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Super Bowl hero warns of 'anarchy' if NY approves gay marriage

By Jason Kessler, CNN
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Same-sex marriage leads to 'anarchy'?
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • The New York State Assembly approves a same-sex marriage bill
  • The bill also must clear the Republican-controlled State Senate where its fate is uncertain
  • Former New York Giant David Tyree is a hero from Super Bowl XLII
  • He disapproves of gay marriage on religious and secular grounds

(CNN) -- Former New York Giants receiver David Tyree's celebrated catch in the closing seconds of Super Bowl XLII was pivotal to his team's victory. Now out of football, he is trying to claim a last-minute win over another foe -- same-sex marriage.

On the same day that the New York State Assembly approved a same-sex marriage bill, Tyree warned of dire consequences if the legislation becomes law.

The bill's passage would "be the beginning of our country sliding toward ... anarchy," he said

Tyree made the comments in a video released Wednesday by the National Organization for Marriage, which is spearheading opposition to the bill. The legislation must now clear the Republican-controlled State Senate where its fate is uncertain.

His disapproval of gay marriage is based on religious as well as secular grounds, Tyree said.

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"Marriage is the only relationship that actually mirrors the relationship with God," he said.

He also argued that same-sex parents are ill-equipped to raise a child of the opposite sex.

"You can't teach something that you don't have," Tyree said in the video. "So two men will never be able to teach a woman how to be a woman."

It is not justifiable to alter a long-standing institution "because a minority -- an influential minority -- has ... an agenda," he said.

In an opinion column for Yahoo News, the group's chairman, Maggie Gallagher, said Tyree told her he decided to speak out after his former teammate Michael Strahan declared his support for gay marriage last week.

The video appeared to take a page out of the playbook of the group's adversary, the Human Rights Campaign, which has released a steady stream of video testimonials from celebrity advocates of gay marriage in recent months. Uma Thurman, Whoopi Goldberg, Sean Avery of the New York Rangers and others have appeared in their videos.

Tyree seemed to chide notables who oppose same-sex marriage, but keep their opposition to themselves. "I am disappointed when ... not enough guys ... lift up something as honorable and near to God's heart as marriage," he said.

"We're doing God an injustice by not making his heart known to our country."