Being gay is illegal in Qatar, with locals in the country often hunted, arrested and beaten by the local authorities.
In fact, a Qatar official has said that “homosexuality is damage in the mind”, in short this is not a place where members of the LQBT community are accepted.
European teams have decided to abandon the One Love armband protests at the Qatar World Cup due to increasing pressure from FIFA, mainly as a result of the possibility of yellow cards given to those wearing the armband.
Jordan Bonner from Gloucestershire Pride is worried that people from the LGBT community may feel that football is no longer for them. “It’s definitely a risk, we’ve got no idea at the moment on the environment that the football players will be experiencing. I imagine it will be quite an uncomfortable experience for any players who might be gay to travel to such a prestigious event, and to know deep down that you are playing in a country where you are not welcome.”
“You are going to a place where there is no acceptance of who you are, this goes for both players and fans who will be out there.”
Bonner thinks that religion has a part to play, “Islam is a wonderful faith in many ways. I do believe that many of the views are rooted in religion. Education is key, I’d love to think that over the next couple of weeks we can use this as an opportunity to educate. There will be a whole LGBT community in Qatar and these people deserve respect in their country.”
Qatar is largely a Muslim country with 65% of it’s population belonging to the faith and this has been seen as one of the reason for the laws surrounding LGBT people as the Quran forbids such relations.
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The country’s first openly gay person Dr Nas Mohamed has said that there is a “real risk of violence” for gay people over there.
So is the problem too far deep rooted to make a difference with gestures like an armband? And should people simply respect the local laws and customs of a country with a differing culture to our own?
