Merseyside-based LGBTQ+ football fans have made a final plea ahead of the World Cup.
The coveted football tournament begins this weekend on Sunday, November 20, in Qatar with both England and Wales having qualified. While millions are excited to watch and support their home country, the same can’t be said for LGBTQ+ football fans.
The FIFA World Cup is being held in Qatar - a country where h omosexuality is currently illegal and is punishable with a jail sentence of up to seven years. Although there has been no record of it to this date, the country can also punish Muslim men with the death penalty for engaging in same-sex activity.
READ MORE: Merseyside LGBTQ+ football fans show solidarity with UK activist 'arrested' in Qatar
Just last week, a Qatar official and World Cup ambassador described homosexuality as being “damage in the mind”. Whereas the country’s laws regarding transgender people are unclear and rarely addressed.
However, these aren’t the only reasons why the host country has been facing criticism. The FIFA World Cup has faced issues of inclusion and human rights since its announcement in 2010 - whether it be concerns for LGBTQ+ fan safety, the human rights of migrant workers building stadia or the equality of women, there have been “few answers forthcoming in response to media and fan pressure”.
Paul Amann , the founder of Liverpool FC’s LGBTQ+ supporter group, Kop Outs, told the ECHO : “During the World Cup, we will continue to highlight the plight of LGBT+ people across the world whose basic human rights are not being realised. We would ask that anybody with a platform in football to similarly use this to amplify the voices of LGBT+ Qataris such as Dr Nas Mohamed. Celebrities and corporations who have professed to be allies championing our rights and are now in bed with an LGBT+ phobic regime clearly can bend their moral compass.”
As the World Cup gets underway, Kop Outs, along with many other fan groups will be changing their logos as part of the No Pride Without All campaign. The fan-led initiative is centred around the concept that football is not a sport to have Pride in when it still excludes many people due to their ethnicity, accessibility requirements, religion or belief, age, socioeconomic background, sexuality or gender identity.
The campaign uses the grayscale rainbow flag to mark that until everyone is welcome within football, provided they are respectful, there is no Pride and the game is in a dreary state. By changing their logos, banners and pictures to grayscale, the fan groups aim to start a conversation about making football a “beautiful game that welcomes all and respects our freedoms of expression and association along with our right to follow the teams we love without fear of intolerance, abuse or arrest due to our existence”.
Paul Hession, events manager of Everton’s LGBTQ+ supporter group, Rainbow Toffees, which is also supporting the campaign's cause, added: “I can only echo what has been said before. It’s unacceptable that LGBTQ+ fans should feel excluded. Unfortunately, there is not much we can do about it now but I certainly won’t be watching it - I feel by boycotting it and making this small protest I’m standing in solidarity with my LGBTQ family. Celebrities' and corporations' morals seem to go out the window when there is a substantial amount of money involved. Rainbow capitalism at its finest.”
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