"It's like a kick in the teeth" - LGBT England fans tell us why they're staying home for Qatar 2022

As England and Wales fans gear up for their tournaments to get underway, we meet the fans who are choosing to stay in the UK

Author: Mick CoylePublished 21st Nov 2022

The World Cup is celebrated as a festival of football that unites people from across the globe.

But this year's event in Qatar has caused controversy because of the host nation's record on human rights, the deaths of migrant workers and Qatar's laws surrounding the LGBT community.

In Qatar, it is illegal to be homosexual, which is punishable by imprisonment or, in some cases, the death penalty. It's also against the law there to campaign for LGBT rights

Tournament organisors insist everyone is safe to travel to watch their nation's games, as long as local customs are respected.

The fans who chose not to travel

We've been hearing from gay and trans supporters who say they wouldn't feel safe to travel to the Gulf state.

Paul, Sophie and Callum are all part of groups which promote the visibilty of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender in UK football.

Ahead of the tournament, gay MP Luke Pollard questioned whether Qatar's record on migrant workers and the LGBT population should have raised more questions about whether it should have been allowed to host the tournament in the first place

Paul Amann from Liverpool fan groups Kop Outs

Paul, front right, is a member of the Liverpool supporting Kop Outs group

Kop Outs is Liverpool FCs LGBT+ fan group, Paul Amann is a part of the group and says he doesn't know of any LGBT+ fan who wants to go to Qatar:

"That's mostly because Qatar had the opportunity to change by being given the World Cup and they've refused to do so.

"The change we want is a change from a law that says if you're gay you can be killed or imprisoned or subject to conversion therapy - which is basically torture - or be forced into exile.

"If that's the situation for LGBT+ citizens of Qatar, how can we as LGBT+ people think about going to a place which treats its citizens so badly?"

"The regime is the biggest barrier to going for me, if the World Cup were in a more accessible place I'd probably jump at the chance to go, it would be a great festival of football, a great chance to engage with people from other cultures and backgrounds and great to see world class football, unfortunately this year I really don't feel that's possible"

Sophie Cook, the first trans woman employed in the Premier League

Sophie Cook travelled to Russia to raise awareness of LGBT rights

Sophie was the first transgender woman to work in Premier League football, working as the club photographer for Brighton.

She told us why she turned down the opportunity to go to the Qatar World Cup for free:

"For me, the big difficulty is, if I can't go out there and support local people then it's just a jolly and for me to go out there and try and raise issues in their country using freedoms that I have that they're denied, using my British passport as my get-out-of jail free card - I just think is wrong.

"I think it's important that we stand up in support of Qatari LGBTQ people, but we do it from here and we don't play into the narrative of supporting this tournament."

Sophie said that many members of the LGBTQ+ community are bypassing the tournament altogether: "Many people I've spoken to are not going to follow this tournament at all, they're not going to watch it, they're not going to watch the results.

"It's not just cutting your nose off to spite your face, there's a very real feeling that this isn't a valid, legitimate tournament.

"Since I came out as transgender back in 2015, football has made amazing strides both in this country and around the world, to the extent that we now have LGBTQ fans feeling comfortable going to games all over the country and around Europe.

"They feel comfortable taking rainbow flags to games and most Premier league and a lot of Football League clubs have LGBT supporter clubs nowadays.

"Football has made massive strides in seven years and for FIFA to put this tournament here and the previous one in Russia, it's like a kick in the teeth, it's like they're saying to you that your rights and your safety are not as important as the financial implications of this tournament."

Callum Jewell, a Watford fan, and member of the Proud Hornets

Callum Jewell is the co-founder of the Proud Hornets - Watford's LGBT supporters group he says there's a weird feeling in the run-up to this World Cup.

"Normally in the lead up to a World Cup you'd feel excited or nervous, but I don't feel there is that at all, either for myself or my community.

"I haven't been to a World Cup yet, but I definitely wouldn't have gone to the last one in Russia, I wouldn't have felt 100% comfortable there and it's a different level in Qatar I'd feel even more uneasy about going there.

"By putting themselves forward to that hosting the World Cup Qatar should put themselves forward to a higher standard than they currently have, that's my belief and that's the same for any state which opens themselves up to global events whether that is the Olympics or World Cup or anything, that should be a mandatory requirement."

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