The Gay Gooners have teamed up wh Arsenal to make the Emirat a more welg place for members of the LGBT+ muny
Contents:
- ARSENAL’S HECTOR BELLER THE VICTIM OF HOMOPHOBIC SLURS AND SAYS OPENLY GAY PLAYER IS IMPOSSIBLE PREMIER LEAGUE
- ARSENAL’S GAY GOONERS AMONG ENGLISH LGBT SOCCER FAN GROUPS PHG FOR CLN
- 'WE LOVE FOOTBALL AS MUCH AS ANYONE ELSE' - HOW THE GAY GOONERS AND ARSENAL ARE TACKLG HOMOPHOBIA
- RABOW LAC: GAY GOONERS -CHAIR GRATEFUL FOR CLUB'S YEAR-ROUND SUPPORT AHEAD OF ARSENAL VS NEWSTLE MATCH
- EXCLIVE! ARSEBLOG NEWS SPEAKS TO GAY GOONERS ON THEIR 5TH ANNIVERSARY
ARSENAL’S HECTOR BELLER THE VICTIM OF HOMOPHOBIC SLURS AND SAYS OPENLY GAY PLAYER IS IMPOSSIBLE PREMIER LEAGUE
Gay Gooners is Arsenal Football Club’s official supporters’ group for LGBT+ fans. Established Febary 2013, they are the first and largt LGBT+ fans group England, wh over a thoand of members the UK and overseas. Gay Gooners exists to provi a social group for LGBT+ Arsenal fans, alli and their iends to meet up, provi a safe and welg space, and mpaign to kick homophobia, biphobia and transphobia out of football. * gay arsenal *
Gay Gooners exists to provi a social group for LGBT+ Arsenal fans, alli and their iends to meet up, provi a safe and welg space, and mpaign to kick homophobia, biphobia and transphobia out of football.
Gay Gooners holds meet-ups near Emirat Stadium before home fixtur, group trips to away gam and anis regular social events.
Gay Gooners’ patron and lifelong Arsenal supporter, edian Matt Lus says he is “immensely proud of and grateful to the club” for s support for the group and how “young gay fans now feel clud by the club a way my generatn never uld”. The club works directly wh members of the Gay Gooners to tackle anti-LGBT+ discrimatn football by vg members to take part cln trag for staff.
ARSENAL’S GAY GOONERS AMONG ENGLISH LGBT SOCCER FAN GROUPS PHG FOR CLN
Two Premier League players are a uple and have e out as gay to their teammat, but not yet publicly. * gay arsenal *
Two Premier League players are a uple and have e out as gay to their teammat, but not yet, reports suggt the Premier League footballers qutn uld e out a documentary currently productn wh Channel follows Gary Leker recently claimg he was aware of two Premier League players who were thkg of g out as gay soon.
'WE LOVE FOOTBALL AS MUCH AS ANYONE ELSE' - HOW THE GAY GOONERS AND ARSENAL ARE TACKLG HOMOPHOBIA
Members of GayGooners share what Pri month means to them * gay arsenal *
To celebrate, we ved members of GayGooners to share their experienc of Pri month, tellg what means to have been the first football club reprented at a Pri march. When a handful of found the GayGooners 2013, Arsenal was the first Premier League club to have an official LGBT supporters group.
When we started, homophobic and transphobic abe was still monplace at grounds and on social media, and sometim we uld feel like we were alone.
In 2022 I will be attendg my first ever Pri London, and I am so proud to be a part of the GayGooners ntgent for this important event. Wh football fandom is often still taboo to be out and a same-sex relatnship, and recent months members of GayGooners have been abed and asslted for a simple thg as wearg rabow lac to a game, or holdg their partner’s hand.
RABOW LAC: GAY GOONERS -CHAIR GRATEFUL FOR CLUB'S YEAR-ROUND SUPPORT AHEAD OF ARSENAL VS NEWSTLE MATCH
Arsenal striker Vivianne Miema has said that would take an ele male player g out as gay for football to ever accept homosexualy. * gay arsenal *
It’s up to fan groups like ours to show the world that ’s ok to be Gay, Trans, Non-Bary, Pansexual, Queer, anywhere on the LGBTQI+ spectm and love the game. The support of the Arsenal fay - om the club, fellow fans and the iends who make up the GayGooners - at Pri n never be unrstated. We are makg Arsenal for Everyone, every day - through allyship, through visibily and through thoands of GayGooners beg their thentic selv whether Gay, Lbian, Bi, Trans, Ace or Queer.
EXCLIVE! ARSEBLOG NEWS SPEAKS TO GAY GOONERS ON THEIR 5TH ANNIVERSARY
Hector Beller of Arsenal says will be impossible for a gay player to e out bee of homophobic fans. He has been tnted for how he looks and drs. * gay arsenal *
Arsenal striker Vivianne Miema has said that would take an ele male player g out as gay for football to ever accept homosexualy. Miema, who plays ternatnally for the Netherlands, is openly gay and is a relatnship wh Arsenal team-mate Lisa Evans. When asked if she thought a high-profile men’s player g out now would help bat homophobia football, Miema told the Prs Associatn: “Obvly I like to thk so.
As Gaygooners celebrat s tenth anniversary this month, we spoke to founr Stewart Selby about the group's origs * gay arsenal *
In 2019, an anonymo Twter er amassed 50, 000 followers, claimg to be an English Premier League footballer who tend to e out gay. Gareth Thomas, who was the first openly gay profsnal gby unn player, said that he had ntacted the anonymo player to offer “support”.
Mikel Arteta and his players met wh members of GayGooners ahead of their participatn the Pri London Para. * gay arsenal *
It’s disuragg what has happened to Beller and ’s easy to see why he fells that way about an openly gay player. Last weekend, the club alongsi our LGBTQ+ supporters’ group, GayGooners, celebrated Pri by participatg a seri of events, culmatg the Pri In London Para, wh the highlights available to view above. After their open-top, double-cker float received a special send off om Mikel Arteta and some of our men’s first-team squad, the GayGooners partied alongsi club lleagu and Arsenal Women’s players Jen Beattie, Jordan Nobbs and Cal Foord, as they ma their way through the packed, lourful streets to soak up the ftivi.
Speakg about their weekend, the GayGooners add: “We are credibly proud of the work we have done wh Arsenal over the years. As Gaygooners celebrat s tenth anniversary this month, we journey back to the begng to see how the first LGBTQ+ supporters’ group UK football me to be. For Stewart Selby, founr of Gaygooners, the dispary the matchday experienc for some supporters pared to others was startlg.
* gay arsenal *
“The homophobic abe at that time that was beg screamed at gam, at our stadium and across football, was ankly disgtg. Stewart grew up the UK only a few years after homosexualy had been crimalised and was nstantly remd that achievg that much 1967 mt have been a tremendo battle.
Sectn 28, which prohibed the ‘promotn of homosexualy’ schools and lol ernment, was only scrapped as recently as 2003. He set to work wh then-CEO Ivan Gazidis and Communitns Director Mark Gonnella, explorg how to beg the mammoth task of kickg homophobia, biphobia and transphobia out of our game. In June of that same year, the very first members of Gaygooners rried that momentum all the way to Pri London.
Arsenal striker Vivianne Miema believ may take an ele men’s player to e out as gay for football to accept homosexualy * gay arsenal *
From those ial foundatns, Gaygooners grew throughout 2013, as their supporters’ banner took up s home at Emirat Stadium and our pta Thomas Vermaelen and vice-pta Mikel Arteta wore rabow lac the first awarens mpaign of s kd football. Gaygooners began to hold meet-ups before gam for LGBTQ+ supporters and alli to feel a te sense of belongg.
Arsenals clash wh Newstle on Saturday is first game of Premier Leagu 2021 Rabow Lac activatn; Carl Fearn, -chair of LGBTQ+ fans group Gay Gooners, highlights importance of visibily and challengg those who persist sgg homophobic chants * gay arsenal *
Lookg ahead to the next ten years and beyond, Stewart pays tribute to the achievements of the past whilst regnisg the huge role football still has to play eraditg not jt homophobia, but all forms of racism and discrimatn. Our CEO Vai Venkatham has paid tribute to Gaygooners as te trailblazers, sayg: “Gaygooners has worked tirelsly to spread the msage that everybody should feel wele at Arsenal.