President Barack Obama has asked former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy to be part of his Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The move has drawn fire from Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and gay people will surely raise an eyebrow over the move. In 2006, Dungy actively raised money for an anti-gay group fighting the legalization of same-sex marriage and said that gay marriage went against “the Lord’s” values.
Unfortunately, people keep giving Dungy a pass on his hateful anti-gay positions; President George Bush had previously included Dungy on his Council on Service and Civic Participation. It’s another reminder that our equal treatment and rights are still playing third fiddle to politics and the rights of chickens.
on Apr 1st, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Ever wishing that it were not true, but political reality smacks us upside the head that it is indeed true that racial politics raises its ugly head every now & then. Coach Dungy only gets a pass on his pronounced Christian homophobia because he is an African-American who has achieved some renown in rising above the racial expectations of the NFL’s history, that has previously denied African-American persons of worth the esteemed posts in the past which they were more than qualified to fill with much more experience & wisdom than their “non-colored” competitors. So, in fulfilling the much too delayed rewards that have been previously denied to the more than merely “competent” non-white candidates, we now find all of our American Football fans hoping that the superior team supersedes the artificial limitations that once denied the truly superior players the trophies they deserved.
on Apr 2nd, 2009 at 12:21 am
I agree that Dungy gets a pass. Unfortunately even on this website black gay men like LZ Granderson who recently got a GLAAD award defend Dungy because he does work with “at risk” black men through the lens of Christianity.
on Apr 4th, 2009 at 12:19 am
Given the many seemingly “competing interests” for a place in the sun, it’s unfortunately not that surprising that many individual American citizens find themselves “cross-referenced” in apparently incompatible subsets of freedom. Well, I guess that the resolution resides in the varied individuals casting their lot with their most oppressed attributes. Repeatedly caught between the Scylla and Charybidis, which oppression hurts more? Sort of a “Sophie’s Choice” of citizenry outrage. Seriously sad that we are still forced to cast our lot with one oppression versus another, seriously sad for the future of democracy.
on Apr 4th, 2009 at 8:47 am
I find Dungy’s style of homophobia to be far more damaging to us than the Fred Phelps style. Most people, other than Phelps’ family and followers, know he’s a nut while most people, especially those in the media, adore Dungy.
on Apr 4th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Barack Obama is a triangulating pragmatist. He is Clinton Redux…and I mean Bill, but Hillary would have done the same. Conserva Dems, or neo-liberals, are men and women who judge the base by its ability to do harm to his only one goal…..re-election as president in 2012.
DOMA and DADT is being shoved, along with us, under the bus. I predicted this sad outcome before he named Warren to fill the Inaugurational invocation slot. As an AA with bi-racial ” is he black enough” personna, the down low is something to fear, and AA homophobia is part of the ubermasculine definition of AA maledom.
A man secure in his heterosexuality would not politically triangulate between equal and inferior CU rights. His parents - that white ” race traitor” mother (defined by homophobes) and that African n word,- thinking that they could legally marry in the USA. The law, forget it, had GOD wanted races to mix, he would not have created different continents. Forget forced migration for slavery…..since when did homophobes and Uncle Tommy’s ever need to use logic.
on Apr 4th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
As I asked after the one Democratic presidential debate held before a majority African-American audience (was it hosted by the NAACP?) why did Barack Obama have to immediately & laughingly interrupt Joe Biden “to clarify” that Obama went to get HIV tested, not with Biden who had just tried to make the point of de-stigmatizing HIV testing amongst minority groups, but his Mrs. Obama? It was a real laugh riot. The hell with questioning African-American straight male norms as a possible contributing factor to the continued spread of HIV amongst African-American women through the Down Low shame & secrecy. In one revealing moment, we were put on notice that Obama would rather shore up his momentarily questioned masculinity (can you imagine the “scandal” of two straight guys supporting each other by being tested together!) rather than support the point Biden tried to make that HIV is not exclusively a gay concern. You would have thought that Boy George had just spoken rather than staid old straight Joe.
The lesser of two evils once again had to be chosen in 2008, not the best person for the job of President. And, as we continue to see the financial thieves being further rewarded with BILLIONS of common taxpayers’ dollars (whether they’re even Americans or not!) we get once again a clearer picture of who really matters most in American politics. The S&L Scandal brought to us by John McCain & the other “Keating Five” members of Congress will look like forgotten change at a deli counter before the bankers wring out the last dime that the ill-informed American taxpayer will be paying by the TRILLIONS!
These social differences are best played off one another to keep the focus from the true governmental & corporate criminals who are looting our nation’s treasure daily. Gay or straight, black or white, it will only get worse for all of us if we go the way of Argentina under the British bankers 100 years ago, or Japan during the 1990’s. Then again, at least the Japanese harmed themselves & then finally corrected the situation. But we Americans are acting just like Argentina when its wealth was being sapped by the failing British imperialists. “Oh my God, the sky will fall in if we don’t pay off the bankers!” And yes, there are gay bankers, and black bankers, and Democratic Party bankers, as well as Republican Party bankers. Does the political future of Coach Dungy seem all that important in comparison?
on Apr 5th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
I’m through with Obama, he is as phony as a three dollar bill, he will never get re-elected on my vote. Equality my ass.