Ballsy players  

It’s football season, and the world’s eyes are on Qatar. Despite billions spent on this particular investment, not everybody is rooting for the host country. And FIFA.

Chief amongst the issues would be the LGBT stance taken by Qatar. The soul-crushing, spirit-quenching, non-inclusive stance by a supposedly progressive country.

The first inkling there would be trouble was last October, when a solitary brave soul, British activist Peter Tatchell, stood in silent protest with a placard denouncing Qatar for being anti-gay. Tatchell was quickly hustled away by Qatari security, and told in no uncertain terms it would be in his best interests if he were to leave. Qatar, in an effort to whitewash the incident, denied there had been an arrest, and just packaged it as a minor fracas where an individual blocking a roundabout was asked to move elsewhere. Yeah, right.

There was a bit of international news coverage, something noteworthy, but ultimately, nothing to blare about. I thought that was a lone incident, quickly to be forgotten in the hyper-masculine sport that is soccer.

How wrong I was. Seven European teams wanted to make a statement about LGBT oppression (Qatar criminalizes LGBT people, and there have been concerns raised about human rights abuses, especially with migrant workers from poor countries like ours). There was pre-publicity about wearing rainbow this and pride that. Armbands branded with the “One Love” logo was supposedly the statement of choice by England, Netherlands, and Wales, which wanted to sport them during the actual matches.

The pointed statement meant to be delivered to the host country didn’t happen though, as FIFA, the sport’s governing body that obviously needs to kowtow to the host or else the officials might not make it out of the country, threatened to sanction the team captains with a yellow card. This threat was sufficient to cow the teams into submission, and make them fall into line. No armbands were seen in the following days.

Perhaps Qatar thought it was the end of the story, and it was time to breathe a sigh of relief. Not quite. Because Germany came along. Who would have thought? The bravery of the German boys, deciding to stand up for the Qatari LGBT community!

In a surprise move, the team took to the field and simultaneously covered their mouths, a symbol of how their freedoms of speech and expression were being muzzled by Qatar x FIFA. As they boldly proclaimed in social media posts, “human rights are non-negotiable”.

To top it off, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser took the opportunity (because she was going to be seated beside the FIFA head during the Japan-Germany match) to bare her arm, a One Love armband casually encircling her bicep all throughout the match. Talk about showing muscle under velvet! Germany was able to find a way to make the point despite the hurdles thrown the LGBT supporters’ way.

Good thing it wasn’t the ban on alcohol drinks in the stadium venues, a surprise foisted on live audiences at the last minute, that received these “radical” protests.

So what next? The reports coming from the ground (admittedly western sources) show a decidedly negative view of host Qatar. Some have even declared it a failed billion-dollar investment by a small country to promote the country’s world image. While schadenfreude does play a small part in the coverage, perhaps the more important thing to think about is whether all this fuss will help the LGBT community internally.

Will Qatar back down in the face of international disapproval? Will it soften its stance on the enforcement of its punitive criminal laws? Will it sign up to international covenants protecting the LGBT community (not even the Philippine representative to the United Nations had the balls to do that recently)? Or, will all the criticisms backfire, and end up costing the community more?

One small concession: FIFA, in an effort to recover some of its lost luster with the international federations, has now assured fans that they can enter with rainbow flags. Previously, Qatari security had confiscated pins, flags, and items of clothing that were rainbow-colored. Even Welsh fans sporting the country’s colors (only red, yellow, white and green) had been told to take off their semi-rainbow articles of clothing.

A small step towards the right direction? Or a minor, meaningless concession that will disappear when the World Cup packs up, and the international press disappears?