Friday, 29 Mar 2024

Senior Tory MP claims Qatar has 'taken steps to protect gay fans'

‘Gay football fans are safe and secure’ in Qatar, insists Foreign Secretary James Cleverly… as new video shows police seizing Brazilian journalist’s phone after mistaking his regional flag for an LGBT rainbow banner

  • James Cleverly claims Qatar has made progress in protecting ‘gay football fans’
  • Supporters’ rainbow-themed t-shirts, hats and flags have all been confiscated
  • Downing Street monitoring the situation as authoritarian crackdown continues 
  • New video shows moment Brazilian journalist

The Foreign Secretary has claimed Qatar has made progress in ensuring ‘gay football fans are safe and secure’ despite growing criticism over the Gulf state’s repressive response to rainbow-themed attire.

James Cleverly said Qatar has ‘taken real steps’ ensuring ‘gay football fans are safe and do feel secure’ – just days after officials launched an authoritarian crackdown on pro-LGBT supporters.

Fans and journalists from multiple nations have reported t-shirts, bucket hats and banners adorned with rainbows were being confiscated by officials.

Several LGBT supporter groups have said they opted to boycott the tournament in a country where homosexuality is still illegal. 

Mr Cleverly said gay rights is an issue he has ‘brought up over a number of years’ with Qatar.

He told the BBC: ‘I’ve made it clear that we feel very strongly about this issue and, actually, one of the advantages about having a strong relationship with other countries is you can have these difficult conversations.

‘The Qataris know how seriously we take this issue and they have taken real steps to ensure that gay football fans are safe and do feel secure and can enjoy the football.’

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Qatar has ‘taken real steps’ ensuring ‘gay football fans are safe and do feel secure’ – just days after officials launched an authoritarian crackdown on pro-LGBT supporters


Victor Pereira, a Brazilian journalist reporting on the World Cup, claims local police harassed him after they mistook his regional flag – which depicts a red, yellow and green rainbow – for an LGBT banner

Mr Pereira took to Twitter to reveal how his phone was confiscated after both Qatari locals and officials took offence to the flag, with one man throwing it to the ground and ‘stomping on it’

The flag of the Pernambuco state, featuring the brightly coloured rainbow, is seen draped on former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2019

It comes as Victor Pereira, a Brazilian journalist reporting on the World Cup, claims local police harassed him after they mistook his regional flag – which depicts a red, yellow and green rainbow – for an LGBT banner.

The colourful emblem, used to represent the country’s northeastern Pernambuco state, has been used by Brazilian politicians during rallies.

Mr Pereira says his phone was confiscated after both Qatari locals and officials took offence to the flag, with one man throwing it to the ground and ‘stomping on it’. 

‘This guy wearing a white dress grabbed the flag, threw it on the ground and started stomping on it. I took my phone to record a video but he grabbed it from my hand and said he would only give it back if I deleted the video,’ Mr Pereira said on Twitter.

‘Then an officer arrived and tried to intervene. He grabbed the phone from the other guy and ordered me to delete the video.’

The incident follows days of mounting criticism for the Qatari police’s forceful handling of fans as the row over LGBT symbols rumbles on in the Gulf state. 

Qatar officials have repeatedly stated ‘all are welcome’ at the World Cup, despite the fact same-sex relationships remain illegal in the country. 

England and other teams planning to wear the ‘OneLove’ armbands to make a statement against discrimination during the World Cup in Qatar were also said to be ‘blackmailed’ with the looming threat of ‘massive sporting sanctions’. 

Fans and journalists from multiple nations have reported rainbow-themed items, including t-shirts, bucket hats and flags, being confiscated by officials.

Former Wales captain Laura McAllister was among female football fans who were ‘told to take off their rainbow bucket hats’ at the Qatari stadium ahead of the Dragons’ first match with the US last night

She also wrote on Twitter : ‘So, despite fine words from @FIFAWorldCup before event, @Cymru rainbow bucket hats confiscated at stadium, mine included’

US sports journalist Grant Wahl (pictured) was initially refused entry to a World Cup match in Doha, Qatar and had security guards ‘aggressively demand’ he remove his rainbow shirt. He was told it was for his own safety

US football reporter Grant Wahl was also stopped by security at the Wales vs USA match and ordered to take off his rainbow T-shirt. He refused and the Qatari officials questioned him before they eventually backed down. 

One security guard told him that they were protecting him from fans inside who might’ve attacked him for wearing the shirt. 

And a Danish reporter refused to remove his ‘OneLove’ anti-discrimination armband ahead of his live TV report when a Qatari official ordered him to. 

Jon Pagh, a journalist for Danish broadcaster TV2, stood in defiance against the official and refused to adhere to his order to remove the anti-discrimination and LGBT rights symbol from his arm. 

Pagh was getting ready to do a TV report about Denmark’s World Cup match against Tunisia when the Qatari official approached him and told him to remove the armband – but the Danish reporter refused.

The armbands have been viewed as a symbolic protest against laws in World Cup host Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal. 

Pagh’s refusal to remove the rainbow-themed armband came days after another Danish journalist from TV2, Rasmus Tantholdt, was forced off-air after Qatari security staff threatened to destroy his camera if he did not stop filming. 

Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, warned ‘nothing about their [Qatar’s] behaviour has changed’ since they were controversially handed the rights to host the World Cup more than a decade ago.

When asked about her hopes for the tournament to deliver change in Qatar, Ms Kearns said: ‘We should always be hopeful, but I do not meaningfully believe that holding the World Cup in Qatar is going to change anything on the ground.

‘Because if it was going to, we wouldn’t have seen human rights abuses taking place, there wouldn’t have been the loss of life that we’ve seen taking place.

‘So I really don’t think, unfortunately – and I wish this was not the case – that we can have any hope that things will meaningfully change.’ 

Downing Street said it is closely monitoring the treatment of UK fans at the World Cup – after reports emerged of Welsh female supporters wearing rainbow bucket hats having them confiscated by stadium security.

Former national team captain Laura McAllister, now a professor at Cardiff University, told ITV News that security guards said her hat was ‘a banned symbol’, however she managed to sneak it through in her handbag. 

She said: ‘I pointed out that FIFA had made lots of comments about supporting LGBT rights in this tournament, and said to them that coming from a nation where we’re very passionate about equality for all people, I wasn’t going to take my hat off.’

‘They were insistent that unless I took the hat off we weren’t actually allowed to come into the stadium.’

McAllister added: ‘I think we’ve had plenty of warning that this wasn’t going to be a tournament where human rights, LGBT rights and women’s rights were going to be well respected, but coming from a nation like Wales, we were very keen that we still took a stand coming here.’


FIFA says team captains could face a booking and potential suspension if they go through with a decision to wear the OneLove rainbow armband (pictured, England captain Harry Kane). Alex Scott decided to wear it on live TV instead

An England fan wearing a rainbow shirt sits in the stands before the game against Iran on Monday

Wales’ Rainbow Wall, a group of LGBTQ+ supporters, said male supporters wearing the hats were allowed to keep them but the accessories were taken from women

FIFA has made it clear that rainbows on clothing and flags is not prohibited in stadiums – but have acted to prevent protests on the pitch. 

Organisers of the Qatar World Cup and Qatari cultural groups have also urged visitors to respect their customs and religious rules. These including no drinking or swearing in public, wearing modest clothes and no public displays of affection. 

Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar under Islamic Sharia law and LGBT+ people also face discrimination and violence. 

England captain Harry Kane did not to wear his OneLove armband during the Three Lions’ game against Iran because of the threat of a yellow card after orders from the FA. The England captain had previously said he was determined to put it on, and was accused of ‘bottling it’.

On the sidelines former England footballer Alex Scott, now a BBC broadcaster, wore the armband during a live broadcast.

BBC pundit Alex Scott wore rainbow armband for England game on live TV and declares: Boycotting Qatar World Cup is the ‘easy option’

England may have backed down but BBC presenter Alex Scott defied Fifa’s ban on the rainbow armband as she broadcast from pitchside yesterday.

It was decided at the eleventh hour that England captain Harry Kane would no longer wear the anti-discrimination and LGBT rights symbol against Iran following pressure from football’s governing body.

But BBC pundit Miss Scott took the opportunity to wear the OneLove armband pitchside yesterday at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha during the build up to the England game.

Miss Scott, a former England international with 140 caps, has been a vocal critic of Qatar’s treatment of LGBT people and the country’s human rights record.

‘And once again we reference Infantino from what he said: you are not gay, you will never understand travelling to a country where you are fearing for your life just because of your preference of who you choose to love,’ she said during the coverage of the opening game of the tournament on Sunday.

‘To keep saying that football is for everyone, that’s what he keeps feeding us with, but we sit here and it’s not [for everyone] because people have not been able to travel to watch their team and support their team out of fear.’

She insisted it would have been easy to boycott the tournament and that she went to the World Cup in Qatar because she wants to have the ‘harder conversations’.

Miss Scott said: ‘Actually I’ve had conversations saying, ‘I should be staying at home, I should be boycotting’ and I thought long and hard about it. I think for me personally that would have been the easy option to do just that.

‘I’m here because I love my job and, when I think about it, sitting here and having the harder conversations: we’re talking about the migrant workers, LGBTQ+ community, we’re talking about women’s rights.

‘You think about four years ago, I was the first female pundit for the BBC at a World Cup. You think how far we’ve moved in four years. Let’s hope, in the next four years, we’re never having to have these conversations again.’

Former England captain Rio Ferdinand hit out at the decision of teams to not wear the rainbow armband accusing the countries of ‘folding like a pack of cards’ following a bit of pressure.

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