'I'm a gay football fan and I felt so unsafe gog to the World Cup I flew straight out of Qatar after every England game' - MyLondon

Contents:

• TAL OM A GAY FOOTBALL FAN
• DPE S BT TENTNS, FOOTBALL REMAS UNWELG OF GAY FANS
• 'I'M A GAY FOOTBALL FAN AND I FELT SO UNSAFE GOG TO THE WORLD CUP I FLEW STRAIGHT OUT OF QATAR AFTER EVERY ENGLAND GAME'ALEX BAKER SAID HE WAS MA TO FEEL LIKE A CRIMAL WHILE ATTENDG THE WORLD CUPGETWTLONDONBOOKMARKSHARECOMMENTSNEWSBYRORY BENT17:53, 5 DEC 2022UPDATED11:27, 6 DEC 2022BOOKMARKENGLAND FOOTBALL FAN ALEX BAKER SAID HE WAS MA TO FEEL LIKE A CRIMAL WHILE ATTENDG THE WORLD CUP PURELY BASED ON HIS INTY (IMAGE: ALEX BAKER)SIGN UP FOR NEWS AND FEATUR OM OUR DIVERSE MUNI MORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 SIGN UP FOR NEWS AND FEATUR OM OUR DIVERSE MUNI INVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!
• I’M A GAY, UNNIST, FOOTBALL FAN – SO HOW N I WATCH THE FIFA WORLD CUP QATAR?
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• WOLV FED £100K FOR FANS' ANTI-GAY CHANTG VS CHELSEA
• 8 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DARED TO COME OUT AS GAY
• GAY FOOTBALL FAN GROUPS TAKE THE LEAD ON EQUAL RIGHTS ON THE TERRAC AND PCH
• THREE GAY FOOTBALL PLAYERS FEATURED NFL NETWORK SEGMENT ON CARL NASSIB

TAL OM A GAY FOOTBALL FAN

Wele to the plight of a gay sports fan! My teemed lleague Cyd Zeigler wrote last week about the annoyg stereotype that gay men have to be “masc” to watch the Super Bowl.

As a rult, I often take on a self-pretg tone when discsg my sports fandom, lamentg how I am the “worst gay ever” bee I n more easily name the Red Sox’s startg ne than the latt nttants on “Drag Race. I have my gay sports iends to thank.

My foray to the gay world began when I joed Boston’s LGBTQ flag football league 2016. I started datg men three years prr, but until then, my gay life basilly end the bedroom.

DPE S BT TENTNS, FOOTBALL REMAS UNWELG OF GAY FANS

The faiari eased my trepidatns about enterg a gay space. I’ve experienced so many important gay firsts wh my football iends: drag shows, weddgs, viss to Montreal’s Gay Village.

I’m not sayg there are right and wrong ways to be gay, of urse. Co-founr Jim Buzski recently wrote about a new survey that found 30 percent of gay men and 40 percent of lbians intify as “passnate sports fans.

I, personally, am not even particularly offend by the moment; I jt fot that this was what was like, that spe the years of rabow lac and pta’s armbands, Sttish football – that is, men’s Sttish football – still has a problem wh homophobia. Ined, jt over half of Sttish football fans surveyed by the Equaly Network 2017 reported wnsg homophobic behavur at a football ground.

'I'M A GAY FOOTBALL FAN AND I FELT SO UNSAFE GOG TO THE WORLD CUP I FLEW STRAIGHT OUT OF QATAR AFTER EVERY ENGLAND GAME'ALEX BAKER SAID HE WAS MA TO FEEL LIKE A CRIMAL WHILE ATTENDG THE WORLD CUPGETWTLONDONBOOKMARKSHARECOMMENTSNEWSBYRORY BENT17:53, 5 DEC 2022UPDATED11:27, 6 DEC 2022BOOKMARKENGLAND FOOTBALL FAN ALEX BAKER SAID HE WAS MA TO FEEL LIKE A CRIMAL WHILE ATTENDG THE WORLD CUP PURELY BASED ON HIS INTY (IMAGE: ALEX BAKER)SIGN UP FOR NEWS AND FEATUR OM OUR DIVERSE MUNI MORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 SIGN UP FOR NEWS AND FEATUR OM OUR DIVERSE MUNI INVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!

And yet while the polici agast homophobic language rema as strgent as that agast racism, the realy of enforcement is is, I thk, partly bee of the way homophobic language has imbedd self so eply to the Sttish vernacular as to seem almost nocuo.

In all my algs wh him he had never said an unkd word or treated me any way differently bee I was gay.

I’M A GAY, UNNIST, FOOTBALL FAN – SO HOW N I WATCH THE FIFA WORLD CUP QATAR?

Gay people are largely treated as llateral damage. I jt want to watch the people pot to the notable absence of any openly gay football players a major league as proof of the hospable environment.

He hung himself after beg acced of sexually assltg a 17-year-old boy the state of Maryland (where all homosexual acts were, at that time, illegal) his suici note stated: “I realised I had already been prumed guilty.

” However, I thk is fair to say that football clubs themselv are more welg plac to gay players than they ever were Fashanu’s time. Even if the prence of Malky Mackay as the SFA’s performance director – a man wh a known history of sual homophobia – is hardly hearteng, the environment for homosexual players is unniably more welg than ever has been.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

A gay football player would not only have to al wh the evable hecklg of the opposn fans, but also wir society’s need to celebrate them for an attribute they never had a say ; a facet of their character that, unlike their skill as a player, didn’t take years of graft and trag.

The dilemma any prospective gay footballer fac is that their reer would be overshadowed by their story. Whoever choos to bee the first openly gay profsnal male football player the UK would be fallg on a sword that would bleed them of their privacy. Bee until young gay players n see themselv the Premier League all but the strongt-willed will hang up their boots prematurely.

Nobody should have to sacrifice their personal fort orr to prove that a gay player’s life don’t have to end tragedy. How is anyone expected to report homophobic language when the victims of s damage rema anonymo?

WOLV FED £100K FOR FANS' ANTI-GAY CHANTG VS CHELSEA

A gay footballer might have given me hope. An openly gay footballer wouldn’t jt benef the LGBT muny; would benef football.

The Qatar World Cup has highlighted this issue like no other petn before puttg discsns around gay rights and football at the heart of the global nversatn. It is this maelstrom that England super fan Alex Baker, a gay man, who is Chairman of Stonewall FC, Print of the Internatnal Gay and Lbian Football Associatn, entered when he cid to support The Three Lns abroad at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

The Londoner has spent the last five years attemptg to e football to help promote LGBTQ+ rights and build safe muni for gay, queer and trans people wh the game. ” Alex says society the UK has e a long way sce he was first volved wh Stonewall FC, cludg the legalisatn of gay marriage and the promotn by football associatns of greater visibily for LGBTQ people the game such as wh the Rabow lac mpaign.

8 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DARED TO COME OUT AS GAY

But spe the movement towards acceptance of LGBTQ+ people football, the men’s game is still plagued by issu of homophobia.

GAY FOOTBALL FAN GROUPS TAKE THE LEAD ON EQUAL RIGHTS ON THE TERRAC AND PCH

The highly prsurised and public nature of beg a footballer at the top level means that England still has no openly gay players s ele divisn, the Premier League.

” He add: “Some football environments aren’t always that welg of gay people. It has been well publicised that host natn Qatar is a place openly hostile to LGBTQ people, wh acts of homosexualy rryg a three-year prison sentence and a fe, while Mlims uld be executed unr sharia law for mtg the ‘crime’ of beg gay.

“In that scenar, when you are on your own, you're anx anyway and thk there might be a risk to your safety, you are then beg challenged by an agent of the Qatari state about a cultural symbol that they fd offensive, and sistg that you will not be allowed accs to a stadium unls you b , that is not a fun suatn to be for a gay fan.

THREE GAY FOOTBALL PLAYERS FEATURED NFL NETWORK SEGMENT ON CARL NASSIB

He says that he feels like LGBT fans were particularly targeted by stadium secury wh a foc on tryg to stop anyone wh imagery relatg to gay rights om enterg.

Alex is enuraged by the issue around gay rights at the World Cup beg raised by players, journalists, ach, sponsors, and fans, somethg that would have likely not been highlighted at all 20 years ago. “Talkg about this om a human rights perspective rather than an ‘isn’t fascatg, weird and kooky that there are gay people that like football’, if you look at prs verage of gays football om the 1990s you would not fd them talkg about om a human rights perspective, you fd them talkg about wh a fascatn that you n be gay and like football.

However, homosexualy is illegal and punishable by ath the Gulf state where he will now play football.