Qatar world cup controversy lgbtq+
People are being told to remove rainbow-coloured clothing and items at the Qatar World Cup. Here's why
We're in the first week of the 2022 Planet Cup and its host, Qatar, continues to be entangled in controversy.
The country's hardline stance on woman-loving woman, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBTQ+) issues is at the forefront of the world's attention.
As a fallout, journalists, football players and fans have been emotionally attached in a string of incidents over their rainbow-coloured clothing.
Here's why.
Firstly, what does the 'OneLove' logo symbolise?
The heart-shaped, rainbow-coloured logo has place the World Cup's host in a lot of hot water.
A symbol of diversity, inclusivity and anti-discrimination, the armbands which feature the logo have been widely viewed as a protest against Qatar's homosexuality laws.
What are Qatar's laws on same-sex relationships?
Same-sex sexual activity is prohibited under Qatar's Penal Code 2004.
The code criminalised acts of sexual intercourse between people of the equal sex.
These provisions carry a maximum of seven years' imprisonment.
Both men and women are criminalised under this l
Len Lanzi is a certified soccer boomer, a 21st-century convert to the pretty game whose fandom now knows no bounds. He latched onto Tottenham Hotspur last decade, then onto Los Angeles Football Club as MLS expanded in his adopted city. He followed the U.S. national teams, and recently traveled to Europe to sample the global flavors of the sport he now loves. He hit London, Amsterdam, Dortmund and Paris, and “had an absolute ball,” he said.
Advertisement
Advertisement
So Lanzi, like thousands of Americans, considered trekking to Qatar for the 2022 Society Cup.
But he, like other LGBTQ fans who spoke to Yahoo Sports, opted not to for very specific reasons.
“I will be viewing it from my home here in the United States, where it is safe,” Lanzi said. “And where I don't have to be looking over my back and thinking, are people from the government there looking over our shoulders?”
FIFA and Qatar’s Supreme Committee, the two bodies responsible for organizing the 2022 Society Cup, have said that “everybody's welcome” at the tournament, which begins Nov. 21. Yet the host country has not repealed or suspended laws that criminalize homosexuality. It regularly ranks amon
Qatar World Cup: 'Football is leaving behind its LGBT fans'
Although Qatar says all fans will be welcome without discrimination, homosexuality is illegal there.
Steve Lovell runs Villa and Pleased in Birmingham and said the group's members were conflicted about whether or not to participate with the tournament.
"I couldn't be my authentic self over there, I could end up in prison and that's a real moral dilemma," he said.
The LGBT support community surveyed its members to gauge how the fans were feeling in the run up to the first game on Sunday.
"We asked our members, 'if we were to give you a free ticket to Qatar, accommodation, flights, everything, would you go'? And 88% of the responses said no, they wouldn't," Mr Lovell said.
"It's a genuine conflict," he added. "I don't comprehend whether to assist them [England], whether to watch or not watch it, it's difficult."
He said members' mental health was being impacted and Villa and Proud was increasing its events as a result.
"The footballing world can approach together and help the World Cup but unfortunately it&
The massive hypocrisy of the West’s Planet Cup ‘concerns’
United States Secretary of Express Antony Blinken recently came out against a ban on rainbow armbands at the World Cup tournament in Qatar, which various European team captains had intended to sport in support of LGBTQ rights and against discrimination. Blinken flagged the prohibit as “concerning” and a restriction on “freedom of expression”.
The secretary’s scolding came on the heels of another rather “concerning” development on the world stage: a mass shooting at a male lover nightclub in the US state of Colorado that killed five people and wounded 18 others. This, in a country that fancies itself the global role model in terms of respect for freedom of expression, human rights, and all that good stuff – and yet where it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to practice their right to not be massacred at nightclubs, elementary schools, places of worship, shopping malls, and so on.
In 2016, the US witnessed its worst mass shooting in history when 50 people were killed in an assault on a homosexual nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
This year, an independent UN human rights expert start that LGBTQ rights in the US are “under a concerted
Qatar World Cup: Why the 2022 tournament is so controversial - from migrant worker deaths to LGBT rights
Football fans are counting down the days until the FIFA World Cup begins in Qatar on 20 November.
The 29-day tournament will see up to 1.5 million people descend on the Gulf declare, where matches will be held across eight stadiums.
But ever since football's biggest competition was awarded to Qatar in 2010, it has been shrouded in controversy. Here Sky News looks at what the issues are.
Corruption allegations
Qatar won the bid for the 2022 Men's World Cup over the USA by 14 votes to eight.
But given the country's strict Islamic laws, its questionable human rights record, and searing temperatures, there were immediate corruption concerns over the decision.
Soon after, FIFA commissioned its own analysis into Qatar's methods, which found "no evidence of any improper activity by the bid team".
More on World Cup 2022
But one US lawyer, Michael Garcia, whose name was on the report, found that some Qatari conduct "may not have met the standards required by FIFA".
Qatari businessman Mohamed bin Hammam was on FIFA's 24-man executive committee from 1996 to 2011, even