An ambassador for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been slammed after describing homosexuality as a “damage in the mind” in an interview – only two weeks before the opening of the soccer tournament
Highlighting concerns about the conservative country’s treatment of gays and lesbians, former Qatari national team player Khalid Salman told a German reporter in an interview that being gay is “haram” – forbidden in Arabic – and that he has a problem with children seeing gay people.
Excerpts of the television interview were shown Monday on Germany's ZDF news program Heute Journal.
The full interview, which is part of a documentary, was broadcast on Tuesday, with Germany’s interior minister condemning Salman’s remarks.
“Of course such comments are terrible, and that is the reason why we are working on things in Qatar hopefully improving,” Nancy Faeser said Tuesday.
✍️ ‘#Qatar2022 ambassador Khalid Salman has described gay people as having mental health issues and being forbidden in Islam. Salman made the comments to a documentary for @ZDFheute, investigating Qatar's track record with #LGBTQ+ people.’ (via @SBSNews) /1 https://t.co/RuPpxhoNxh
— Sports Media LGBT+ (@SportsMediaLGBT) November 8, 2022
Concerns for gay football fans
About 1.2 million international visitors are expected in Qatar for the tournament, which has faced criticism and skepticism ever since the gas-rich emirate was selected as host by FIFA in December 2010.
Concerns about LGBTQ tourists attending the World Cup have also been expressed for a long time.
In the interview, Salman also said that homosexuality “is a spiritual harm.”
“During the World Cup, many things will come here to the country. Let’s talk about gays,” Salman said in English, which is simultaneously dubbed into German in the TV segment.
“The most important thing is, everybody will accept that they come here. But they will have to accept our rules.”
The interview was reportedly cut short by a media officer of the World Cup organizing committee after Salman expressed his views on homosexuals.
