Tim Tebow: Rolling Stone piece praising him attacked for implying CO Springs hates gays

Tim Tebow and mom for FOTF.

Not that Gazette editorialist Wayne Laugesen is anti-Tebow. He just didn't like writer Taibbi's insinuations about allegedly homophobic Coloradans.

In his latest NFL piece, Taibbi wrote:

Tim Tebow's hyper-Christian aw-shucks persona is not easy to like, and the fact that it so perfectly fits in with the huge masses of gay-hating Focus on the Family types in Colorado (remember Ted Haggard!) makes the whole Broncos picture doubly unappealing.

"Unappealing to anti-Christian bigots," responded Laugesen, who argues that "those concerned with touchdowns and playoff berths don't care much about the religious preferences of players on the field."

He then analyzed Taibbi's "clumsy Colorado insult" like so:

• Tebow opposes abortion, which was the subtle message of his tasteful Super Bowl ad. This does not make him a hater of gays. If he fits in with haters, Taibbi should present us the evidence.

• Focus on the Family opposes gay marriage. Calling it a hate group is extreme, but Taibbi gets a pass on that one.

• Haggard has never been a "gay-hating" type. Before his gay-prostitute scandal, Haggard insisted on including the predominantly gay Pikes Peak Metropolitan Community Church in the choir of an ecumenical Easter service. He welcomed gays to the service with open arms. Haggard has long fought to give same-sex couples domestic partnership rights. Footage of gay-bashing sermons does not exist.

• This pro-religion, conservative editorial column -- serving the home of the so-called masses of gay haters -- defends the rights of same sex couples to wed more than almost any daily newspaper in the country. It advocates plus-one benefits for government employees and opposed California's gay marriage ban. It opposes "don't ask, don't tell." The limited-government values that define this newspaper and much of Colorado are as gay-friendly as public policy gets. Few of our readers, in this home to "masses" of haters, seem to object.

Just as interesting as Laugesen's take have been comments from dozens of Gazette readers -- among them one take apparently from Ted Haggard's former masseuse and more, Mike Jones -- and the results of a Gazette poll about Tebow's likability. Page down to see the numbers, and a sampling from the conversation: