Stuart Andrew, the openly gay sports minister, says he will not hide who he is by wearing a OneLove armband at tomorrow’s World Cup match between England and Wales.
Openly-gay sports minister Stuart Andrew says he won’t ‘shy away from who I am’ by wearing a OneLove armband to tomorrow’s World Cup clash between England and Wales
As part of a year-long anti-discrimination campaign in Qatar, where homosexuality is prohibited, seven European nations, including the two British teams, intended to wear the rainbow armband during the event.
However, when FIFA threatened them with sports punishments, which began with a yellow card for captains wearing them, executives were forced to shelve their intentions.
England’s football team had been planning to wear the LGBTQ+ armband along with other European teams such as Germany and Denmark before the campaign was dropped when FIFA threatened to hand out yellow cards to players. Pictured: Harry Kane wearing the rainbow armband
Other gestures have subsequently been made, such as illuminating the arch of Wembley Stadium in rainbow colors, and BBC commentator Alex Scott did wear the armband during coverage of England’s opening match against Iran.
BBC Presenter and former footballer Alex Scott is pictured wearing OneLove armband
Critics, however, rejected these gestures as “virtue signaling” because the scheduled demonstration never occurred.
Today, Mr. Andrew vowed that he, too, will ignore the demands of the competition hosts and wear the armband, telling the Evening Standard, “Our message is that no one should have to disguise who they are.”
BBC Presenter and former footballer Alex Scott is pictured wearing OneLove armband
Stuart Andrew, the openly gay sports minister, says he won’t “hide who I am” by wearing a OneLove armband at tomorrow’s World Cup match between England and Wales.
England’s football squad had planned to wear the LGBTQ+ armband like other European teams, including Germany and Denmark, but FIFA threatened to penalize players with yellow cards. Harry Kane is depicted sporting the rainbow wristband.
Alex Scott, former footballer and BBC presenter, is seen wearing a OneLove armband.
His position appears to be at contrast with that of Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who was heavily criticized last month for advising LGBT fans to demonstrate “some flexibility and compromise” and to “respect the culture of your host nation.”
Mr. Andrew, who is also the minister for equalities, said of the willingness of clubs and players to wear the armband, “It means a lot to me personally, it means a lot to me as a minister, and it means a lot to fans everywhere.”
“It is horrible that they were put in a position where they were informed of consequences against them at the eleventh hour. That places them in an untenable position.’
It follows the revelation that six FIFA officials were dispatched to the England football team’s headquarters on Monday, prior to their match against Iran, to threaten’severe punishment.’
The German Football Association (DFB) said earlier this week that England and other teams were threatened with ‘severe blackmail’ or’massive punishments’ if they continued to do the gesture, causing them to abandon it.
Germany protested FIFA’s decision by covering their lips for a team portrait prior to Wednesday’s play against Japan, in order to demonstrate how muted they felt.