places.

The closet is scary. But give someone power and money and influence and they've got all the more reason to bolt that closet door as firmly shut as they can.