“Today I feel Qatari, today I feel Arab, today I feel African, today I feel gay, today I feel disabled, today I feel like a migrant worker,” Giani Infantino, the FIFA president, said Saturday in a much-criticized speech. .
Two weeks before the start of the tournament, FIFA’s position was that discrimination of any kind on the grounds of sexual orientation was strictly prohibited, according to a spokesman for the organization after a protest at the Football Museum in Zurich.
“Qatar, as the host country, is fully committed to ensuring that everyone can enjoy the tournament in a safe and welcoming environment, including members of the LGBTIQ+ community.”
UEFA, the European soccer confederation, also took an ambiguous position on the rights of LGBTQ+ people during last year’s Euro Cup.
On that occasion, while boasting of being an inclusive organization, it prevented the Allianz stadium in Munich from being lit up in rainbow colors before a match between the German team and Hungary, whose government pushed through a series of homophobic laws.
With information from AFP and Reuters