April 1, 2009
Phyllis Schlafly, Pete Knight, Alan Keyes… and Tony Dungy?
“I’ll always remember him as a sweet, young boy. But I’ll also remember him as that young boy who was trying to change into a man and trying to find his manly identity. That’s hard to do today.”— Tony Dungy, eulogizing his 18-year-old son, Jamie, 2005
Boston Globe, November 4, 2007
Sometimes I’ve got nothing for you but my gut feeling, and most of the time (believe it or not), if I haven’t got hard facts, I keep my gut feeling to myself. But sometimes, something eats at me so much, I’m compelled to share it with you:
So why did James Dungy commit suicide?
WNYMedia.net, March 22, 2007Back in late 2005, we were saddened to hear of this story regarding James Dungy, the 18 year old son of NFL coach Tony Dungy. Why would such a fine young man abruptly kill himself? It was sad, it was tragic, and there seemingly were no answers.
But knowing Coach Dungy and his constant religious pontificating, my gut told me that his son was hiding a deep secret. My instinct told me James was gay, and if you understand the parallel universe that Christians operate in, sometimes death might be preferable to the *insert shriek here* horror of being gay.
Now my instincts are being reconfimed as I read this report in the Indianapolis Star, as Dungy was the keynote speaker at a banquet the other night for some nut group called the “Indiana Family Institute”. This organization is apparently fighting to adopt legislation to ban same-sex marriage in Indiana and also rescind hard won equal rights initiatives in the state.
“IFI is saying what the Lord says,” Dungy said. “You can take that and make your decision on which way you want to be. I’m on the Lord’s side.” …
A year or so ago when Jamie Dungy, Tony Dungy’s 19-year-old son, committed suicide, I was close friends with a co-worker who belonged to Dungy’s Northside New Era Baptist Church. Naturally we talked about the tragedy; and I was told that it was understood by some New Era members that Jamie killed himself soon after his father learned that Jamie was gay. My friend didn’t don’t know exactly what Coach Dungy said to his son, but one can imagine. My friend believes that a beautiful young man took his own life because his father refused to accept him. Ever since then, the sight of Tony Dungy makes me ill. It is one thing to believe homosexuality is wrong; it is quite another to be so rigid in that belief as to refuse to accept one’s own son. But to go public with his anti-gay self-rightiousness after what happened to Jamie is absolutely unforgivable.
His son who committed suicide was invariably described as “sensitive” and “personable”. The son was reportedly every mother’s favorite among his friends. The son was raised in a very strict overtly religious home. He was only eighteen and struggling with unidentified “problems”. It sounds like too many I knew when young, a few (thankfully few) who committed suicide because they could not reconcile their sexual orientation with their father’s representation as the ultimate outwardly successful straight man. Suicides are unbelievably painful for those that remain. It appears that his son’s death has only reinforced the father’s religiousity of intolerance.
Now, read this again:
“I’ll always remember him as a sweet, young boy. But I’ll also remember him as that young boy who was trying to change into a man and trying to find his manly identity. That’s hard to do today.”
See what I mean?
Backstory:
We Interrupt the Tony Dungy Love Fest to Remind You: He’s Still a Radical Homophobic Creep
January 12, 2009
Obama-McClurkin-Warren-Meeks-Et-Cetera Redux: Are You Ready for Gay-Basher Tony Dungy on the Obama Jesus Team?
March 31, 2009
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Filed Under: Barack Obama, Christianity, Church-State Separation, Focus on the Family/James Dobson, Homophobia, Radical Religious Right
