Oh yes. This is going to go well .....
"A Qatar World Cup ambassador calling homosexuality "damage in the mind" is "harmful and unacceptable", says Human Rights Watch.
Former Qatar international Khalid Salman told German broadcaster ZDF that LGBTQ+ people attending the tournament should "accept our rules". Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar because it is considered immoral under Islamic Sharia law.
Salman said: "[Homosexuality] is haram. You know what haram [forbidden] means?" When asked why it was haram, he added: "I am not a strict Muslim but why is it haram? Because it is damage in the mind."
The interview, which is part of a documentary set to be broadcast on Tuesday, was then stopped by an accompanying official."
But, but, but, but, but it will help develop 'soccer' in a part of the world the world cup has never been held in. Surely you can see that. Well, 'soccer' for straight men anyway.I think it's the fact it was so corrupt and its clearly unsuited. The fact they had to move it to winter. Build all the stadiums with slave labour and then they will just get abandoned. Its just so wrong, there is no reason for it to be there other than corruption.
Human rights is the cherry on top.
I think its fair enough he says that, if you want to go to a country you should respect that countries laws, same goes for here, USA or anywhere else. If somebody doesn't like it don't go.
I think it's the fact it was so corrupt and its clearly unsuited. The fact they had to move it to winter. Build all the stadiums with slave labour and then they will just get abandoned. Its just so wrong, there is no reason for it to be there other than corruption.
Human rights is the cherry on top.
I think its fair enough he says that, if you want to go to a country you should respect that countries laws, same goes for here, USA or anywhere else. If somebody doesn't like it don't go.
But, but, but, but, but it will help develop 'soccer' in a part of the world the world cup has never been held in. Surely you can see that. Well, 'soccer' for straight men anyway.
Some valid points re Russia. I was pretty uninspired by that tournament for the same reasons I am with this one. It was only there because of corruption.I agree. As another poster has stated, in 1967 homosexuality was decriminalised in England. It took until 1981 in Scotland and 1982 in Northern Ireland. You've been able to legally apply to change your gender since 2005. Same-sex marriage was allowed from 2014 and not until 2020 in Northern Ireland. We're talking about a country who still bases its laws on scripture which are sacred to Muslims. They haven't reached the stage western churches have, whereby they're willing to accept change beyond the scripture. Places which still place the church at the heart of its community remain opposed to homosexuality - see the US in particular. We can't force change upon them, when it remains an issue a lot closer to home (there are still issues in the UK in terms of abuse and a lack of equality).
The world is full of hypocrisy. Russia and Brazil score worse for their records on human rights yet it isn't mentioned. The issues in the US will not be mentioned when we play the tournament there. Just like it's never mentioned with the US owners of English football teams. We're dead against the Qatari world cup yet everyone seems to be happy to take the money and go, they're just doing it to highlight the issues apparently. Pull the other one! What about the deals we do with the Saudis? We can criticise them for owning Newcastle but we won't mention the arms deal we have with them to go and bomb Yemen.
Sick of hearing about it. Just get on and bloody play the tournament and focus on the football. We've got plenty of issues at home we could do with sorting before we start telling everyone how to think and act. Slave labour/workers rights - it's unacceptable but we've got fucking statues of people who had slaves. We used to love it!