Denver Broncos Respond To Petition For Team To Produce 'It Gets Better' Video

WASHINGTON -- The Denver Broncos have responded to an online campaign urging the team to make a video for the It Gets Better project, indicating that they won't be jumping on the anti-bullying project anytime soon.

Nearly 8,000 individuals have signed onto a Change.org petition for the Broncos and their high-profile quarterback Tim Tebow to become the first NFL team to create a video for It Gets Better, which was started by sex columnist Dan Savage and his husband in September 2010 in response to the disturbing number of suicides by teenagers who said they were being bullied for being gay or perceived to be gay.

In 2010, Tebow controversially starred in an ad for the right-wing group Focus on the Family, which opposes LGBT rights. In fact, the organization has argued that there "is no evidence that homosexuals, as a class, are discriminated against in the present society."

Petition organizer and Broncos fan Andy Szekeres said an It Gets Better video would help Tebow and the Broncos say, "We may have differences on abortion and gay marriage, but stopping kids from killing themselves is an issue we can all get behind."

But in a statement to The Huffington Post, Broncos spokesman Patrick Smyth gave no indication that the team would be participating anytime soon.

"The Denver Broncos are committed to tolerance, acceptance and respect for all in the community," said Smyth. "The National Football League is currently working with USA Network on its 'Characters Unite' campaign combating prejudice and intolerance, and our organization is in full support of that movement to help raise awareness for this very important cause."

Smyth declined to provide a specific comment on It Gets Better.

"I commend the Broncos and all of the NFL for their work on a Characters Unite program to stand up against prejudice and intolerance but that is not enough or the same as standing in support of the It Gets Better Project," responded Szekeres.

"The Broncos have a rare opportunity to make a difference and give hope to thousands of LGBT youth across the country as the first NFL team to make an It Gets Better Video. I think I can speak for the thousands of people who signed this petition when I urge the Broncos to show the country that Colorado and the Broncos stand against bullying LGBT teens and youth," he added. "The Broncos have the chance to lead the league and stand up for one of the country's must vulnerable populations."

In the last few months, the Philadelphia Phillies, Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants have all made videos.

"While any effort to confront discrimination should be celebrated, the nearly 8,000 people who've signed this petition are hoping the Broncos will stand up and condemn a particular type of discrimation: anti-LGBT bullying," said Michael Jones, senior organizer at Change.org. "Scores of Major League Baseball teams stepped up to the plate and created 'It Gets Better' videos, yet no NFL team has publicly committed to speaking out against anti-LGBT bullying. That makes this a unique opportunity for the Denver Broncos to listen to their fans, who are urging the team by the thousands to break new ground and become the first pro football team to create an 'It Gets Better' video of their own."

Comments

[RussellHJr]

10:07 PM on 01/09/2012

I agree with the Denver Broncos reply. Let's be real here. All kids are subject to bullying...and they can be bullied for more reasons than you can count. And further, a kid who is a bully at one school can become the victim of bullying at another school. So the truth is, it is far better for an organization like the Broncos to join an organization that simply denounces bullying of all kinds.

You would be surprised what kids can be bullied over. My daughter is a devout Christian. She tells me that at her school, kids are afraid to even let others know they are Christian because to do so opens you up to bullying. She said she asked one girl she suspected of being Christian, what her religious views were. She said the girl got a very panicked look on her face so my daughter quickly said, "I am Christian." She said the look of relief that washed over the girls face was palpable, and the girl quickly smiled and said, "So am I." She admitted she was afraid to say so because she was afraid of how she would be treated.

It just depends on what part of the country you live in and this varies within every state.

[Ryan Kanagy]

10:57 AM on 12/25/2011

Jesus loves gay people, Jesus loves straight people. He loves transgender, lesbian, and bisexual people. God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He loves people where they are, but his hope is that people will choose to believe that he died and rose again to conquer death and sin. Jesus doesn't hate LGTB people, and neither do I. He preached love and acceptance. He never once condemned those the religious leaders of the day deemed "unclean" and unworthy. He scolded the religious leaders for their arrogant ways. I would like to know where this "sowing the wind" verse is that people keep talking about. Anyway, Merry Christmas to everyone on this blog. Happy and safe new year with family and friends.

[RussellHJr]

10:13 PM on 01/09/2012

You are correct, he does love everyone. he however does not approve of everyone's behavior. he does as he asked us to do...hate the sin but love the sinner. And when he stopped the crowd from stoning the prostitute, he didn't tell her to go, he told her to go and sin no more.

[Apple Lollipops]

11:05 AM on 12/23/2011

No sir these are children we are talking about.

[Ryan Kanagy]

11:02 AM on 12/25/2011

Dude that word is so redneck, it's not even funny. Gays and lesbians are not "queers." They are people who just want them and their partners to be treated like any normal couple with the right to get married. I don't necessarily agree with gay marriage, but I agree that people should not be bullied in schools because of their sexual orientation, and they shouldn't be called derogatory names like that.

[LDoren]

05:37 PM on 12/22/2011

I've never been told by an anti-bullying advocate at what age bullying becomes acceptable. 18? Because if bullying is by definition wrong, shouldn't these people be calling for people to stop bullying Tim Tebow? No? Why not? I agree it would be absurd to call for people to stop bullying Tebow, but then if Tebow were 17 and his classmates mate the same statements to him that Tebow gets...is that then bullying?

[BlackWidowPilot]

10:44 PM on 12/23/2011

It is never justified, citizen. Mr. Tebow is through his actions publicly supporting the euphemistically-named Focus on the Family organization being a perpetrator of bullying, not a victim.

The blowback directed at Mr. Tebow echoes the old Biblical warning about sowing the wind...

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

PROTESTant

[Latina on the Right]

05:19 PM on 12/22/2011

This is such BS...screaming tolerance on one end and bullying, yes BULLYING Tebow on the other! Where are the groups to stop Christians from being bullied? Oh that's right THERE AREN'T ANY! No other NFL teams have agreed to this so it sounds like a personal attack on Tebow, who is but ONE on the Broncos...Hypocrisy at it's best...STOP TRYING TO BULLY PEOPLE WHO DON'T AGREE WITH YOU!! LET IT GO AND MOVE ON!!!

[BlackWidowPilot]

10:50 PM on 12/23/2011

Mr. Tebow is not a victim. Christians are not being bullied. We are the majority, we are free to practice our faith, and we are not a persecuted minority by any stretch of the imagination.

Mr. Tebow has publicly aided and abetted a well-documented anti-gay pseudo-Christian organization whose central effort is to push a twisted authoritarian political agenda with attacking those who are gay as its central strategy. Focus on the Family cares nothing for honest Biblical scholarship, nor science which has demonstrated overwhelmingly that human sexual orientation is written in our DNA and our biology beyond a shred of a doubt. They also deny the sum total of research into the subject by the mental health profession, and the well-established and thoroughly justified stance of the APA, the AMA, et al.

Do you remember what the Bible says about sowing the wind? Mr. Tebow has sided with willful ignorance and bigotry as espoused by Focus on the Family, and he is now reaping as he has sown.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

PROTEStant

[Boaneges]

11:47 PM on 12/23/2011

SEWING THE WIND??? WHAT TRANSLATION & WHAT VERSE:::AND:::your so-called SCIENCE can be countered and proven FALSE---I'd be glad to provide you with information that would 'ENLIGHTEN' your intellect: if you so dare to debate ME on this topic----although your enthusiasim for the subject is quite entertaining, I believe you do us all a disservice by not proclaiming, or citing your arguments to the contrary....

[RussellHJr]

11:09 PM on 01/10/2012

You would be wrong BlackWidowPilot. Christians can and are bullied. One book written by gay activists actively calls for their peers to bully Christians if those Christians will not give up or bend on their beliefs. Maybe you've heard of it? It's called "After the Ball." And you don't have to be in the minority to be bullied, contrary to popular belief.

In my work, I saw a video of a man stabbed to death in front of many people...more than enough people by a hundred fold to have stopped it.

A famous case in New York saw a woman get repeatedly stabbed to death over a period of about a half hour as the attacker left and came back. People did nothing other than to holler down a couple of times for him to leave the woman alone. Which is why he left, but he came back twice, and finished the job on the 3rd time he stabbed her. Why does this happen? People are afraid to get involved. This doesn't just happen with violent crime. It happens with anything controversial. Most people don't want to get involved.

[ericbballcourt]

05:11 PM on 12/22/2011

overheard at Huff Post earlier today:
"Guys! Guys! Check out this scoop- Tim Tebow hates gays and wants them to be bullied! Yess!"
"Christmas has come early for us!"
"You said 'Christmas,' you're fired!"

[RussellHJr]

11:15 PM on 01/10/2012

OK, now that's just plain funny, I don't care who ya are!

[StewartIIIHP]

04:58 PM on 12/22/2011

NewsBusters: Lefty Media Blame Tebow for Broncos' Inaction on Anti-Bullying Campaign
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/erin-r-brown/2011/12/22/lefty-media-blame-tebow-broncos-inaction-anti-bullying-campaign

[BlackWidowPilot]

10:51 PM on 12/23/2011

A link to a thoroughly discredited right wing propaganda site is not going to add up to a cogent rebuttal, citizen.

Try again.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

PROTESTant

[RussellHJr]

11:23 PM on 01/10/2012

Being an active independent, and having previously been a member of both the democratic party and the republican party, I can tell you this. Every news source is biased. Every news source has been thoroughly discredited. It is what it is. But the sheep on both sides blindly follow the news feeds that have the flavor they prefer and look with disdain at the news feeds that do not have the proper flavor. It is what it is. And sadly, both the left and right wings are used to keep the people in disunity. When people learn this, and learn to stop looking at these things like cheerleaders for their local sports team, then the people will break free.

[SamMargules]

12:13 AM on 12/23/2011

DEY TOOK UR JOBS!!!!

[soapstar303]

05:10 AM on 12/23/2011

Why are you directly implying that all members of the LGBT community are pedophiles? There is no evidence to support your claim. Please be more educated before making comments like these.

[RMS Queen Mary]

10:47 AM on 12/22/2011

Ummm...what were they thinking even asking the question? When I was in high school, the BIGGEST bullies were the football players. DUH!!!!

[BlackWidowPilot]

10:53 PM on 12/23/2011

LOL!!! Too true, sad to say. It just seems to prove once again that with great strength comes great responsibility, but unless that sense of duty is *taught* by one's parents, more often than not only mischief will follow, including bullying by the physically powerful.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

PROTESTAnt

[paul macleod]

10:05 AM on 12/22/2011

while we all should condemn bullying of any kind..not one of us should do so just for GAY people... that bends the thought process for most people and would not be true or productive... most do not support the gay movement... Christians know what the bible has to say about this and , yes, we know about the twisting of the words to make it sound right.. but we know the truth.. this activity is an abomination and should not be supported. except to help those involved to get it right...

[nevitta357]

11:49 AM on 12/22/2011

According to your book of divine truth, eating shellfish, or pork, wearing clothes of different fabrics and planting different crops in the same field are abominations too. Sounds to me like the the men who pretended that they were speaking for God when they wrote that book didn't know what they were talking about.

[baddgolfer]

03:10 PM on 12/22/2011

Impotant to understand the difference between the Old and New Testament. The Old Testament is the Torah, or the law that Jewish people obey. There are a lot of dietary laws and such like you mentioned. Christians are not bound by these laws.

I have often wondered this about can a gay person be a Christian. Personally, I think a person can perform homosexual acts and be "saved," but they cannot be a homosexual and be saved. I know this sounds confusing, but let me explain.

Being a Christian means that you can be forgiven of anything, being a thief, murderer, homosexual, or anything else you want to put in there. However, the first step to becoming a Christian is not accepting Jesus as your Savior, it is admitting you have a short coming and need to be "saved" in the first place. People who hold onto any shortcoming and say, "There is nothing wrong with what I am doing, I do not need to change, " miss that first crucial step to becoming a Christian and the trasformation of their life never occurs.

[Joe Falcone]

10:02 AM on 12/22/2011

Please...what a waste of time. Now days, anyone who even gets an insult hurled their way is a self-proclaimed "victim of bullying" Just grow a pair and move on. As a Broncos fan, I'm glad they're eschewing this PC garbage. And can anyone tell me why this feckless "It Gets Better" group should be the least bit surprised that a right leaning individual in Tim Tebow would not exactly embrace, let alone endorse, the self-perceived woes of the gay community. Really? Who's endorsement are they going to go after next, Rick Santorum? Rick Perry? And then act all hurt when they get turned down?

The NFL is not in the business of politics. let it go.

[paul Bosnyak III]

09:53 AM on 12/22/2011

Why is it when a person of integrity takes a stance everyone gets all offended. It seems those who are opposed to that stance need that person or individuals approval. Yet those whose stance they are opposed to want nor desire the same from those seemingly offended by a consistant stance founded secure.

[sf1000000]

09:50 AM on 12/22/2011

In 2010, Tebow controversially starred in an ad for the right-wing group Focus on the Family, which opposes LGBT rights. In fact, the organization has argued that there "is no evidence that homosexuals, as a class, are discriminated against in the present society."

and there is NO EVIDENCE TO PROVE THAT GAYS CAN CHANGE IN fact there is evidence that gays are discriminated against all the time and FOCUS ON THE FAMILY should really be Focus on the Family, if YOU are like OUR FAMILIES..If the Bronco's don't want to get on the band wagon for IT GETS BETTER FINE...the LGBT community can just start boycotting the adevertisers on the stations that carrry Bronco games..Does the NAME COORS mean anything to any body? Might look up Coors and Gay rights and Boycott the products of these companies..Buds a better better anyway !! OBAMA 2012

[Jon Toepper]

03:41 PM on 12/22/2011

I will gladly drink more colors now!

[yurdreamis]

09:36 AM on 12/22/2011

WOW....Girl Scouts breaking up...AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL ! We were taught....to respect, help, tell the truth, and assist others. this article shows what IGNORANT PIGS THE LEADERS ARE !!! What scares you .....that she will give you "TRANSGENDER COODIES AND MAKE ALL YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS TRANSGENDERS ALSO? THAT YOUR COUNTRY CLUBS WILL SHUN YOU., well they should for being the insensitive ignorant pigs you are ! OMG what next....SHAME ON YOU, YOU HAVE NO SOUL, SYMPATHY, HEAVEN FORBID YOUR CHILD CAME TO YOU AND PROFESSED THEY WERE GAY , would you throw them out of the house? You are the dangerous people in our population, the ignorant, uninformed, heartless !!!!

[Boaneges]

11:55 PM on 12/23/2011

its a choice, not a birthright.......attraction does not imply "intercourse"......

[BlackWidowPilot]

04:22 PM on 12/24/2011

You received your degree in Psychology at what accredited university?

Psychiatry (MD) perhaps?

Human biology maybe?

Enlighten me.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

PROTESTant

[USA90815]

12:50 AM on 12/22/2011

Tebow is a coward.

[Joe Falcone]

10:03 AM on 12/22/2011

Anyone who publicly worships Jesus Christ and espouses family values in this anti-Christian country is anything BUT a coward.

[RMS Queen Mary]

10:59 AM on 12/22/2011

Anyone who publicly worships Jesus and espouses "family values" is a fraud.
REAL Christians don't have to run their mouths about how "Christian" they are, because it shows in the way they treat others. And all this "family values" crap completely ignores the fact that every gay man and lesbian is part of SOMEONE'S family, and they're also part of GOD'S family. The Bible has a LOT to say about a LOT of things, most of which fundamentalists choose to ignore as they cherry-pick which of God's laws they want to promote. These are people who don't even have the b*lls to admit that they're just bigots--they take the cowardly approach of hiding behind "religion." I'm guessing that God's not buying it any more than the gay community does.