Homophobia in football

[hash tag]

Saddened to read this. I thought women's football would not be a target for this
Chelsea condemn homophobic abuse of Kerr and Mewis - Sam Kerr and Kristie Mewis baby: Chelsea condemn 'hateful and homophobic comments'

 

[Lotte]

If you don't like lesbians, why the fuck are you following women's football? Loads of players and managers are openly gay or bi and the anti-woke types always go on about how much they hate women's football, so why are they even paying attention to Kerr and Mewis? And good on Bompastor for sticking up for Kerr. I bet loads of them did the whole 'I'm not homophobic but why do they need to tell us' thing. Harry Kane didn't get accused of ramming heterosexuality down people's throats when he posted that cute photo of his dogs to announce he and Kate had a kid on the way.

Speaking of babies, when Dominic Calvert-Lewin and his girlfriend announced she was pregnant, he got so many comments from people who were amazed because they thought he was gay. Because being pretty and into fashion means he's gay, apparently. And he gets so much hate off fans because of it. If this is how they treat a man they think is gay, how would they treat a man who is gay?

 

[Wilf]

Speaking of babies, when Dominic Calvert-Lewin and his girlfriend announced she was pregnant, he got so many comments from people who were amazed because they thought he was gay. Because being pretty and into fashion means he's gay, apparently. And he gets so much hate off fans because of it. If this is how they treat a man they think is gay, how would they treat a man who is gay?

Graeme Le Saux was 'accused' of being gay back in the 90s (?) because he read the Guardian (also because he went on a camping holiday with another player). Robbie Fowler taunted him by wiggling his arse at him on the pitch iirc. So much that was hideous about that story, even for the period though Fowler did get a negative reaction, but not an FA/Prem league punishment (again, iirc). The fact that Le Saux wasn't gay is pretty much irrelevant to the whole affair, which no doubt confirmed to any players who were gay the tide of shit they would face if they did come out.

 

[Wilf]

Also, more up to date the Rainbow Laces campaign came into conflict with a few players religious beliefs over the last couple of days:

Manchester United scrap rainbow jackets after Mazraoui cites religious objections

Defender declines to wear jacket supporting LGBTQ+ community on the grounds of his Muslim faith

www.theguardian.com

As a minor caveat, there's a tiny bit of me that respects the idea of opt outs in general. I neither share the religious beliefs of these players nor, obviously, their views on sexuality. But there's just a bit of me that accepts the idea of an opt out from what is essentially a corporate equality drive, even if they are opting out for regressive reasons. However, I think it's interesting that an opt out from an LGBTQ+ initiative is allowed, while you'd get a ton of shit if you refused to sing the national anthem, wear a poppy or a million other shitty things in football.

 

[The39thStep]

Also, more up to date the Rainbow Laces campaign came into conflict with a few players religious beliefs over the last couple of days:

Manchester United scrap rainbow jackets after Mazraoui cites religious objections

Defender declines to wear jacket supporting LGBTQ+ community on the grounds of his Muslim faith

www.theguardian.com

As a minor caveat, there's a tiny bit of me that respects the idea of opt outs in general. I neither share the religious beliefs of these players nor, obviously, their views on sexuality. But there's just a bit of me that accepts the idea of an opt out from what is essentially a corporate equality drive, even if they are opting out for regressive reasons. However, I think it's interesting that an opt out from an LGBTQ+ initiative is allowed, while you'd get a ton of shit if you refused to sing the national anthem, wear a poppy or a million other shitty things in football.

One of the issues for me is a player and/or supporter based initiative rather than a corporate one.

 

[Lotte]

Graeme Le Saux was 'accused' of being gay back in the 90s (?) because he read the Guardian (also because he went on a camping holiday with another player). Robbie Fowler taunted him by wiggling his arse at him on the pitch iirc. So much that was hideous about that story, even for the period though Fowler did get a negative reaction, but not an FA/Prem league punishment (again, iirc). The fact that Le Saux wasn't gay is pretty much irrelevant to the whole affair, which no doubt confirmed to any players who were gay the tide of shit they would face if they did come out.

I remember it well. I'd like to think we've moved on since the '90s but it does feel like we're going backwards sometimes. How many Muslim or Christian players (not mentioning Jews because there aren't any in the PL right now) would be OK with a gay team mate? And you know fans would use it as ammo. If dead children are fair game, so is sexuality.

 

[Silas Loom]

I remember it well. I'd like to think we've moved on since the '90s but it does feel like we're going backwards sometimes. How many Muslim or Christian players (not mentioning Jews because there aren't any in the PL right now) would be OK with a gay team mate? And you know fans would use it as ammo. If dead children are fair game, so is sexuality.

Manor Solomon is only on loan to Leeds from Spurs and might theoretically be recalled if Wilson Odobert remains out of action.

And Spurs is an interesting case, because most of our fans who care about players’ personal lives don’t entirely buy Son’s story that he is delaying relationships with women until his football career is over, to maintain purity of focus, but he remains uncritically loved by everybody.

 

[Wilf]

The cynicism of football authorities is staggering. There's a genuine push for a top down corporate vision of diversity, something used in marketing and to sell stuff. And then World Cup 2034 will almost certainly be in...

 

[hash tag]

The real sad case was of course Justin Fashnau, a huge and sick tragedy. A total waste of a life.

 

[Lotte]

Wasn't he involved with an underage boy? Not that that makes the homophobia acceptable. Clough was in the anti-Nazi league but was also very homophobic.

 

[Wilf]

Wasn't he involved with an underage boy? Not that that makes the homophobia acceptable. Clough was in the anti-Nazi league but was also very homophobic.

Probably not - as in physically - from the last documentary I saw, though that was a good few years ago.

Edit: ignore that, a quick glance at his wiki shows there was sex. The question was over consent. He would also have been imprisoned in Maryland anyway as homosexuality was illegal then/there.

Further edit: I suspect the more favourable reading of what happened came from a documentary made by one of his family, niece perhaps. That's probably the last thing I've seen on his life and death. In passing, John Fashanu's reaction to his brother's sexuality was deeply shit.

 

[hash tag]

Wasn't he involved with an underage boy?

I wasn't aware of that - just looked at wiki, there were accusations of assault by a 17 year old boy. JF fearing his
homosexuality would count against him checked out.

 

[Bus Honeygun]

We had Justin Fashanu at Torquay after he came out. Our chairman at the time no doubt thought 'if no one else will take him we will'. Surprisingly little homphobia from our fans - everyone was just excited that we had a player of his calibre (although his performances were hot and cold from week to week). I do recall someone wrote 'Fash is gay' on a wall at Plainmoor and someone writing 'So what!' underneath. That's over 30 years ago now and it wasn't the big deal everyone thought it would be.

 

[Lotte]

Aaaaand look who's decided to weigh in. Btw who is this Linzi person? Other than a homophobic Geordie? I see Fair Cop think wearing rainbow laces is misogynistic, but I'd lay any money they've never said a word about Benjamin Mendy, or the many footballers who liked that awful Memphis Depay post, or Mason Greenwood, or David Goodwillie, Ryan Giggs, Joey Barton...because misogyny is AOK when cishet men do it.

Fair Cop are helping ensure that gay male footballers will never feel safe coming out and have the fucking nerve to claim they're protecting women.

 

[newme]

Well two of them unveiled this week. As a united fan I'm pissed off for a start.

 

[Lotte]

I know Mazraoui's one, who's the other?

 

[mx wcfc]

I know Mazraoui's one, who's the other?

Sam Morsy: Ipswich Town captain did not wear rainbow armband because of 'religious beliefs'

Ipswich Town say captain Sam Morsy did not wear a rainbow armband during the Premier League loss at Nottingham Forest because of religious beliefs.

www.bbc.co.uk

Ipswich's captain.

 

[Lotte]

Oh, I knew about him, I thought there was another Man United player.