Fans at the World Cup in Qatar may have rainbow flags confiscated by security in order to “protect” them against perceptions they are “insulting” the society, a senior official has claimed.
Last month, England captain Harry Kane made it clear that Gareth Southgate's squad will seek to raise awareness of those human rights issues. Kane said: "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."
England's LGBT+ fan group Three Lions Pride praised Kane’s comments and also encouraged other members of the squad to "educate, empower and engage" LGBT+ football supporters. Former British Prime Minister David Cameron insisted there was "no place for homophobia" during a 2011 speech urging Qatar to improve its human rights record, while David Beckham becoming an ambassador for the tournament was met with some backlash.
Back in 2015, United States international Robbie Rogers - at the time the world's only known openly gay professional footballer - insisted he did not have plans to boycott the tournament. However, Australian pro Josh Cavallo - the only known active top-flight footballer to come out as gay - last year expressed his concern about the laws in Qatar.
Major General Abdulaziz Abdullah Al Ansari - a senior leader overseeing security for the tournament and the chairman of the National Counterterrorism Committee of Qatar – has now said in an interview with Associated Press that fans could have any rainbow flags, promoting LGBT issues, removed from them by security for their own safety.
Al Ansari explained: “If he (a fan) raised the rainbow flag and I took it from him, it’s not because I really want to, really, take it, to really insult him, but to protect him. Because if it’s not me, somebody else around him might attack (him). I cannot guarantee the behaviour of the whole people. And I will tell him: ‘Please, no need to really raise that flag at this point.’
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“You want to demonstrate your view about the (LGBTQ) situation, demonstrate it in a society where it will be accepted. We realise that this man got the ticket, comes here to watch the game, not to demonstrate, a political (act) or something which is in his mind. Watch the game. That’s good. But don’t really come in and insult the whole society because of this.”
Al Ansari added that the security’s stance on LGBT issues would be strictly limited to tournament matches. “Reserve the room together, sleep together - this is something that’s not in our concern. We are here to manage the tournament. Let’s not go beyond, the individual personal things which might be happening between these people ... this is actually the concept. Here we cannot change the laws. You cannot change the religion for 28 days of World Cup.”
Al Ansari went on to stress that he believed the displaying of such flags could create a “problem” that may become “out of control”, hence their desire to cut out that possibility at source. 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".
