The World Cup

[sparkindarkness]

The World Cup in 2022 is going to be held in Russia and Qatar.

Normally the World Cup is something that hits my radar largely because television, advertising et al becomes consumed by lots of men playing with balls in a way that is not nearly as sexy as it sounds (alas) but I did a double take on this one.
See, when we’re looking at homophobia in sports and how they’re finally pushing to make it slightly less omnipresent (and even acknowledging it’s a problem!) and there’s actually supposed to be some kind of movement here – we have Fifa picking countries to host the world cup that literally risk life and limb for gays to go and support. Qatar in particular still considered being gay a crime punishable by imprisonment or flogging. Flogging, I kid you not.

Really I shouldn’t be surprised, Fifa doesn’t even include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policy and with the UN deciding that killing us is all fine and dandy, you can hardly expect Fifa of all organisations to give a damn whether we’re considered human or not.

It’s just depressing as hell to see yet again the straight world giving us a big fuck you. Again, straightness confirms that our lives are worth bugger all.

Unsurprisingly, Gay groups are hella pissed about this. Because it gets tiresome when the straight powers that be yet AGAIN make it clear that stomping on your head is just fun and games and totally ok

The Gay Football Supporters Network is boycotting the games. They very rightly point out that while Fifa wants to bring the game “to the whole world” it apparently doesn’t include gay people. We’re not part of the world it seems, according to straightness. Or maybe they just wish we weren’t.

And, of course, those silly gays objecting to the devaluing contempt and dehumanising hatred of the straight world are over-reacting. Why, as journalist Mehdi Hasan tells us, we’re over-reacting, I mean Qatar only occasionally flogs people, what’s the problem?! Why it’s QATARPHOBIC to object on such piffling grounds.  This straight guy just wants us hysterical types just calm down

Of course, it’s hardly alone. I’m amazed at the number of people jumping up and down every where I’ve seen this reported. And losing their ever loving shit that anyone would DARE criticise Qatar for extreme homophobia, including liberal spaces. Well I guess we know where we stand in their eyes – and how much value our lives have

The president of Fifa, Sepp Blatter, hearing complaints, predictably dismissed them by telling gays – “just don’t have sex” I kid you not. Faced with a gay people who are concerned about a nation that flogs, imprisons and deports gay people, this is the response from the straight authorities. Because it’s totally our fault, right? I mean if we’d just not be icky gays then all would be fine, right, Mr. Blatter? It’s all about sex, right? Icky nasty gay sex?

But hey, he’s concerned about prejudice – well, every prejudice but homophobia. And we’re just dealing with another culture! Screw the gays! They don’t want racism. They don’t want prejudice because of politics. They don’t want prejudice because of religion. Prejudice because of sexual orientation? Oh, he doesn’t mention that – and doesn’t give a damn about it, it seems. He’s sure there’ll be no trouble – not that the laws are changing or there are any guarantees. But hey, the straight guy is sure there’ll be no trouble!

He wants to open the game up to everyone of all culture. Just not to gays. Gays don’t count, don’t matter and our lives mean nothing. Not surprising, but infuriatingly typical. The joys of living in this straight world continue.

And you know what? This isn’t just about football or the damn world cup. This is about the world, AGAIN, saying that persecuting gay people is ok. This is about the world, AGAIN, validating and supporting homophobia. This is about the world, AGAIN, telling us that imprisoning and torturing people for being gay is OK. That’s not about football, it’s not even about one country – it’s about the whole straight world saying how irrelevant and unimportant the persecution of gay is even when taken to the utter extremes – in the straight lead world, our lives do not matter.

Comments

[jaaaarne]

So what are you suggesting? Exclude everyone but the Western Europe and the USA instead? Screw everybody else? Cut the rest of the world out of it, so that the Western gay folk could feel better? Do you actually think that would be fair? And how are you better than them in this case?

I don't really care that much about football myself, but I'm a big sports fan (figure skating, aquatics, motorsports etc.). And you can't imagine how much it irritates me that the the Western world seems to think that they are the only ones worthy of holding/attending big sporting events. I've seen so much insults and name calling directed at Brazil for getting the World Cup, although if there is a country worthy of it it's them. Now I see the same directed at us.

But we, the rest of the world, want the sporting fun too, damn it! Take the figure skating world championships, for one. Russia has hosted it only once since 1903! Once in over than a century! The country that has huge figure skating tradition, the country that hosted the first FS championships ever only got three events throughout the history of world championships: in 1896, 1903 and 2005. Switzerland, for example, has hosted Worlds eleven times while not even actually having that much to offer, except maybe for Denise Biellmann and Stéphane Lambiel. The USA has hosted twelve Worlds getting an event every 5-6 years. We haven't had one in over than 100 years. How is it fair?

And I don't even want to start on aquatics.

It's sports. It's a universal language anyone can speak. And the World Cup is supposed to be about football anyway, isn't it? So why should it suddenly matter what sexual orientation a fan has? Are they in it for the football fun, or are they in it to make a statement or something?

That's not to say that the world shouldn't be demanded to change its homophobic ways. It should and it will be. But I wish the big sporting events were left out of it and were not used as an excuse or tool. There are other ways. In the end, it's not the homophobes you're accusing who will suffer. It's the ordinary people who will be deprived of the big sporting festival they'd dreamed of. And that is just as much unfair.

[sparkindarkness]

I think our value being acknowledge would be fair. I think not handwaving a country that flogs and arrests us would be "fair." I think treating countries that have laws that torture gay people as a-ok is most certainly NOT fair.

But hey, sporting fun > life and limb. No, this is something I DON'T think is fair - but sadly it's something i think the world will not change. Sports, the sporty fun and straight peopkle's enjoyment of sport is weighed higher than our human rights. And I DON'T think that fair, but the straight world doesn't give a damn becuase their sporty fun is more important

Sports, the universal language anyone can speak. And universally the straight world has told us to go fuck ourselves. Of course it matters what sexual orientation a fan has because one of the countries it is hosted in will FLOG gay people in that country. It's a matter of severe contempt and dismissive of our rights. Sexual orientation shouldn't matter? Well someone page Qatar on that because they're still treating us like criminals, like animals - worse, because we'd arrest someone for flogging a dog.


These are the priorities. Shut up gays, are you trying to make a statement about, y'know, being human. Instead support an organisation that has just said you don't matter, be excluded from this world cup because it's not SAFE for us to be part of it and try to enjoy the "football fun" while doing your best to avoid the flogging, the imprisonment - after all, the straight world is ignoring it just fine

After all, it would be UNFAIR of us not to ignore the homophobia. homophobia is getting in the way of the fun. It would be unfair to deny the poor straight folks the sporting fun because we object to ANOTHER international organisation saying our lives don't matter

[jaaaarne]

It feels like we're talking about different things. I get the impression that you are trying to say that the World Cup is about gays, while I think it's about football. However, you didn't answer my question. Sorry for daring to ask you again, but I'd still like to hear your suggestions on the matter. In your opinion, should the big sporting events be restricted only to North America/Western Europe/Australia, because countries there claim to treat gays like equals? By the way, judging by the news you often post here, most times it's just that - claims without actions to prove them. Do you prefer for the millions of people Western civilization has been othering for centuries now to be excluded from the big sporting events such as World Cup? How is it different from what homophobes do to queer people?

[sparkindarkness]

I think it's made about homosexuality when FIFA made it clear that gay lives didn't matter

It's made about homosexuality when gays would risk imprisonment or flogging

It's made about homosexuality when FIFA dismissed homophobia as an issue.

You say "it's about football" as if all gay people would suddenly stop being gay for the match - or as if homophobia would stop mattering or that football should be more important

For gay people it can't not be about homosexuality. We can't turn it off to suit straight people and the straight world. We can't decide "hey, let's turn off the gay now, sport is more important and our right to exist is getting in the way and making the straight people upset!"

I think that big sporting events shouldn't be held in places that would imprison and torture gay people. I'm sorry if that seems so unreasonable that I hold a gay person's right to existence over someone's enjoyment of sport.

No, that wouldn't confine sport to just western Europe, the US and Australia if we confuined it to nations that wouldn't imprison, torture or kill us. That is nations in every continent on the planet. But I find it an interesting priority that a sporting event is ranked higher than imprisonment or torture of gay people. Is that what matters more then? No, we shouldn't be angry with the laws and policies that treat us as criminals - and worse - instead it would be MEAN to exclude them for their dehumanising bigotry

When apatheid was in South Africa, sporting teams boycotted the country. They boycotted because they didn't want to have any part of such a system. They did it because they legitimised it when they accepted it as reasonable and good.

FIFA is doing the same.



Wait, I'm sorry. DID YOU ACTUALLY JUST COMPARE NOT HOSTING THE WORLD CUP TO BEING FLOGGED AND IMPRISONED?

Did you actually imply that being excluded the world cup because of homophobia is in any way comparable to those homophobic laws that would have people imprisoned and flogged? You are actually drawing a comparison between someone being tortured and not being able to attend a football match?

Good gods.