I’ve been debating about covering this Tim Tebow interview for days. Tebow spoke to People Magazine and while these quotes made me roll my eyes and sigh several different times, I also think he’s mostly harmless. In case you don’t know, Tebow is famous for a few different things. One, he’s super-religious and one of the most famous saving-himself-for-marriage virgins in America. Two, he’s an ex-pro-football player who is now trying to be a pro baseball player. He appeals to that segment of super-churchy People Magazine readers who think Jennifer Garner is the only “good one” in Hollywood. So, what does Tebow have to say to People? Well, he wants to adopt a child from every continent. Sigh…
He wants to adopt: “I want to adopt so badly. I can’t wait. It’s definitely something I see in my future. You know what I think would be awesome? If I could adopt a kid from every continent. I think that would be a pretty cool goal. I want to sit around the dinner table every night and see kids from Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, right here in the States. How cool would that be? It’s one of my favorite things to dream about.”
He’s single right now: “Of course I want a woman who I’m attracted to. That’s a very big part of it. But I’m looking for someone who loves Jesus and loves people. Someone who makes me want to be a better person for her. And she has to want kids, and has to want to adopt. That’s a requirement.”
It’s not about race for him: “I think when you look at God’s family, it’s not about color. Love knows no color. I want my kids to grow up with an appreciation for every single person, no matter what they look like. That’s what unity looks like to me: knowing that you can love people who aren’t the same as you are. I want to teach that message to my kids; I want them to live it.”
I’m sure there’s data to back me up, but I’ve noticed that there’s more of a movement in the past 10-15 years for Evangelical Christians to go for foreign adoptions. There are Evangelicals adopting orphans, refugees and children in need, and I think that’s a good thing… for the most part. But I do wonder if those Evangelicals – a demographic in America which is mostly white – really do embrace the multiculturalism and multiracial backgrounds of their new family members, or whether they’re just imposing their whiteness on racial-minority kids with the idea that “we’re all the same, it doesn’t really matter.” Anyway, I don’t think Tebow has really thought this through.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
He seems like a nice man and wanting to adopt children from different races/backgrounds is great. But something just seems “off” and I can’t put my finger on it.
There’s a lot that seems “off” about him. And at this point, I’m suspicious of anyone who claims to have been great friends with Aaron Hernandez while in college.
I agree. It almost seems as if he is wanting to collect people. I don’t think he means any harm, though. However, I know little to next to nothing about this man.
That was my impression, too (collect a kid).
For background, his father is a missionary in the Philippines and has been for many years. Tebow was born there and has a long history of working with orphans in Asia since he was a teenager.
Yeah, Tebow strikes me as a classic “dumb jock” (my apologies to former NFL star quarterback Pat Hayden who I think was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford). Nice guy but conversations with him wouldn’t go far unless they were about football or Jesus. And I say this as someone who attends a baptist church.
If he’s not gay, I will eat my hat.
Parce through his interview from that perspective. “I want to meet a woman that I’m atttacted to” “She needs to want to adopt” etc etc
Have heard blinds that seem to confirm this. If it’s true, I feel a lot more compassion about his performative religiosity because I’ve seen friends go through similar struggles to reconcile their faith with who they are. If not, I think he’s a bit of a tool. Regardless, his collect ’em all approach to adopting smacks of a “civilizing mission” – yuck!
“performative religiosity”
What a phrase. I love this. So apt to some of the things I’ve experienced in my short lifetime
Yeah, my gaydar pings hard.
Yup. Gay.
He is so repressed he makes me nervous from TV.
I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but I have to ask; is he not having sex with anybody because of his belief? Really? He is a 29 year old big beautiful hunk who is not having sex. What is he waiting for to get married? Something is not right here.
Gaydar pinging!! The virgin thing is a giveaway for me. That and you can’t find a partner you’re attracted to. Uh huh.
In more religious groups where the whole ‘no sex until marriage’ thing is stricter you can find adult virgins in their 20’s and sometimes as old as 30. Usually the older ones are the ones whose parents or grandparents were involved with that church since the person was a little kid, maybe before. An ex of mine who had exposure to one of those religions knew of a guy who was like 31 and still a virgin, but his last engagement broke off partially because he said he didn’t want to wait anymore and told his fiancé that they could just “confess and repent later”, and partially because the couple was fighting all the time.
Straight, evangelical star athletes are married before they’re 25, they are not perpetually single.
To those who think that being at virgin at his age is a red flag, I wonder if you’d accept similar assumptions about your own more unusual sexual choices? It’s certainly rare and countercultural but I’ve known attractive, sex positive people who waited, and usually it was because of a considered, deeply personal reason – external motivation doesn’t really cut it for such a tough practice. I agree Tim pings hard, but not because ‘successfull/attractive/older people can’t be virgins’ – for me it’s how he talks about women/marriage/virginity. The fact that it’s so wrapped up in performance suggests that’s all it is… a show. The kids I knew who were this extra about being virgins usually weren’t. Wish it wasn’t such a big deal, and people could live their truth without judgment, gay, straight, sexually active or not.
The being a virgin doesn’t have to mean that he’s gay. I would have been married for over 20 years to a Christian man had I been a virgin back in the day; he wanted to marry me but “had to marry a virgin” due to his faith. He married one – both were 36 years old – and then he called me a month later because she wouldn’t let him spank her. I did relish telling him that he could’ve married me instead, but since he had to have his virgin, for him to ask his wife to satisfy his fetish instead.
I do wonder about Tebow, though, due to his ‘requirements” sounding sketchy. And the “child collecting” is just repulsive to me. Children aren’t lost puppies to adopt; they need to know their background and culture also – a la Angelina Jolie’s way of parenting.
I feel the “off.” When he starts talking about “requirements” for a woman, like she’s a computer processor, it gets sketchy for me.
The privilege with this man is so immense, I just can’t with him.
Exactly. Makes me wonder what kind of requirements he will demand from his kids. I’m not getting a fatherly vibe from him at all.
He talks about women and children like some people talk about buying pets. That’s why it’s creepy.
Start with “…no matter what they look like.”
Yeah, I hope he thinks this through more. Kids who are transracially adopted have high rates of severe depression and major identity issues. So while this might seem pretty cool to him, if he’s not woke enough to teach his kids more than we’re all God’s children, there’s a chance his kids are going to have pretty tough time.
It’s like he wants to collect a whole set of Pokémon cards or something. Kids aren’t collectibles, and you don’t get points for creating a mini U.N.
Anyway, good luck finding one in Antarctica.
OMG–You nailed right on the head. Kids aren’t collectables. I had to look this guy up and found he is still in his 20s (almost 30), but seems to have a mentatlity that is rather immature if you ask me.
Hmmm. It didn’t work out too well for Josephine Baker’s kids.
The trend of evangelicals adopting foreign children is actually causing a lot of problems.
For starters, there aren’t nearly as many children worldwide who are LEGALLY available to adopt as people might assume. Thus there is a lot of sketchiness. Parents are coerced to give up their children, often with lies. Many don’t really understand what they’re giving up, they’re told they can come and get their child from the orphanage when they’re able. There’s also the issue of orphans being taken away even when they have other family or communities who very much want to care for for them.
Secondly, foreign adoption isn’t ideal. The ideal is always for children to remain in their home country, and their culture. There are times when this may not be possible, but at the moment in many countries the financial gain from Western adoptions means they’re prioritised ahead of local adoptions.
Finally, there’s been an enormous amount of abuse of adopted children in the Evangelical community. Many have no interest in giving adopted children the extra care they need, and some go as far as sending them back or adopting them out to someone else when the child isn’t automatically the perfect little American Christian. It’s a huge cultural problem, not a matter of a few bad eggs here and there.
Is it harder to adopt internationally? I know, ih my country, it’s nearly impossible for foreign people to adopt our children, but then it seems like Madonna adopted her kids without any trouble.
Madonnas adoptions were controversial even in Malawi as she skirted some residency rules but was able to get a court exemption. There are however tonnes of other countries without too many restrictive laws. Some that dont even require that the home environment be inspected prior or monitored after. Thats why you’ll often hear Western couples who cant adopt in their own system looking for poorer countries with weaker restrictions or more corrupt systems.
@Daisy, when I adopted my daughter (International) I had to fill out a preliminary application and take an adoption preparedness class. Once that was done, I had submitted the formal application, which included a mandatory 10 page paper answering a number of questions. Then came an interview, and I was cleared to proceed. There were additional mandatory classes. I was fingerprinted and there was a background check. The fire department had to come out and check for the number of and proper placement of smoke detectors. Another gentleman came out to check for the safety in the home – temperature of water heater, temps inside the fridge, height of railings, etc. I had to submit financial statements, health records, proof of insurance. China, at the time, required not only the home study but a complete dossier. All paperwork required 5 separate stamps of notarization from five different agencies and consulates. Finally, the paperwork went overseas, and the waiting game was on. The adoption took 20 months until I traveled to China, and then there was a year of follow up visits and paperwork. I was also required to re adopt her in ny home state.
A friend adopted three sisters from India – their mother had abandoned them on a train when the oldest was about five and the youngest was an infant. It took nearly four years with all sorts of requests for documentation and interviews and delays. They only got the girls in the end after she contacted her Senator, who then acted very quickly because the oldest girl had reached the age where she was about to be released from the orphanage with nowhere to go.
Donna your situation may be different since you are in the US which thankfully enacted some laws on international adoptions. Hopefully that’s weeding out the people who were rejected for US adoption and then literally went shopping for a baby in a different country just to bypass the rules. Back in my home country, international adoptions are legal but extremely unpopular. We dont think its right to make a child leave everything and everyone they know including their cultural birthright to start again with strangers across the seas with only the authorities on the other side as a safety net. So now there is a lot of support for a bill that will require the prospective adoptive parents to raise the child here for at least two years after the process is complete. So in total we are talking about four years sacrifice and commitment to the child’s country. That should weed out those who just want little brown kids as accessories or to feel self rightous during Church.
You nailed it. This and all of this. I would add that the first two apply to Western adoptions in general not just Evangelicals with matyr/savior complexes. The best way to assist children overseas is to financially enable their immediate or extended family and if neither exist then pledge to sponsor a local adoption. Western culture may be very individualistic but in most parts of the world, the sense of community is extremely strong. Often the only reason why those kids are not living with their mothers second cousin or an even more distant relative is that they cant afford to feed and educate an extra child. So empower them.
Theres also something to be said about the demos of American kids who are unlikely to be adopted. If a child is older, or a minority race, or has a physical/mental handicap or has prior behavioral problems then their adoption chances are really low. How about instead of trying to score cool humanitarian points with the public, celebrities do both. 1) Sponsor overseas families to adopt locally and keep in touch and 2) Adopt US children with adoption challenges. And not publicise it for public praise.
100%
Yes!!! I worked with one of these Evangelical women who adopted a child from Ethiopia. She did give him an African name but she stopped there. I just found the way she talked about him really unvomfortable and problematic. Definitely a white savior thing going on. And every day she dressed like she stepped out of an Anthroplogie catalog and was going glamping in the bush on a Vogue colonial safari with Taylor Swift in ‘Wildest Dreams’. The result was all kinds of absurd. Kids with adoption challenges in the US truly need adoption too and life in the foster care system is cruel most of the time. When people adopt overseas I give them a serious side eye sometimes. It’s great you want to give them an opportunity-sponsor a family or support education initiatives in their country.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I want to adopt in the future, and it’s really good to know what kind of harm I could be causing if I go about it in a certain way. I would love to adopt a child from right here in the US. Even from my own state. That would be wonderful.
Same here. Although I’m not 30 yet but I’ve considering fostering teens first before adopting. My hope was always to adopt regardless if I have children of my own
Even though it’s not producing content anymore, The Toast has some great published pieces on adoption experiences, both the positives and negatives.
http://the-toast.net/series/adoption/
Good luck adopting a kid from Antarctica, Tim!
He can’t even find the right on-deck circle. I don’t think geography is his strong suit.
Thanks for that visual!
Literally came to comment the same thing but you beat me to it 🙂
LOL….i spit out my coffee…
A penguin is already waiting
1. Shove penguin into sweater.
2. ???
3. PROFIT!
MTE
His heart might be in the right place but unfortunately he makes it sound like a baseball card collection.
I hope that If he does indeed adopt he’ll teach and educate his children about their culture and heritage.
Awesome and cool, amazing and magical. Somehow he reminds me of Katie Holmes during the Cruise years.
It’s like he thinks of children as Pokemon. Gotta catch ’em all!
I think I’d rather have a million Tim Tebows walking the planet than some of the wife-beating, steroid-using, angry hot-heads that the NFL or MLB has had on their rosters. He’s a harmless guy with big dreams. When did that become so bad?
Good intentions don’t make someone harmless. Plenty of people have meant well in this world and have done something which had unintended consequences.
Amen. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
So is the road to heaven for that matter. I think he’s a big-hearted nice guy personally.
I think he’s a genuinely kind, clean guy. I also think he’s a bit of a people-pleaser who learned early on that loving Jesus made him VERY popular with people in his social circle.
Talking about collecting “exitic” kids like baseball cards is hardly harmless.
I would rather Tim Tebow adopt my child over someone like Madonna any day. And because he talks about it doesn’t mean it’ll happen. Don’t take it so literal.
I would rather have Madonna adopt my child than Tebow. I wouldn’t want my child brainwashed with evangelical stuff. Evangelicals may have good intentions but that doesn’t justify all the harm they are inflicting on others.
I wouldn’t want either to adopt my child, but Madonna is at least an experienced parent who has been involved with children from the same country, allowing her to understand a more culturally than the one from every continent nonsense.
Lolo86lf and lunchcoma, you both beat me to it. If I had a child and had to choose between that child being adopted by Madonna- who’s at least progressive (although she as been problematic before, but everyone has in some way) and has successful experience with adopting kids, or someone who participates in a religion with some deeply sexist, homophobic, and Trump-supporting issues (to say the least), I think I’d feel a lot more comfortable with the Madonna adoption.
I agree CariBean. He’s got big dreams and good intentions. Is that a guarantee? Of course not- but it’s a damn fine place to start. The outrage over this brief interview seems misplaced. I get the legitimate points made by posters but really, is Tim Tebow’s imaginary dinner table such a problem?
Trump has big dreams, too.
Just saying.
This has NOTHING to do with Trump. Why does everything have to fall back to him? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, ya know?
Are we talking about Trump??? That’s my point actually. Save the outrage for a better target. Tebow isn’t it. He wants to provide a loving home for his imaginary children someday. So let’s all attack his dream and list everything that could go wrong. /s
I’m talking about trump, yes. Thanks for asking.
There are a million Tebows in America and they all vote against a womans right to autonomy over their own bodies and force their religion into our government laws on both the state and federal level.
I can’t give credit to people who go to the poor and hungry and basically say, “Hey thirsty child with no access to education, here is some fresh bottled drinking water if you come talk with us about converting to Jesus’s flock.” A good man just gives the kid the water and convinces our government to stop wars and embargo that keep those children living in squalor. Just my opinion
^THIS^
White male privilege is bad. Doesn’t matter that he says he doesn’t care about what the kids “look like”. Doesn’t matter that he says he would raise his kids to love everyone “people that aren’t the same ” etc. Does it matter if he’s smart? Nope-I mean, look at Madonna. You must understand…you must be WOKE! A rich,privileged white male is something to be very wary of…Once you read a few articles here on CB you will understand. Do we think he is evil? No..but we all think he is “off” and maybe up to something.
there are kids in our country with heritages from around the world that could use his help. why do celebrities so often look outside our own borders?! hes describing America, one he doesnt see because of his small minded ideaologies
Because the adoption policies here in the USA are difficult and inconsistent. I know – I tried, and ultimately adopted from China. I am sick to death of hearing this uninformed, unenlightened comment regarding domestic adoption. Why not question why people choose to give birth when there are so many children who need homes and families? Bottom line: it is no one’s business to question or condemn how anyone chooses to form their family.
Well said, Donna. And congratulations on your adoption!
Agreed! I know a couple who had a son but found after trying they could not have anymore biological kids. They decided to adopt, started putting out feelers and now they have twin daughters from South Korea. It wasn’t some white savior complex, they simply wanted a child (they weren’t expecting two lol) and went through the first door that opened for them. They really didn’t care if it was domestic or foreign adoption.
Yea the entire “I don’t see color” thing is exactly the problem. They DO have a different color, Culture and language. The best method is to do what AJ does which is actively connect her kids with their home culture. It’s actually better for them long term
This x 100. Unless you are willing to put in the time to learn about the culture of the child’s native country and integrate it into their lives, you could be doing them a disservice. It would be virtually impossible to do this if you adopt a kid from “every continent”.
I agree with you on what Angelina does to connect her children to their home of origin.
I agree, too. But most people don’t have the resources she does. Most people who adopt internationally have to save and really sacrifice for the money it takes to adopt, and cover time off work to spend time in that country finalizing the process.
Even a person with less resources than french chateau AJ can connect a child with their culture of origin. A missionary family typically wants to “rescue” a culture from itself and convert to the Christianity; I don’t hear TT veering from that strategy which I find so lacking in respect/compassion in it’s basic tenets. How confusing that global abuses historically occurred under the “I want to help them find God” banner. I wonder if adoption screening will improve given the need for us all to connect to an origin, let alone an adopted person.
Exactly. You are supposed to see color and never question their equality to the majority.
You are supposed to see color and know it is good and the person is just as worthy of respect and pride and the same rights as the ruling majority. You are supposed to see color and know they are deserving of everything good in this world and that their skin has nothing to do with their soul or their heart. Color is natural, color is beautiful.
Of course- I was JUST thinking that-the BEST method is to do what Angelina does!!!^^^SO THIS!!!
i don’t know who’s shirt is worse? tim tebow on this page or fassy in another post. shudder.
I want to hate him so much but after seeing him interact so well with children that have disabilities and how hard he works with A Night To Shine, I can’t hate him.
So then why do you want to hate him?
Because of his excessive and annoying need to make EVERYTHING about religion and giving thanks to god. It’s one of my biggest pet peeves. It’s nothing personal against him.
Bubbles- I feel you! I hate when someone gives thanks to god or allah or the Earth mother or Krishna or Mother Earth excessively. SO off-putting. Shocked at everyone willing to give him a pass here!
Yes, because children are accessories. SMH.
They’re children, Tim, Not collectible action figures.
I want to think well of this, but all I sense is-I’d like to adopt kids from all these places and Jesus the culture right out of them so I can still parade them around to prove how much I like brown people. I hate to be mistrustful, but I am cynical about Evangelicals.
He sounds naive and like he wants to fill out some kind of child-rescue Bingo card.
That said I saved my last commentary on international/transracial adoption because the topic comes up from time to time here. Am going to repeat some of the bits that pertain to some of the discussions that tend to arise. FYI, I am a parent by adoption. I adopted from China during the first years of its program. And I adopted as a first choice. I’d do it again. 90% of the time it’s normal parenting, 10% of the time there’s an adoption-related issue, either something intrinsic to adoption OR something the outside world confronts you with – negativity, stereotyping, ignorance. So you deal with it. No life is without some confusion and pain; with adoption, you know what some of it will be about from the start.
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Children need homes and families, and society has figured out a variety of admittedly imperfect ways to provide them with those homes and families. Is there sadness in this situation? Yes. Is there insecurity? Yes. Are children removed from their homelands and cultures, brought into environments in which they may be a minority? Yes. But they are alive and given resources to make lives, and given their prospects where they come from, that is a lot.
Inter-country adoption is a difficult, slow and costly process and most parents are aware of the health and emotional needs of the children and do their best to support them.
The alternatives for most of these children are meagre indeed. We can’t assume that slipping the country some money will result in appropriate households or fostering (which is still impermanent). Until women have access to contraception; parents stop dying of AIDS and other dread diseases; alcoholism and drugs stop causing child abuse and neglect; and we stop creating homeless, family-less children, children will need homes that aren’t institutional.
Institutional living results in even more damage, and if we waited for the perfect situation for them, they would suffer even more. Internationally adopted children may experience problems with academic and emotional development at a slightly higher rate, but … so? What would happen to them in their home culture would likely be similar or even worse: a life without education; still living in poverty, hunger, need and disconnection; likely living in an institution, with options like working in unregulated, unsafe factories or being sold into sexual slavery. It’s not realistic to imagine that being ‘nestled’ in their home culture can overcome all that. We can provide support for problems; most are not insurmountable, and most kids go on to college, careers, families. When the alternative was adult homelessness or being casteless and shunned, or being blown up working in a fireworks factory… we really have to think it through. The alternatives aren’t great either.
In the case of China, the one-child policy crossed with the ancient cultural emphasis on boys (to care for parents in old age) resulted in 10s of thousands of abandoned girls. No extended families for them, just institutional living and lack of education and health care.
In addition, adoption and adoptees are stigmatized in some cultures. Clearly we are still working our way through that stigma in the West but thankfully it doesn’t impede the formation of families by adoption. In some countries it does.
We cannot generalize about the circumstances confronting unwanted or abandoned children, or children whose birth families are compromised (drugs, alcohol, abuse, severe poverty) or unable to care for them. If you study the differences among the various international adoption programs, you will learn a great deal about diversity in family structures, family law, family culture as well as that nation’s social problems. Some programs are better than others. Some are more ‘clean’ and some are corrupt. I just caution people from making the worst possible assumptions or generalizing about adoption. We need to support adoptive families, not tear them down.
In the meantime, we have a growing number of families in wealthier nations (not only in the USA but also Canada, England, countries in Europe and Scandinavia, Australia…) that in themselves feature beautiful diversity. We should support that. If we support diversity in the workplace, in our arts, in our culture, then we should recognize that families can include people from different places, and do our best to support these children who were brought halfway around the world — yes, to save their lives, but mostly to love them, encourage them and give them security. Adoptive parents who brag on themselves for what they did are rare. Mostly, like any other parents, they brag about their kids.
People who adopt from outside the USA are entitled to make their choices the same way people who procreate are entitled to make their choices.
As for the closed-vs-open situation, some inter-country adoptive parents are keenly aware that their biological children have no information about their biological parents, and it’s a serious downside in terms of medical care and a general sense of connectedness. So that’s a mixed bag.
Adoption is imperfect but then so is child-rearing generally. It’s hard to see people poke holes in it for not being perfect. It shouldn’t have to be perfect. It just has to give children loving homes. Sometimes – not all the times – but sometimes, there’s some veiled racism when children don’t “match” parents. We have to get away from these antiquated cookie-cutter ideas about family, and embrace families with adoption, blended families, same sex parents. If it’s a global world, inter-country adoption reflects that. Is it perfect? Of course not. Are biologically created families perfect? Nope!
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And I’ll add something new about evangelical adoption: I have strongly mixed feelings. I have a natural abhorrence of missionaries and missionary work. I’ve encountered people who adopted or who supported overseas orphans as part of their kind of “white saviour” church work. I guess the bottom line is lives are saved, but I personally am more comfortable with less church in every aspect of life, and I’d be troubled if children feel used by the church or don’t feel they can make their own way in life regardless of their pathway to their new country. But let’s not let this tarnish the necessity of finding and making safe, loving homes for children as part of the global family.
Thank you, very well said.
Loved your post. I have a few friends who adopted internationally and I am very happy for them. I think it’s a well-intended but very removed comment to 1) say that a celeb can change a country’s laws about adoption and familial structure by hosing them down with money 2) to imagine that a Chinese kid has to be brought up Chinese – what about kids who don’t look physically different but come from other cultures? Of course a link with the culture they come from is important but that’s usually surveilled by the adoption entity anyway.
Thank you for wonderful comments that shine a practical and realistic slant to the topic.
🙂
Great post, and thank you for touching on some of the racism directed at people of color adopted by white parents. I agree that this particular guy sounded kind of white saviory and child collecty. But it’s not too uncommon for both misogynistic Chelsea Handler types on the left and typical racists on the right to resort to using the “This woman must be out to use these kids as props to score brownie points because of race, why else would she adopt any children who aren’t the same race as her?” card against women they dislike. Sometimes you wonder if some of the people using that card stop to think about the fact that some of these adopted kids may have to deal with comments like that throughout life, or whether or not they realize that that sort of attack hints at some of their own racism or sexism more than that of the woman they’re trying to attack.
Well my goal is to eat a dish from every continent,this week.Italian(Europe),Chinese (Asia) Ethiopian (Africa)…Now I have to find a dish from Antarctica,any suggestions?
Penguins or seals, I don’t think there is much else to choose from!
Whale?
Penguin?
Blubber. Lots and lots of blubber.
Don’t be forgetting Australia! We’re a continent!
However, we have many cuisines from all over the world so you’re fairly open to choose.
My favourites being: Thai, Japanese, Italian, French or Middle Eastern!
Maybe just eat some ice out of the fridge.
Shaved ice can represent Antarctica cuisine
Where I’m from, close to Jacksonville, FL and Gator Country lol, he was huge there before he became a national celebrity. I met him a couple of times, he always struck me as being a very kind, humble guy and yes, very good with kids of all colors/abilities. His religious beliefs aren’t exactly in line with mine from what I’ve read LOL, but I can’t hate on him just for that. I wish him the best and hope he has a happy life.
Nice to see a positive story. I wish him the best too.
I agree, Shannon. I live in Jax myself, and he is well known and well liked here. He does a lot of charitable things that don’t get reported. He’s just a nice, nice guy. I’m not into the religious aspect, but hey, if that’s what gets him through the night, then good for him.
I live in Jacksonville too! Wow!
Ah, I think he’s harmless & seems like a nice guy. I am basing this on the fact that he reminds me of a friend I grew up with that was the same way, as in super religious & saving himself for marriage. The problem was, once he got past that age where most Evangelicals were married (early 20’s, right out of college) & then even reached his 30’s without any serious prospects, it became obvious that he was waiting for someone that was literally perfect. I think when you get to that age & the saving yourself part is such a big deal, you’ve then built it up so big in your mind that no one is good enough. My friend actually did end up getting married recently, much to the surprise of a lot of us, including his own parents.
I don’t get why people are criticizing him for waiting and assume he’s gay because of it. If he were gay wouldn’t he be on the DL like a lot of his other NFL peers have been? Its quite possible he doesn’t believe in premarital sex I grew up with many guys who felt the same.
If it were a woman we would praise her for waiting but a man we get suspicious or think something is “wrong”
Its called self control the world would be a better place if a lot more people exercised it more often.
I am a mom of both two children, one of them is adopted from Ethiopia. My family has worked hard to make sure that our second kid has as many powerful black role models as white. With probably the exception of the Jolie Pitt clAn… all US citizens live in a world where certain assumptions are made about them based on their appearance and if he doesn’t give them any tools to deal with that, it’s not great for the kids.
Have fun trying to adopt in Australia.
I can’t imagine that’s easy…though it’s still going to be easier than adopting that Antarctican kid.
He can do a Cate Blanchett and adopt a blonde/blue-eyed white child from the U.S. How that happened when Americans are on lists for years, is beyond me.
How did it happen in Russia, where Russians are on lists for years? There are on average 2000 young kids legally available for adoption (kids with manageable health conditions and without many siblings). And guess what, they are all being adopted internationally…
That’s wrong as well, but I’m guessing the Russian government is making money off of these adopted kids. Adopting away children internationally seems to be a big money maker for some countries. China treats the adoptable perfect children to very nice accommodations and plenty of caretakers. The treatment and accommodations for imperfect Chinese children is another story.
@Mayamae, you are spewing sweeping generalizations and outright lies regarding Chinese orphanages and the adoption process. Where are the facts to back your outlandish statements? Have you adopted from China? Did you visit any orphanages there?
I’m guessing that Cate Blanchett had an open adoption, where the parents were able to choose her. Being wealthy and famous probably took her to the top of the list.
He is completely harmless and seems to have the heart in the right place (although I am very weary of adoption for religious purposes, it usually come with a touch of white saviourism).
He’s saying that people should all be treated with the same love and respect, he’s not whitewashing people’s cultures (or the ones of the kids he will adopt). Let’s fight the good fight not against things someone might have meant between the lines.
He’s part of a religion that travels to impoverished countries and offers them food and water in exchange for conversion instead of just helping the people overcome what holds them down.
People think he is gay because of all the pictures of him that are floating around of him hanging out with some very beautiful gay men. I don’t think he is trying to convert them to heterosexuality and if he is then Ive got an even bigger problem with him than trying to collect children as if they are trophies.
You would think a young guy like him waiting get married before having sex would actually find somebody to marry so he can start having some sex. Always thought he was gay, still do.
Um, kids are not collectible items, Tebow. It’s not “cool” to have one from every continent like you collect spoons from every state. His quote on this topic severely squicked me out. He’s going to look around his table and not see seven kids he has a loving bond with, but instead evidence of his “coolness” in collecting one of everything.
Exactly.
That’s not cool. Children aren’t collector items. Also children’deserve to be raised in their own native culture by parents who have a similar background
I suppose that would be ideal, but tens of thousands in the U.S., and presumably other countries, age out of the foster care system without EVER being adopted by anyone.
Ok-I’ll be the cynical bitch here-I think that’s totally creepy.
There are no cynical bitches on CeleBitchy! 😉
Adoption is cool. There aren’t many people in my country that do that and it’s a shame really as there are a lot of couples who can’t have children and have all the money in the world. Yet they choose to stay childless than adopting.
I am 36 and single and I have a lot of pressure from friends and coworkers to get married (family not so much really) and the main reason is because “my eggs are dying”. I’m getting old and unfit to carry children to which i respond that in the worst case scenario I’m going to adopt. You should see their reactions.
Anyway, adopting may not be easy on the children but also I think people should understand that once a child is adopted it’s in his/her best interest to be a part of the new culture. This child first and foremost must feel loved and taken care of. It would be ideal to be able to give the child a glimpse of his/her culture, where he/she comes from but let’s be real, unless you have money that’s not easy, like say Angelina Jolie traveling the world and teaching her children all those languages and visiting their birth countries. So if someone adopts and gives a child a better life than I think you can call it mission accomplished.
As for this guys intentions I think he has the heart in the right place. I can’t comment about his religion or believes but if he does indeed adopt I hope he does it to help those children.
Something bothers me though about these “religious” people going in poor countries adopting poor children and spreading the word of God in exchange for food. Here we had a lot of those (christians, muslims you name it) and some were shady as hell. Once I was invited as a teen to some kind of party where I was told there would be music and story telling and games and I stayed put for 2 HOURS listening to a guy playing the guitar and telling the history of Abraham from the bible and in the end I had to answer questions about the story as to check IF I had been carefully listening just like in school. I was also given some pamphlets to give to others and an assignment about my thoughts on the story and I was required to bring two more friends the next day. Don’t get me started with the muslim preachers. (yes I stumbled with them too as they come to our school to teach us arabic as a humanitarian thing and after 15 minutes they stated that the best way to learn the language was by reading the Qura’n and gave wach of us a book of our own. Our head master almost had a heart attack there and then.)
I doubt he wants to “impose his whiteness”, it’s probably more of an Evangelical push to adopt internationally, with an emphasis on kids from non-Evangelical backgrounds, to save the little heathens (as some of the adopting people see it, not me). I hate shading adoption at ALL, but there is some of that going on. The book “The Child Catchers” is a great read on that.
Most likely gay and why are we talking about him these days?
Really nice guy who does a lot of charity work and won’t be able to come out until his evangelical parents are gone.
My gut feeling about this guy : he’s either gay or asexual. Because of his religious beliefs he feels like it’s his duty to find a wife and have children, but he’s putting it off because he has no interest in the (heterosexual) sex part of marriage.
Just like a shopping list. For one of the first of not the first ‘Rainbow Family’ google Josephine Baker and her 12 adopted children.
I do say this as a Bronco fan, but I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt. He honestly seems like genuinely nice person. From what I know he was born in the Philippines while his family was on a mission, and one of their things was working with the orphanages there. So maybe that’s where his dream of adoption comes from for him?
I am not an evangelical Christian, so I have no pony in that race. However, from what I can tell, he seems to be a genuinely decent and kind guy.
I recently met Tim (very briefly) at the latest Night to Shine Prom in Jacksonville, FL. I brought my adult son and his friend (both intellectually disabled adults) to the event, and they had a great time. (The Night to Shine proms happen all over the world, and they are sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation, with the help of local churches.)
Tim was absolutely over the moon as he was interacting with my son and other people with disabilities. He tells them that they are perfect – just the way they are – and deserving of love and respect, just like everyone else.
I can tell you that Tim took pictures with every last prom attendee who wanted one – and there were 5,000 attendees. (I have a couple of super sweet pictures of him with my son.)
This is nice to hear.
I think he means well, but it is so problematic. The way many people view adopted kids is like they view animals. Don’t believe me? Look at all those re-homing sites for adopted children.
There is also so much shady business going on in the adoption industry. There have been many people who has sent their children to temporary homes while they get their financial situation sorted out and when they come back for them, they find out that their kids are now living with some American or Scandinavian family. Many have also been tricked into signing adoption papers without understanding what it really means.
My family member was told all his life that he was an orphan. Later he found out that he wasn’t even legally adopted and that his birth parents were still alive. They had to give him up because they couldn’t afford him. If we would stop adopting children from other countries, these would be forced to deal with their impoverished population instead of earning money from Westerners who want to adopt. There are also much less children who are adoptable than there are people who want to adopt. Most kids who are actual orphans or truly abandoned are not considered adoptable because of mental issues.
Having children is not a human right. I understand that it’s horrible to want a child but being unable to have one. But that does not give you the right to take someone else’s and use a corrupt system.
I hope he plans on getting a cold room for the Antarctic penguin he plans on abducting!
I’m sorry, is he seriously saying this crap in light of the current political climate? There are people currently separated or being threatened with separation from their families because they are seeking to escape horrific conditions, and he is talking about importing children to suit his little fantasy because he think it would be “cool”. Is he that out of touch, does he just have white savior complex, or is he thinking the current controversy doesn’t apply to him because he is a white Christian male?
I’m sorry, but it’s a jarring juxtaposition for him to have this little multicultural fantasy while the reality of the current world against immigrants and refugees is so extreme. It always seems like the people who say color doesn’t matter only say that because their color has never mattered.