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Football Association show homophobia the red card

Football's final taboo

Wednesday, 15 October 2008

Love football, hate the homophobia. Even the staunchest of fans found the chants coming from the terraces hard to stomach recently as Portsmouth's star player and England International Sol Campbell was subjected to some vicious but sadly not usual homophobic abuse at a recent Tottenham Vs Portsmouth game. But it looks like the red card is coming out as The Football Association backs a new campaign against homophobia.

Kick It Out, which has long campaigned against racism in football, has broadened its remit to become football's equality and inclusion campaign. It is spearheading the new anti-homophobia initiative under the theme of One Game, One Community.

Speaking about the forthcoming launch Kick It Out’s director Piara Powar, said "We've been campaigning to rid our game of discrimination for some years. We've made significant headway; black players are everywhere and ethnic minority communities are getting closer whether they are on the pitch or in the stands. However, there are still no openly gay players and casual abuse of many players has homophobic overtones. We exist to, among other things, help raise the issue of homophobia in football. We want to use this event to pose some questions and unearth some answers, as to why the world of professional football remains hostile to the openly lesbian, gay and transgender sections of the population.

Speakers at the event include Piara Powar of Kick It Out, Lucy Faulkner from the Football Association, Peter Tatchell of OutRage!, Barney Efthimiou from the Gay Football Supporters Network and Jason Bartholomew Hall from the Justin Fashanu Campaign. One of those speakers, Peter Tatchell said of the campaign "Gay players, like black players, should never be expected to put up with bigoted taunts, insults and threats. We want football to offer a safe, welcoming atmosphere for players and fans of all races and sexualities."

Kick It Out campaign launch 'Homophobia – Football's Final Taboo'
FA headquarters, Soho Square, London, W1D 4FA.
Thursday 16 October. 7pm.
Open to the media and the public. Admission is free.

www.kickitout.org