French Football's Homophobia Crisis

ha I regret to inform you that the French are at it again it seems like not a single day can pass these days without there being some new Scandal or controversy in French football just last month I made a video discussing some of the biggest scandals in French football right now ranging from corruption and political wranglings to racism and sexual abuse at about the same time I also made a video about a separate Scandal involving ashrafakimi the PSG right back who has been indicted on rape charges by a Parisian court but was being widely praised by idiots on the internet at the time because of an entirely fictitious story about him having given his mother all of his money to avoid a costly divorce settlement with his soon-to-be ex-wife well I'm afraid we're back in France once again and it's not to admire the Eiffel Tower sunbathe on the French Riviera or to be mocked for our appalling taste in food those are of course the three main reasons for going to France no I'm afraid that it is another Scandal of sorts not exclusive too but most notably concerning to lose who actually won only their first ever major trophy less than a month ago unfortunately that's not why they're in the news right now gay people exist so do bisexual and trans people they've been around for ages now but not everyone is happy about it I'm not sure if this is your first time hearing about all of this but there you have it nonetheless historically LGBT people have had a pretty rough time of things there was the Inquisition that was bad the Holocaust arguably even worse and centuries of barbaric persecution mattered out for the heinous crime of being attracted to or falling in love with someone of the same sex to this day there are 64 countries in which homosexuality is still criminalized at least eight countries where it is still punished by death and even in those countries with less Draconian laws LGBT people often still face challenges persecution and discrimination not encountered by their heterosexual peers for that reason there are several social movements founded by LGBT people and their allies in an effort to combat that discrimination one of them is the International Day against homophobia biphobia and transphobia on May 17th and to coincide with that date lots of organizations including sports clubs and leagues put on workshops host events or stage at least some kind of gesture against LGBT discrimination one of those is French football's top two divisions league and League duh and all of their clubs who once a year have rainbow colored numbers and sometimes names on their shirts and rainbow captains armbands in an effort to promote tolerance last year though then PSG and however to midfielder Idris sargana gay reportedly refused to play that weekend because of the campaign and this year players from Three French clubs Toulouse nant and jangong followed in his footsteps openly this time around sharing posts on social media explaining their decisions I have one or two views on this those of you who follow me on Twitter will not be surprised to discover and today I wanted to share them with you all because really what is the point in having over half a million subscribers on YouTube if you can't have a bloody good Rancier followers every now and then and it's also something that I care about of course if it's not something that you care about and you don't think that football or societal issue should ever Collide well you are destined to a life of frustration and disappointment as I have discussed at length on this channel in the past but nonetheless that is your prerogative and this is your content warning now that other videos are available on this channel and elsewhere that don't mention homosexuality feature any rainbows or acknowledge the fact that football exists within a wider context at all for everyone else sit back relax and join me on a big old gay journey to France full of glitter Sparkles better skincare routines and Elton John no not really but I'm sure that it'll be fun nonetheless I would imagine that about half of you watching this aren't even familiar with the story that I'm talking about so we'll just start by establishing the facts once a season in league and League duh all teams participate in an anti-homophobia campaign it Aid of the International Day against homophobia biphobia and transphobia uniting behind the slogan omo etoro on Port to Le men Mayo which those of you who paid attention in GCSE French unlike me will know translates as gay or straight we all wear the same shirt so far so unremarkable well as I mentioned in the introduction last season Idris Agana gay was conspicuously absent from psg's fixture on the weekend of the anti-discrimination game when quizzed on his absence PSG manager Maurizio pochettino cited personal reasons rather than any injury or Fitness concerns but refused to go into any more detail than that despite calls from the French Football Federation for gay to clarify what those personal reasons Were Gay remains signed receiving support from Premier League players like chaku kiate Napoli's Mendy and Ishmael Safra is perceived stance on the issue the hashtag we are all a dresser began trending on Twitter with a mixture of support for gays right to refuse to participate on the basis of free speech and also explicitly homophobic vitriol which could come straight out of the mouth of Heinrich Himmler at a speech in Bavaria during the 1930s it is a slight tangent Herbert I have always thought that gay is an incredibly unfortunate surname for someone with a views on homosexuality that gay is alleged to hold nonetheless that was 12 months ago gay is no longer at PSG he now plays for Everton suggesting that maybe he doesn't mind getting sodomized on a near weekly basis that much after all but that doesn't mean that there were no players sharing his opposition this campaign this year at least three players declined to participate in the weekend's fixtures with toulouse's Zakaria abaclau announce mustapha Muhammad going public with their justifications Abba clouds hooked at Twitter and Instagram writing quotes I have made the decision not to take part in today's game first and foremost I want to emphasize that I hold the highest regard for every individual regardless of their personal preferences gender religion or background that is a principle that cannot be emphasized enough respect is a value that I hold in Greater steam it extends to others but it also encompasses respect for my own personal beliefs hence I don't believe that I am the most suitable person to participate in this campaign I sincerely hope that my decision will be respected just as we all desire to be treated with respect Meanwhile my Muhammad were out in French but seemingly in conjunction with other Cloud because the two statements were almost identical quote I did not take part in the Toulouse nant match today I don't want to argue at all but I have to State my position respect for differences would mean respect for others respect for oneself respect for what will be shared and what will remain different I respect all differences I respect all beliefs and convictions this respect extends to others but also includes respect for my personal beliefs given my roots my culture and the importance of my convictions and beliefs it was not possible for me to participate in this campaign I hope that my decision will be respected as well as my wish not to argue about this and that everyone is treated with respect end quote I'm sure you would agree there is an awful lot of respect in there and when I say that I literally just mean that there blood respect is repeated 10 times meanwhile only managed to get it in four times bloody amateur honestly no respect that lad I would imagine that despite my gentle ribbing I said ribbing idressa calm down not [ __ ] there will be plenty of you who listen to me reading out those statements and think they both sound fairly reasonable even if you don't necessarily agree with the stance adopted by either player I disagree and here's why ultimately it doesn't matter how many times you just repeat the word respect or claim to have the highest regard for every individual and to respects all differences if you boycott an anti-homophobia campaign the inference is fairly unambiguous if you don't think that you are a suitable person to participate in a campaign the sole message of which is please don't discriminate against LGBT people the suggestion now unequivocally fact that can only mean that you don't agree with the idea that LGBT people shouldn't face discrimination and abuse or in other words you think that they should be discriminated against and abused that's a point that I really want to nail down because some people seem to be under the impression or the illusion that it was a pro-lgbt or LGBT Pride events now personally I wouldn't have any issue with it if it was but that wasn't the case it is very clearly a campaign solely set up to combat homophobia biphobia and transphobia if a player were to refuse to participate in a game on the weekend of the kick it out campaign and said look I have got the utmost respect for people of all backgrounds and ethnicities I have no problem with black or brown people I just don't think that I am the right person to participate in a campaign which says that they shouldn't be racially abused what would we think of them it doesn't matter if you say the word respect a thousand times if the sentiment that you are expressing is clearly bigoted and discriminatory I have boundless respect for black people I just don't think that they should have been given the votes or allowed to attend the same schools as white children or freed from the shackles of slavery long live the Confederacy doesn't seem all that respectful does it and nor does I hold women in the highest possible regard but it is just my personal opinion that they ought to be second-class citizens who are entirely subservient to men well you don't really hold them in the highest possible regard then do you at best that is the second highest possible regard and if the only two categories that you're considering are men and women second is the lowest one abaclau who represents Morocco Muhammad who plays for Egypt and gay who is Senegal's Vice Captain are all said to be practicing Muslims with their opposition to anti-homophobia which I think we can just call homophobia reported as being a consequence of their religious beliefs though deeply principled in their religious beliefs when it comes to their homophobia seem much more relaxed about some of their other supposed religious principles as I pointed out on Monday on Twitter here is abaclau at salu's advertising backlick a gambling firm and here is gay at Everton advertising Chang one of the biggest beer brands in Asia here is gay also wearing the logo of sportpesa at Everton the biggest Sports bookmakers in Africa and also stake the club's current sponsors and yes you guessed it another gambling firm I got a lot of pushback for that sweet and a lot of love it must be said but we'll focus on the hate the pushback came in several different forms some argued that there was nothing that abaclau and gay could do about their Club sponsors which is true to a certain extent aside from the fact that they joined Everton and to lose respectively when they were were already their sponsors meaning that they knew full well they would be endorsing those products and seemingly had no issues with it the idea that if they cared that passionately about not endorsing anything that was Haram they couldn't possibly have joined clubs or stayed at clubs that didn't advertise alcohol and gambling on the front of their shirts seems to me to be a little far-fetched one person told me that gay had no choice but to join Everton whatever his religious beliefs and despite Chang being their sponsors because he had a family to feed gay was reportedly earning 40 000 pounds a week before bonuses erastenvela before the toffees triggered his release Clause now far be it from me to speculate about the man's personal finances all those of his family and maybe he is really really bad at budgeting but it strikes me that he would probably have been able to feed even a rather large family if he's got one on a salary of more than two million pounds a year another argument that was made or that was thrown at me was that religion unlike the titles of the behind the scenes Amazon Prime football documentaries doesn't necessarily have to be all or nothing I think that that is true but if you only agree with the supposed word of God when it comes to the homophobia surely it's just easier to say that you're homophobic than deeply religious the best response of all though was undoubtedly this one from Ali who actually wrote the words with betting yes it's Haram but it's not like he's actively promoting it it's just a thing on a shirt without a hint of irony and apparently it wasn't meant as a parody of course advertising is quite literally a synonym of promoting but skipping over that minor inconvenience it's just a thing on a shirt is too beautiful I'm not sure sure what Ali thought the gay and abaclau were expected to do that weekend go on a pride March attend a Barbra Streisand concert or engage in a weekend of hedonistic homosexual lovemaking perhaps but I can assure him now that it was also just wearing a thing on a shirt which presumably means that he's all on board with it now admittedly even as someone who is quite socially liberal if it had been the other three I would agree with Ali that it was probably too much to expect at Players even in the name of Tolerance and equality on a more serious note beautiful lumpardian transition there there will be lots of gay bi and trans to lose nons guangon and PSG fans and it is almost a statistical certainty though there will be at least one gay or bi-player across those four teams dressing rooms what message does it Center them and what must they be thinking that one of their players or teammates doesn't want to participate plates in an anti-homophobia campaign ironically if you like the few players who refuse to participate in the anti-homophobia campaign have only served to illustrate why it is required one of the arguments that we often hear is that we don't need anti-racism anti-homophobia or anti-misogyny campaigns because those problems have all been fixed it is a ludicrous argument of course but just as fans racially abusing players in the wake of the black lives matter campaign Illustrated that yes racism is in fact still a very big problem in football players refusing to partake in even the most basic gestures of solidarity and fans engaging in rabid and often quite violent homophobia online goes to show why these campaigns are not only required but are actually nowhere near sufficient homophobia has become an increasingly pertinence issue in French football in recent years despite France itself having some of the most Progressive LGBT rights in the world in 2019 the authorities decided to crack down on the rising side of homophobic chanting by abandoning games when such chants were heard handing out fines and bans and even jail time in the most extreme cases that campaign whilst controversial was relatively effective hence the concern surrounding this recent perceived backward step in response to abaclau and Muhammad's refusals to participate at the weekend they received widespread condemnation and support France's Sports Minister Amelia Udo castera stated I think it is the responsibility of the clubs to take sanctions during such an operation which involves all the clubs on the basic subject of non-discrimination you have to show up end quote the unfp which is the union that represents French footballers appeared to be a little bit modeled in their thing King welcoming and celebrating the campaign whilst claiming that it was ludicrous for players to be expected to convey a collective message I'm not sure what they thought the campaign was or how they thought that it should be expressed but at least they've covered all bases I suppose pleasing everyone and no one at the same time the brask manager Eric Roy prompted the most controversy by describing the campaign as outrageous Roy's objection wasn't actually to the substance of the campaign namely opposing homophobia but rather to its timing Royce said that he had no problem with the campaign itself but that it shouldn't come at such a crucial time when his players were fighting relegation Roy has been out of first team management for over 12 years before taking over at breast earlier this season so perhaps he is still getting back into the swing of things but I'm not sure how distracting he thought his players would find playing with their numbers being rainbow colored rather than in Block white the answer it transpired was not very The Beatles there one nil in only their ninth win of the Season perhaps they should think about incorporating the rainbow into their kit more often one of the responses that I got to my tweet was firstly that the campaign was actually some kind of LGBT recruitment drive and then that bled into what has become quite a popular idea in some circles that there is a concerted effort throughout the West to turn kids gay or trans or whatever else not by putting chemicals into the water as Alex Jones once theorized but by being less homophobic it is undeniably true that if you create a more welcoming open and tolerant environment for LGBT people you will end up with more openly LGBT people in Yemen Somalia Saudi Arabia Iran and Sudan where being gay can get you hanged or stoned to death it's not all that surprising that people there either remain closeted or if they are fortunate enough to be able to move somewhere else what you have done there is not actually reduce the number of gay bio trans people you are just forcing them to live a lie to emigrate or in the worst cases sometimes driving them to Suicide likewise when you create a hospitable environment for LGBT people you don't necessarily create loads more LGBT people it's just that the people who would have been LGBT regardless feel able to be their true selves just like you or I the idea that gay people were trying to recruit children was extremely common in the UK and in the US throughout the 1970s and 80s and it was frequently cited as being a major reason for anti-lgbt laws either being introduced or remaining in place it turned out to be complete nonsense of course now thoroughly discredited but that hasn't stopped it from being made in other countries or the exact same argument from being made here about trans people now I have lived in the west or the UK to be specific back as a straight man all my life so for over 27 years not once have I felt that heterosexuality wasn't an option anymore as someone claimed about Twitter mentions or that I was being groomed into LGBT now perhaps I just possess freakish levels of heterosexuality that even the finest propaganda campaigns couldn't shift but given that I watched over an hour of Eurovision the other night that seems unlikely more likely I think is the fact that this is something which is only happening in the minds of homophobic people people don't become gay because they see rainbows otherwise the birth rate in Hawaii would have collapsed nor do they become trans because of a Bud Light advertising campaign they're just more likely to think that there is nothing wrong with them who they're attracted to and who they fall in love with the people who feel as though there is some kind of LGBT propaganda trying to pull them in a certain and Direction honestly and I'm not someone personally who subscribes to the view that all homophobic people are secretly gay but I do think those people are perhaps just suppressing their own instincts and trying not to confront what might be an uncomfortable Truth for them gay and trans people have always and will always exist the only question is whether you allow them to live happy and fulfilling lives as their authentic selves just as straight and cisgender people can which has no impacts on your own lives or whether you drive them towards secrecy suppression and often misery there will be people watching this video and down below in the comments who will be wishing just that on LGBT people and worse and whatever their supposed justification whether that be religious cultural or just having been kicked in the head by a horse as a small child I don't think that that is any justification at all well perhaps the horse one if I was being there are people who say that you have to respect other people's beliefs that's not true you don't have to respect racist homophobic and otherwise bigoted or discriminatory points of view I don't respect Isis the Ku Klux Klan or James Corden fans people have the right within the law to say and believe horrible things and I would defend Idris Agana gay and Zakaria abaclar's right to be homophobic and not to participate in an anti-homophobia campaign but you absolutely do not have to respect it and unlike them I wouldn't feign respect even if I were that deceitful the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which is the largest denomination of the Mormon church was until 1978 and explicitly racist organization black men and women couldn't reach the highest level of Salvation within the church the church supported racial segregate station within schools and communities opposed interracial marriage and thought that black people who were righteous on this Earth would be made white in the afterlife it is hard to imagine more racist religious sentiments than that and that is just one example of one denomination of one Church which has or still does Express racist teachings are we to say because the racism of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was grounded in religiosity it is to be respected no obviously not because that would be absurd and the same is true of people who Express hateful views towards other communities including the LGBT community and either falsely or even genuinely do so on a religious basis it is no more islamophobic or catholophobic to call out homophobia within Islam and Catholicism then it would be homophobic to call out a gay person for saying bigoted things about either Catholics or Muslims Muslims are subject to near incessant hate campaigns in the west as I have covered many times within a football context on this channel as notably in French football as almost anywhere else we ought to call that out of course and I will continue to do so but it is dangerous to conflate the very real racism and bigotry many Muslims face with perfectly valid criticism of individuals for holding bigoted views also Islam just to be clear doesn't have a monopoly on being homophobic most religions are pretty good at it and Nora all Muslims homophobic as you often see suggested that's inference or suggestion is much more bigoted against Muslims than calling out homophobia wherever you find it whether that is from Muslims Christians atheists or the Portuguese this isn't exclusive to any faith or ethnicity anti-Semitism is an evil and the Holocaust perhaps the greatest evil that mankind has ever orchestrated that doesn't change the fact that Henry Kissinger a Jew who fled Nazi Germany with his family at the age of 15 is a monstrous murderous war criminal and scumbag who ought to have spent the last 50 years behind bars there are lots of people who don't like the comparison of homophobia biphobia and transphobia with racism or xenophobia invariably because they see race as being an immutable characteristic that you're born with and sexuality or identity as being a choice we know that that isn't true though sexuality isn't a choice acting on it might be but that is something quite different and we know for a fact that people's religious affiliations of all faiths are much more fluid and prone to change than people's sexuality rough roughly half of people in the United States which is where we have the best data espouse a different religion or no religion as adults to the one that they espoused in childhood whereas the vast vast vast majority of people gay or straight know their sexuality in their teens and will never change despite the best efforts of conversion therapy in some instances ultimately this story concerns not even a handful of relatively no marked players there are around a thousand players in League's unander and just three that refuse to participate in an anti-homophobia event one of whom deleted his justification on Twitter after I ratioed him into Oblivion that means that 99.7 percent of players did participate and we're not talking about Messi and Bape or Seria Ramos refusing to participate which would obviously be much more damaging prominent LGBT allies in football meanwhile include much bigger names like Jordan Henderson Jurgen klopp and Rich charlason overall as Martin Luther King Jr once said the Arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards Justice life is hard for a lot of LGBT people right now I know firsthand from some of the messages that I received following those tweets but they will win and bigots will lose three players in France's top two leagues might not support the fight against homophobia but over 85 percent of the French population view homosexuality as just another way of expressing one's sexuality no difference a heterosexuality compared to just 24 of people in France in 1975. it is a similar story across not all but much of the world nonce finds Striker Mustafa Muhammad who is on loan at the club from galatasarai for refusing to play last weekend which I think you would have to agree is reasonable whatever your view on his stance he is under contract at the club after all and refusal to play in A match is a clear breach of contracts Zakaria abaclau was suspended from first team activities earlier this week though not for his refusal to play last weekend but due to a story from RMC Sports claiming that he had made misogynistic comments towards to lose his female Deputy Mayor Lawrence aurobaje abaclar was alleged to have told arabagay at home women don't talk like that's a man after she gave the Toulouse players instructions following an investigation carried out by the club though the club concluded that the RMC sports article wasn't wholly accurate in its portrayal of the events and reinstated abercloud to the first team squad according to reports abaclal is now considering taking legal action against RMC Sports and get French football claim that following the series of scandals to Loser now looking to to sell other cloud and that he is also quite Keen to leave the kickoff in to lose his game against nonce was delayed by an hour and a half as the result of bomb threats not thought to be related to the anti-homophobia messaging around the game and an also unrelated brawl broke out between supporters at the game which after all that ended nilnell it has been an extraordinary month for to lose who beat not 5-1 in the coup de France final last month to claim the first major trophy in the entire history of the club having only one promotion from League the last season nothing is ever simple in French football though nothing is free of Scandal and chaos is the default I wanted to make today's video not just because it is quite a big story within the world of football but because I think that football and especially the online football ecosystem can be quite a toxic space for LGBT people and fans far too few people whatever over their convictions seem to be willing to push back on that but cowardice in this context is complicity and calling out hatred that poses a material threat to people's lives and in some cases their safety ought to be the absolute bare minimum anyway that is it for today's video thank you all very much as ever for watching I hope that you enjoyed it hit the like button if that was the case let me know your thoughts Down Below in the comments and it goes without saying make sure that you are subscribed and have notifications turned on for both this channel hrtc sevens and my backup Channel alfiepot Sama both of which should be on your screens now along with a couple of videos that you might want to watch after this one you can also find me on Twitter or on Instagram via the username at hitc7s on both should you wish to do so

Channel: HITC Sevens

Views: 123,732

Keywords: HITC Sevens, Football, Soccer, France, Ligue 1, Messi, Homophobia, LGBT, Crisis, Scandal, Documentary, PSG, Lionel Messi, Toulouse, Zakaria Aboukhlal, Nantes, Ligue 2, Champions League

Id: PA4xM5K6ChA

Length: 31min 44sec (1904 seconds)

Published: Mon May 22 2023