The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ

David Tyree, the virulently homophobic former NFL star recently hired by the New York Giants to mentor their young football players, has a long history of trading on his fame to raise money for anti-gay Christians, according to a disturbing new report from Religious Right watchdog Rachel Tabachnick.

Tabachnick is the researcher who last week revealed Tyree's deep ties to the New Apostolic Reformation movement, a vehemently homophobic and aggressively political brand of Christianity that believes demons are responsible for the world's problems and vows to take over society and government for Jesus. She briefly touched on Tyree's relationship with Joseph Mattera (pictured), one of the most vicious theocrats in the country and a rising star of the Religious Right.

In her latest report, Tabachnick dives deep into Mattera's fundamentalist and anti-gay activities:

Thanks to Tyree, Joseph Mattera can be seen in the New York society pages at fundraising galas rubbing shoulders with New York Giants Eli Manning and Tiki Barber, NBA stars, beauty queens, business leaders, and movie stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Hugh Jackman. Many of these figures are, no doubt, unaware that they are helping one of the nation's most zealous campaigners for biblical law establish a foothold in New York by funding the foundation led by his wife and co-pastor, Joyce Mattera...

According to its website, the mission of Joyce Mattera's nonprofit organization, Children of the City, is "to reach at-risk inner-city youth and their families." The group has long used Tyree and its at-risk intervention agenda to attract public exposure and win liberal support for the Matteras. Mattera has written about doing "good works" through Children of the City to gain traction in New York City for their conservative religious campaigns...

More, after the break.

Mattera is so extreme, Tabachnick writes, that he works to build a "biblical theocracy" where "the next generation [can] legally enforce commandments one through four." He also blamed last year's shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School on abortion, not guns.

She concludes:

This [Mattera] is the Religious Right leader that David Tyree has helped to empower in New York, aiding him and his wife in establishing their enterprises in the community, and drawing unsuspecting funders to grace the pages of society magazines in promotion of the Children of the City nonprofit. This past week, Tyree was publicized as having evolved in his views about homosexuality and that he was repentant of his words of three years ago.

But perhaps it's not his personal views, whether they have evolved or not, that matter most. The most recent David Tyree Charity Ball raising funds for Children of the City was held in June, publicized in sports pages lauding Tyree's life choices as guiding his selection of charitable partners. As director of player development for the New York Giants, Tyree will be able to expand his role of leading his unsuspecting teammates and others into the sphere of the theocratic NAR apostles.

Indeed. How much longer will the Giants ignore these disturbing revelations?

Click here for Tabachnick's full report.