By Hayley Paterson, Press Officer for the Justin Campaign
I saw something in the news this week which made me
despair at a time when as fans of football we should be
excited.
Anxiously waiting for Euro
2012 to kick-off in just a couple of weeks time, ITV.com’s news site has
reported that gay England football fans travelling to joint-host country Ukraine
for the tournament, have been told to keep a low profile for their own
safety.
The warning has come after
Kiev’s first ever gay pride event was cancelled because of concerns that
homophobic attacks would take place.
Even more worringly, the news
piece shows Svyatoslav Sheremet, head of the Gay Forum of Ukraine, being
brutally beaten by thugs - and that was AFTER the pride parade was
cancelled.
Amnesty International said
that it was police who advised organisers of the threat of violence from
football hooligans - a sport which should be at the forefront of celebrating all
minorities coming together to cheer on their
clubs.
Sadly not
though.
Now, gay England fans going to eastern Europe next month
SHOULD fear for their safety it seems.
Amnesty campaign Max Tucker has said not only
will football fans have to put up with violent hooligans targeting gay people
and those from ethnic minorities, they will also face “an extremely corrupt
police force”.
Football can sometimes be very
dark. Violence should never be at the forefront of anything, let alone regarding
football, or any sport for that matter, and even more so it should never be used
as a tool to attack minorities.
It’s still quite abundantly clear that educating people
about tackling homophobia in football is going to be no easy task... but that's
not going to stop us!
To see the full story via
ITV.com, visit:
http://www.itv.com/news/2012-05-22/gay-football-fans-warned-about-ukraine-euro-2012-travel-after-activist-beaten/.
And don't forget to please
join us in our campaign to tackle homophobia in football. Follow The Justin
Campaign on Twitter @JustinCampaign.
Posts
Throw racism in there as well and it becomes clear that the Ukraine is a poor choice to hold an international football tournament which as you rightly say is supposed to bring people together.
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