Tony Dungy and When Someone You Admire Turns Out to Be a Homophobe

When you have fervently followed your favorite athletics workforce for a long time, you put their stars and players on an imaginary pedestal. It is a organic outcome. As I have talked about ahead of, I grew up in Pittsburgh when the city’s NFL group, the Steelers, won 4 Tremendous Bowls in the 1970s. So the Steelers of that decade are considerably revered.

1 of their most important stars, Hall of Fame running back again Franco Harris, died abruptly last thirty day period, and that hurt. He was not only my favourite Steeler, but I also obtained to know him and was honored that he invited me to his Corridor of Fame induction ceremony in the summer of 1990 that involved a brunch with previous NFL greats and a celebration that evening at the Pittsburgh Hilton, the place I satisfied so numerous of my heroes from people Super Bowl groups. Harris lived up to his legend.

The crew was coached by Chuck Noll, who I also idolized. Noll took discover of the management expertise and football expertise of just one of his defensive backs, Tony Dungy, and began to mentor him to come to be a soccer mentor, which he did.

Dungy won a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts and also helmed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during his 13-12 months coaching job. He entered the NFL Corridor of Fame as a coach in 2016.

If you stick to football, you know Dungy is now a famous NFL broadcaster and analyst with NBC. But it is what you really do not know about him that will make your blood boil. According to an in-depth, two-aspect piece on Outsports by Cyd Zeigler, Dungy is no friend to our neighborhood.

In accordance to Zeigler’s piece, “Dungy … proven himself as probably the most publicly anti-homosexual man or woman in at minimum the latest history of the NFL, raising revenue to battle in opposition to exact same-intercourse marriage, and given that then publicly decrying the homosexuality of gay athletes and partnering with rabidly anti-homosexual companies and persons.”

I won’t rehash all of what Zeigler wrote, you have to have to read his story for on your own, but I will say that he writes about Dungy saying homophobic matters when Jason Collins came out in the NBA and when Michael Sam was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the NFL.

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The most troubling facet that was unveiled, at least to me, is that Dungy is a pal and supporter of right-wing Christian nationalist Pastor Andrew Wommack, who has claimed that getting gay is “three instances worse than smoking” and homosexual persons “ought to place a label across their brow, ‘This can be dangerous to your well being.'”

Dungy has been a supporter of Wommack’s ministry, and has spoken at Wommack events, and will all over again assistance Wommack’s ministry this March at an event termed Men’s Advance. Wommack’s Charis Bible College promotes antigay and anti-trans beliefs — between other matters — claiming to root them in Christian doctrine.

Which is all I needed to listen to about Dungy, pretty frankly. But the gist of Zeigler’s content articles is that NBC, which employs Dungy, is aware about his virulent anti-LGBTQ+ stance and doesn’t do nearly anything about it.

NBC wouldn’t remark on his tale. Zeigler details out that a Cincinnati Reds broadcaster, Thom Brennaman, and former MLB pitcher and ESPN analyst Curt Schilling ended up equally fired for anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. So why is NBC silent about Dungy?

I’m sorry, Dungy could possibly be the nicest guy in the environment — and lots of say he is — but extolling and magnifying loathe speech, which he is carrying out, is daily life-threatening. Dungy is almost certainly a single of these folks who says, “Hate the sin, like the sinner.” But in his complicit and outward condoning of anti-LGBTQ+ detest speech, Dungy proves he does not enjoy the sinner but fairly harbors violent wishes toward the sinner. He may well be aghast at listening to that, but he should not be.

We all know that mounting dislike speech aimed at our community is directly accountable for the improve in violence versus LGBTQ+ persons. The Advocate’s information library is whole of tales of dislike crime accidents and deaths, specifically in the past yr. It truly is been too much to handle to see it mushroom on a every day foundation. Reading our news feeds, you can develop into numb to all the death and destruction.

And the increase in despise speech from us on Twitter has been unprecedented given that Elon Musk stuck his nose in it, and that correlates to growing criminal offense from us.

Wommack is all above Twitter, thanks to approximately 80K followers who spread all his viciousness. What’s worse is that Dungy has virtually 1 million, and each mention of his affiliation with Wommack or offensive remark about us only furthers the abhorrence and ferocity. Dungy may feel when he posts a little something about gay NFL players or appears with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, or DeSatan to us, that it really is all harmless. But Dungy’s words and actions reverberate.

When people who regard and admire Dungy, notably young people today, study what he states and who he prays and friends close to with, they can only assume that it is Okay to hate us, simply because he does, and to acquire it a move further, it is Ok to despise us mainly because NBC turns a blind eye. And that is when the violence starts off.

Reinforcing this information is previous NFL star Ryan O’Callaghan, who operates with the NFL on LGBTQ+ advocacy and partnerships and is encouraging the league with outreach to the LGBTQ+ neighborhood. I asked O’Callaghan what he believed of Dungy. “I do not know Tony Dungy individually, but he desires to recognize his opinions can be hurtful to those people who glimpse up to him and only show his ignorance,” he mentioned. “I hope Mr. Dungy can find it in his Christian heart to cease judging and start off loving his neighbor.”

Zeigler spoke to former NFL participant RK Russell, who performed for Dungy in Tampa Bay and who came out as bisexual in 2019, when he was a no cost agent. “He was someone I appeared up to, currently being a Black coach and a mentor who wasn’t the stereotypical get-in-your-deal with-and-curse-you-out. It is disheartening when an individual you admire doesn’t line up with how they sense. It is upsetting,” Russell stated.

And that’s precisely how I feel.  Even even though he created his mark as a player with my workforce, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he aided them acquire one of our coveted six Tremendous Bowls, I can no lengthier set this male on a pedestal. Pardon the pun, but he doesn’t get a pass on this 1. Instead, I’m dumping Dungy into the dustbin of the NFL’s worst-moments background right up until he apologizes for all the vindictiveness toward me, a devoted Steelers supporter, and my group.

Dungy will be contacting the Los Angeles Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars wild-card sport on NBC Saturday. As a football lover, I want to observe. But as a homosexual person, I can not watch — or hear — if Dungy is broadcasting. I will not hear the phrases coming out of his mouth as a substitute, when he opens his mouth, all I will hear is detest.

Do I observe the video game and grit my teeth? Do I watch the match with the audio on mute? Do I even enjoy any a lot more football on NBC if it entails Dungy? The answer to all these concerns is no. I’ll locate a way to keep up to speed on the game, and I am grateful that I’m now up to velocity on what is actually going on with Tony Dungy.

John Casey is editor at substantial for The Advocate.

Sights expressed in The Advocate’s impression content articles are those of the writers and do not automatically depict the sights of The Advocate or our father or mother organization, equalpride.