This Colt's a Mustang: Tony Dungy and the Offense of Truth

Unwavering values and a quiet strength are Tony Dungy's hallmarks. The Super Bowl-winning coach of the Indianapolis Colts makes no secret of his religious faith and the fact that he places it above all else in his life. His Christian beliefs have been somewhat public for some time now, but recent comments by Dungy have thrust this area of his life onto the national stage, and are now being unfairly attacked.

At an awards dinner held by the Indiana Family Institute recently, Dungy declared his support for the Institute's efforts at convincing lawmakers to amend the state constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

"I appreciate the stance they're taking, and I embrace that stance," Dungy said. "We're not trying to downgrade anyone else, but we're trying to promote the family - family values the Lord's way."

While most of us could guess this would be Dungy's position, the controversy arose after he made his views public. The response from the gay community was predictable.

"When the head coach publicly states that part of the Colts fan base should be second-class citizens, you can't expect those same fans to support the team." So says Bil Browning, operator of a blog site focusing on homosexual issues.

The hypocrisy by the gay community in reaction to Dungy's comments is astounding.

Not only was Dungy not classifying homosexuals as second-class citizens, he unwittingly exposed the double-standard of the gay agenda.

Dungy is at the pinnacle of his chosen profession. He coaches, trains, teaches, and builds his players into a winning team. No one can dispute his success on the field, and isn't that what homosexual advocates have been preaching for decades? That it doesn't matter if a businessman or actor or politician or anyone else is gay, as long as they do their job and do it well? That our bedroom activities are personal matters and off-limits for public debate? Most major corporations go to great lengths to make sexual orientation a non-issue by teaching employees to treat everyone equally regardless of their beliefs. Job performance is the yardstick by which they're measured, not whether they're attracted to men or women.

But in the same breath, these same people want to criticize Dungy for having personally-held beliefs in conflict with theirs, even though his job performance is the best in his profession. As long as you fall in line with the gay mantra your job performance is the ultimate measure. But if you refuse to drink the kool-aid, suddenly your job success is irrelevant, and in fact should not even be brought up in the context of the conversation. All that matters then is that you don't subscribe to the cult of tolerance, which is code-speak for acceptance and affirmation.

Make no mistake: Had Dungy made these comments in his coaching apparel during a post-game interview when he clearly represents the Colts organization, I too would question his timing. But when he makes the comments as a private citizen, invited to a ceremony honoring his commitment to family values (the same values by the way, that helped him build a winning team), then they should be left alone. Yes he's a public figure and yes what he says carries more weight than some guy off the street. But he's also a human, entitled to privately held beliefs as we all are, and entitled to express those beliefs without fear of reprisal.

Kudos to the Colts ownership for defending Dungy's right to express himself in this way. May the Colts enjoy Tony's brand of success for years to come.