England's LGBT+ fan group Three Lions Pride have praised Harry Kane for speaking out about the human rights concerns over Qatar, with the draw for the World Cup less than a week away.
Major concerns have been raised about the safety of LGBT+ fans travelling to the Middle East country for the winter tournament, where homosexuality is illegal. And England captain Kane made it clear earlier this week that Gareth Southgate's squad will seek to raise awareness of those human rights issues.
"As a nation we want our fans to enjoy the tournament as much as we hopefully enjoy the tournament. And we want them to feel safe and free to watch the games how they please and act how they want to act," Kane said.
Kane's comments follow the England squad's work to improve inclusiveness in football at Euro 2020, when the players took the knee ahead of matches and the Tottenham striker wore a rainbow captain's armband. Three Lions Pride have welcomed Kane's support and also encouraged other members of the squad to "educate, empower and engage" LGBT+ football supporters.
"[The England squad should] Educate themselves and others on the issues, empower LGBT+ people to talk about these points and uplift them and engage within the sporting world to raise concerns and awareness on these human rights issues," a group spokesman exclusively told Mirror Sport.
"Having players using their platform to raise human rights issues is hugely important - the work that groups like ours do is often unnoticed and players with their reach & platforms amplifying the concerns and work others do in human rights is extremely helpful.
"This England squad, as we saw during the Euros, is not just one that’s great on the pitch but is engaged and empathetic off it too. I don’t think the human rights issues in Qatar will be brushed under the carpet but it’s not just the responsibility of the squad, but the broader FA, media and fans to keep raising these issues and shining a light on the human rights abuses that exist."
Nasser al-Khater, the chief executive of the Qatar World Cup, has previously claimed that "any fan of any gender, [sexual] orientation, religion, race should rest assured that Qatar is one of the most safe countries in the world — and they’ll all be welcome here". But those claims have been shot down by Three Lions Pride, who made it clear that they still have major concerns over the safety of LGBT+ supporters who choose to travel for the tournament.
The group have also slammed FIFA for their lack of action around making the LGBT+ community feel safe at football's most prestigious event. "No. And that’s not his job either," the Three Lions Pride spokesman said when asked if Kane's comments made them feel more comfortable travelling to Qatar.
"FIFA and the Qatari SC should have been better at engaging and coming forth with concrete proposals around fan safety, particularly for trans and gender diverse fans to ensure their safety. Instead, what we’ve seen is sound bites of a 'World Cup for everyone' with little to no detail on how fans will be protected and remain safe.
"FIFA have a human rights aspect to their bidding process now but how it works and is applied in practice remains to be clearly seen. Governing bodies can, and should, be doing more to ensure that the greatest tournaments in football are not being used to sportswash over human rights abuses.
"Whether that’s on LGBT+ legislation or whether it’s on the persecution of minorities such as the Uyghurs - football should be taking a stand for human rights, not allowing prestigious tournaments to be hosted in countries who neglect the core values of solidarity, inclusivity and integrity. Nobody should be alienated or excluded from engaging in the sport we love because of who they are."
