With news that the New York Giants have hired the team’s former wide receiver David Tyree as their director of player development, the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign (HRC) went into overdrive today to lambast the decision. The player made a name for himself on and off the field as much for his athletic prowess as for his provocative statements and Tweets in 2011 over the nature of being gay. “There is no scientific evidence to support the claim of being born gay,” Tyree claimed at the time.
“When did Tyree decide to be straight?” Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin said in a statement. “The idea that someone can change their sexual orientation or gender identity is ludicrous, and the New York Giants are risking their credibility by hiring someone who publicly advocates this junk science. His opposition to basic legal equality aside, David Tyree’s proselytizing of such dangerous practices goes against the positive work the Giants organization has done in recent years.”
The Giants were quick to point out that Tyree’s opinions were his and his alone. “[He] was expressing his personal view, and that is not the view of the Giants organization.”
But it wasn’t just a random slip. Tyree issued a series of statements that year that made him a punching bag for supporters of same-sex marriage. He also stated, when asked if he would trade his remarkable 2008 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII to stop gay marriage that he “probably would.”
“What I know will happen if this does come forth is this will be the beginning of our country sliding toward, it is a strong word, but anarchy,” Tyree said in a video produced by the National Organization for Marriage. “The moment we have, if you trace back even to other cultures, other countries, that will be the moment where our society in itself loses its grip with what’s right. Being the fact that I firmly believe that God created and ordained marriage between a man and a woman, I believe that that’s something that should be fought for at all costs. So I’ll lay down everything I am to preserve the honor and integrity of the God that I serve.”
David Tyree will handle programs focusing on career transition, player assistance, and training and development.
