{"id":16807,"date":"2020-12-11T11:27:46","date_gmt":"2020-12-11T19:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=16807"},"modified":"2020-12-11T11:27:48","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T19:27:48","slug":"qatar-to-allow-pride-flags-during-2022-world-cup-but-will-still-lock-up-gay-men-for-having-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2020\/12\/11\/qatar-to-allow-pride-flags-during-2022-world-cup-but-will-still-lock-up-gay-men-for-having-sex\/","title":{"rendered":"QATAR TO ALLOW PRIDE FLAGS DURING 2022 WORLD CUP \u2013 BUT WILL STILL LOCK UP GAY MEN FOR HAVING SEX"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PATRICK KELLEHER <\/a>DECEMBER 9, 2020<\/a> (pinknews.co.uk)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Qatar<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pride flags will be allowed at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but LGBT+ people will have to respect the country\u2019s homophobic \u201cculture\u201d. (Envato Elements)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qatar will allow Pride flags to be flown at the 2022 World Cup \u2013 but the starkly homophobic country will still expect visitors to respect its \u201cculture\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was outcry from LGBT+ football fans in 2010 when it was announced that Qatar would host the 2022 World Cup, despite the country\u2019s harsh laws. Homosexuality is illegal in the Arabic country, with gay sex punishable by up to three years in prison<\/a> or the death penalty for Muslims under Sharia law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Qatar\u2019s World Cup leadership team has assured Fifa that pro-LGBT+ displays will not be removed \u2013 including Pride flags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen it comes to the rainbow flags in the stadiums, FIFA have their own guidelines, they have their rules and regulations,\u201d Nasser Al-Khater, 2022 World Cup chief executive, told the Associated Press<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhatever they may be, we will respect them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cWe have a country that\u2019s conservative, however we are a welcoming country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are open and welcoming \u2013 hospitable. We understand the difference in people\u2019s cultures. We understand the difference in people\u2019s beliefs and so I think, again, everybody will be welcome and everybody will be treated with respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust like our culture is a culture of this world, we also expect people to respect our culture. I think there\u2019s a balance and there\u2019s a feeling that people will respect people from everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allowing Pride flags at Qatar World Cup won\u2019t help LGBT+ community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Chris Paouros, a member of the English Football Association\u2019s inclusion advisory board, told the Associated Press <\/em>that allowing Pride flags at the 2022 World Cup amounts to \u201cwindow dressing\u201d when LGBT+ people in Qatar are still face persecution under the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat it doesn\u2019t do is help the LGBTQ+ community,\u201d Paouros said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great for us to be able to go and put our flags up in the stadium, and that\u2019s wonderful during a World Cup. You want it to be the festival of football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut ultimately we do the work because we want to make sure that everybody can be free to be who they are and if you\u2019re a Qatari and you\u2019re not able to, then it just feels like window dressing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More from PinkNews<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Stars you didn\u2019t know are LGBT+<\/a>Celebs you didn\u2019t know have an LGBT sibling<\/a>The stars who went gay for pay<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to the Associated Foreign Press <\/em>in September 2019, Al-Khater insisted that LGBT+ fans will be safe<\/a> in Qatar at the World Cup \u2013 but said they should refrain from public displays of affection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe safety and security of every single fan is of the utmost importance to us,\u201d Khater said at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of training going into security personnel to make sure that things that are culturally different are seen in that frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPublic displays of affection is frowned upon, it\u2019s not part of our culture \u2013 but that goes across the board to everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Qatar was announced as the host of the 2022 World Cup in 2010, former FIFA president Sepp Blatter said gay fans should \u201crefrain\u201d from having sex in the starkly homophobic country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about concerns over the treatment of gay fans at the event, he laughed the question off and said: \u201cI would say they should refrain from any sexual activities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PATRICK KELLEHER DECEMBER 9, 2020 (pinknews.co.uk) Pride flags will be allowed at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but LGBT+ people will have to respect the country\u2019s homophobic \u201cculture\u201d. (Envato Elements) Qatar will allow Pride flags to be flown at the 2022 World Cup \u2013 but the starkly homophobic country will still… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16807"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16807"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16808,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16807\/revisions\/16808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}