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LAST UPDATE | 26 Oct 2022
BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY James Cleverly has come under fire for suggesting that LGBT football fans heading to the World Cup in Qatar should be “respectful of the host nation”.
Veteran LGBT rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has blasted Cleverly’s advice, and said going to the event is “colluding with a homophobic, sexist and racist regime”.
The British activist, who was questioned by Qatar police yesterday after staging an LGBT rights protest in the country, said: “The UK Government must use its public voice to condemn the appalling human rights abuses carried out daily by the Qatari regime.
Unless we all speak out, Qatar will have achieved its goal of sports washing its appalling reputation during the World Cup. Mr Cleverly has an opportunity to highlight the abuses being carried out by the regime.
“All fans, not just LGBTs, should boycott the World Cup and use their social media to amplify the shocking human rights abuses by the Qatari state. Going to the World Cup is colluding with a homophobic, sexist and racist regime.”
Cleverly urged fans to show “a little bit of flex and compromise” and to “respect the culture of your host nation”.
He told LBC radio: “I haven’t spoken with the government of Qatar in direct response to Peter Tatchell, but my understanding is that he was questioned, that he was supported by the FCDO’s consular team.
I have been freed by #Qatar police after staging first LGBT+ protest in the homophobic Gulf state. @FIFAcom awarded the #WorldCup to Qatar where LGBTs can be jailed & executed. #QatarAntiGay
— Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell) October 25, 2022
More info: https://t.co/fEOHFIvbHw Please Retweet pic.twitter.com/u2YzU2B9kx
“They want to make sure that football fans are safe, secure and enjoy themselves, and they know that that means they are going to have to make some compromises in terms of what is an Islamic country with a very different set of cultural norms to our own.
“One of the things I would say for football fans is, you know, please do be respectful of the host nation.
“They are trying to ensure that people can be themselves and enjoy the football, and I think with a little bit of flex and compromise at both ends, it can be a safe, secure and exciting World Cup.”
Cleverly was re-appointed to his role under Rishi Sunak yesterday.
‘Shockingly tone deaf’
Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker criticised Cleverly for his comments, writing on Twitter: “Whatever you do, don’t do anything Gay. Is that the message?”
Whatever you do, don’t do anything Gay. Is that the message? https://t.co/u7wf9tD4Xb
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) October 26, 2022
“The Government should be challenging Fifa on how they’ve put fans in this position, and ensuring the full safety of all fans attending, not defending discriminatory values.”
Liberal Democrats MP Layla Moran said: “The World Cup should be a celebration of the beautiful game, instead it’s being used by countries like Qatar to sport-wash their atrocious human rights records.
“Any UK officials who attend should be using their position to highlight human rights abuses, not endorsing the regime.”
The World Cup should be a celebration of the beautiful game, instead it's being used by countries like Qatar to sportwash their atrocious human rights records.
— Layla Moran 🔶 (@LaylaMoran) October 26, 2022
Any UK officials who attend should be using their position to highlight human rights abuses, not endorsing the regime. https://t.co/uIXcMIBIV1
The 70-year-old activist said his aim was to draw attention to the treatment of the LGBT+ community, women and migrant workers in the Gulf state, where homosexuality is illegal.
He was later released by Qatar police and flew to Sydney, Australia.
Qatar’s government communications office said “no arrests were made” and that “rumours on social media that a representative from the Peter Tatchell Foundation has been arrested in Qatar are completely false and without merit”.
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How is that controversial?? Asking people to respect the country they are visiting!
@Celtic Eagle: respect is a two way street and if a country can’t respect people who want to attend because of something they cannot and should not have to change or hide about themselves then perhaps giving said country a massive global sporting event was a bad idea
@Celtic Eagle: respecting the host nation means “don’t abuse their facilities and belittle their unique culture”. It does not mean “give them a free pass on their atrocious human rights abuses and hateful ignorant beliefs”.
@Pól Ó Broin: go back to sleep
@Celtic Eagle: I’d suppose you want us to also respect public lashing or stoning to death?
Probably also asking dead construction workers to ‘have a bit of respect if attending games and they’re not a bad bunch’
He’s not all that Cleverly, is he.
@Paolo Fandango: The activist has definitely received the publicity he was looking for now, so thank you Mr CLEVERly.
The Journal is now censoring criticism of Tatchell. Guess they have an agenda.
@Des Hanrahan: well he does have friends in high places ;)
@Des Hanrahan: careful now you will be subjected to a journal fact check based entirely on its own opinions and articles
@Des Hanrahan: I don’t know what you wrote that was removed but if it was anything like the lies and misinformation that was posted on a related story about him yesterday I’m not surprised it was removed.
@Gearóid MacEachaidh: The comment thread about him yesterday contained facts, not lies. You can go back and check what I and others had to say. His record goes back many decades.
@Des Hanrahan: which particular “fact” are you talking about? And link the video or article where he said it.
@Des Hanrahan: Well clearly you can’t back up your vague claims that you made yesterday and again today. Saying he made “dodgy” comments and trying to associate him with pedophiles is what you did. Of course you didn’t give specifics. What he suggested that caused an uproar amongst people like yourself who couldn’t be bothered to read what he actually said was that the age of consent should be lowered to 14 for acts between under 16s, as is the case in most of Europe, rather than criminalising them which is the case now. He never once called for adults to be able to have sex with 14yos, just the opposite.
UK football fans don’t have a history of being respectful wherever they go… Oooh.. Controversial… Careful now..
@The Divils Avocado: they won’t mess around in Qatar. Restricted booze access will also help reduce messing too
@Paolo Fandango: the cost will restrict them, 75 to get into a fan zone and up to15 for a pint of Budweiser
@Ian James Burgess: if they can afford a trip to Doha they can afford those things too
@Paolo Fandango: Qatar. Not Doha. Brain fart there …..
@Ian James Burgess: not true. Entry is free
They shouldn’t go,in fact any right thinking fans should stay at home,personally not one kick will I watch.
Just like the host nation respected the integrity of the venue selection process. /s
There are a couple of things going on here… Firstly Qatar should not have even given the World Cup for the one reason of their human rights or lack of.
Now that they have been given the competition, ufea, the west and other international organisations should be putting heavy pressure on the Qatari rulers to take a serious look at their over all human rights laws and bring them into modern norms.
As for tory UK foreign Secretary, well, he and his party is an abomination.
@JG: You are correct Qatar shouldn’t have even been considered to host this or any international event based on its human rights record.
But any expectations about a sporting governing body, exerting or even trying to exert pressure on any such regime is unrealistic, because if they cared, then they wouldn’t have considered them in the first instance.
Further to that point, extertion of international pressure for human rights issues should be primarily carried out by other nations, or their trading coalitions, because being able to trade internationally or not, has the power to exercise real pressure, but governments and entities either don’t care about the principle, or value trade over human rights, or have accepted sad as it is to say, that Qatar will not change no matter what.
That said, anyone protesting LGBT rights in Qatar expectations of changing anything is deluded and is probably safer getting arrested by their police, than being attacked by the local population, because lets not kid ourselves the majority are absolutely anti LGBT in everyway possible and actively support the killing of gay people.
Even the idea of protesting in Qatar to raise awareness about the treatment of gay people in Qatar is crazy, because it illustrates the truth, that almost everyone in Qatar supports it and that the international community know they are not going to change Qatar in anyway whatsoever on this issue.
The same way they respected China because they had a mountain of human rights abuses during their Genocide games? Of course not, because the UK rightly boycotted the event. Qatar should be called out for its hosting of the event. Even if its not committing genocide like the CCP, its still a big case of sportswashing.
Theres so much wrong about Qatar hosing the WC its a dark blemish on the history of football. I hope the football itself and joy the tournament has always brought to the millions of fans is not spoiled by the outrageous, hypocritical and corrupt decision to allow Qatar to be hosts of the worlds greatest sporting event.
This is exactly why Ireland decided not to qualify….
Don’t ask for the full English in the morning.
He’s hiding something
People who go there know the rules of the country, if they get in trouble they can not blame any one but them self
Please respect the host country who do not respect human rights..Thank you.
Is it the LGBT community only. Obviously it is because anyone considered to be of the “Pride “ community wouldn’t be tolerated in Qatar !
Isn’t it funny that even LGBT groups in the Emirates condemned the action of the self-proclaimed activist as harmful to their goals?
have your say