The policy of the Professional Football League is debated among associations fighting for the rights of LGBTQI+ people. These actors point to a particularly strong homophobia in football locker rooms, but which is also explained by societal issues.
Is this a cruel failure or a necessary booster shot? The operation to fight against homophobia organized for the 35th day of the French men’s football championship, from Friday May 12 to Sunday May 14, turned into a national debate after the decision of five Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 players not to take part in matches so as not to wear a flocked jersey in the rainbow colors of the flag symbolizing the fight for the rights of LGBTQI+ people.
While Wednesday, May 17 marks the international day for the fight against homophobia and transphobia, this boycott and the criticized statements of two L1 coaches question the associations. And ask more broadly: does this episode highlight a specifically French problem, while other countries are organizing operations against homophobia without controversy? And is this a reflection of the world of football or the weight of homophobia in society at large?
In the world of football, and men’s sport in general, “all studies show that the strongest form of discrimination is always homophobia”, assures Anthony Mette to franceinfo. This psychologist, a specialist in the mental preparation of athletes, coordinated a study in 2013 commissioned by the Paris Foot Gay association and the Randstad company, via a questionnaire submitted to 121 professional players from French clubs: 50 of them (41 %) then openly declared an attitude “negative” Or “very negative” towards homosexuals.
The weight of conservatism
The players expressed in particular fears linked to the “collective gathering, in places such as locker rooms and showers“that some of the respondents had “fear” to share with a gay teammate (25% of players, 55% of apprentice footballers), notes Anthony Mette. He also points out that sports culture is always based on “values of virility, which exclude behaviors perceived as feminine”, with which homosexuality remains associated in the minds of some. Added to this is a group dynamic: “It only takes a few players to tip” general opinion, and “don’t leave the door open to a homosexual player” who would consider coming out.
Professional football is a particularly fertile ground for this homophobic culture in sport, as it is an almost entirely male environment, where future professional players have lived in virtual isolation since the start of adolescence, and lack openness to the rest of society: “The players have not gone to school much, read little, and lack references to take a stand”, according to Anthony Mette.
The whole environment conveys “a form of hermeticism in the face of social issues which is problematic”, supports Cécile Chartrain, co-founder of the Dégommeuses, a feminist association which fights against discrimination, in particular LGBTphobes, in sport. Anthony Mette also observes “this look immediately focused on results and performance” to the detriment of any other question, in particular in the reaction of the coach of Brest, Eric Roy, who says he carried “with pride” a rainbow armband on Saturday, but criticized the scheduling of this operation at the end of the season, worried about “equity” of the fight to stay in Ligue 1. A statement “pretty indecent” while “people are dying of homophobia today, including in France”denounces Cécile Chartrain, recalling that the suicide rate is higher among LGBTQI + people than in the rest of the population.
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The report published on Tuesday by SOS Homophobia recalls, however, that discrimination against LGBT people is far from being limited to football. And the rejection of the rainbow jersey cannot be read solely as the result of a sports-related dynamic. Yoann Lemaire, one of the few former footballers to have revealed his homosexuality, says he observes during his interventions in clubs, in partnership with the Professional Football League (LFP), the weight of social issues.
While 10 years ago, discussions on homophobia revolved a lot around the shower, the locker room, today I feel the rise of a rather worrying conservatism around questions of culture and religion.
Yoann Lemaire, President of Foot Ensembleat franceinfo
Among the five footballers who boycotted the operation last weekend, the two who were born or raised in France (Moussa Diarra and Donatien Gomis) are not expressed. But the Dutch-Moroccan Zakaria Aboukhlal and the Egyptian Mostafa Mohamed, without explicitly mentioning their Muslim faith, justified their attitude by their “personal beliefs”asking them “respect”. In 2022, the Senegalese Idrissa Gueye, then at PSG and the only player to refuse the rainbow jersey, had received the support of the president of his country, Macky Sall, on behalf of his “religious beliefs”.
“It’s not a scoop: there is a problem between religions and homosexuality”, points out to franceinfo Julien Pontes, spokesperson for the association for the fight against homophobia Rouge Direct, who recalls that the question is not limited to Islam or to African countries. In 2019, Colombian Radamel Falcao, an evangelical Christian, was one of the captains who refused to wear a rainbow armband. By brandishing their convictions, those who refuse to play “hide their own homophobia behind religion”regretted the former footballer Ouissem Belgacem, himself homosexual and Muslim, in the TMC program “Quotidien” Monday. Especially since the vast majority of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 players, whatever their religious beliefs, did not refuse the rainbow jersey.
A dialogue necessary to understand the process
The refractory are few, but their growing number reflects a form of failure in the way French football fights against homophobia, point out today some associations that do not participate in the LFP campaign. “We knew that the 2023 edition had to be prepared with care”believes Julien Pontes, for whom the League should have “give clear instructions to clubs to start talking about it at least six months ago. Cecile Chartrain “recognizes the merit of the associations working there”but the co-founder of the Dégommeuses considers that the initiative is organized in a “too downward”, imposed but poorly explained to players by authorities that it considers more concerned with their communication than with the effectiveness of the fight against LGBTphobia. She believes that the message would be more effective if it were linked to the fight against other forms of discrimination and “if we relied on people who are more like the players, for example LGBT collectives from the suburbs or working-class neighborhoods” where many Ligue 1 players grew up.
Faced with these criticisms, the Panamboys & Girlz United club, one of the LFP’s partners, underlines on Twitter having distributed leaflets in the clubs concerned to explain the Steps. And recalls that workshops with players have been organized in 10 of the 40 L1 and L2 clubs in recent months. “In all the clubs we went to, there was no problem this weekend”, underlines Yoann Lemaire, also associated with this work via his structure Foot Ensemble. Behind the divergent points of view between certain associations, a consensus is established on the need for a real exchange with the players, of which Yoann Lemaire recounts the sometimes contradictory point of view: “Some can tell you that they would defend a gay teammate with no problem, but they don’t want to wear a rainbow jersey. If you come in and tell them it’s obligatory or that their position is homophobic, they turn up their noses. It’s a shame, but that’s the way it is”.
Outside France, greater resources
For these exchanges to be organized over the long term and in all clubs, a question of means arises. Yoann Lemaire, who intervenes voluntarily by choice, regrets the lack of “political will” which would allow associations that so wish to become more professional, as is the case in England. Other countries are distinguished from France by the desire of influential figures to participate in the fight against homophobia, believes Julien Pontes.
“Imagine Kylian Mbappé meeting a man who almost died because he’s gay. I think he’d be pretty shaken up and talk about it in his locker room.”
Julien Pontes, spokesperson for Rouge Directat franceinfo
The spokesperson for Rouge Direct is envious of “the impact on conscience” what can a figure like coach Jurgen Klopp have “when he takes the trouble to discuss homophobia with the gay supporters club” of his Liverpool team. During the World Cup in Qatar, seven European selections campaigned for the right to wear a rainbow armband (ultimately banned by Fifa) while France swept away the initiative. Wishing to make an awareness video with the Blues, Yoann Lemaire had also come up against this reluctance and had only been able to interview three players.
The founder of Foot Ensemble, however, defends the merits of the system put in place in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2: convincing almost all professional players to wear the rainbow colors, “you can’t see it anywhere else”. “I think it’s better than what is done in the Netherlands”, approves Thijs Smeenk, a volunteer with the John Blankenstein Foundation, which works with Dutch players. In the Dutch championship, only the captains are invited to wear an armband against homophobia: in October, those of two clubs refused the initiative. In England, the “Rainbow Laces” operation is done on a voluntary basis: the clubs notably receive rainbow laces for their players, who are free to wear them or not. In October, the day of the operation, the former Parisian Idrissa Gueye was therefore able to play for Everton without any distinctive sign in his outfit, when he had been forced, at PSG, to make public his refusal to condemn the homophobia.
Yoann Lemaire is pleased that in France, the LFP campaign has allowed an icon like Lionel Messi to wear the colors of the LGBT flag: “Qwhen he was playing in Spain, we never saw him wear such a shirt”. There remains a cruel observation: active professional players who have come out can be counted on the fingers of one hand, in the United Kingdom, Australia or the Czech Republic. None are French, nor play in France. “If this operation is a success, how many coming outs did it give rise to?”, challenges Julien Pontes. He fears that the rejection shown by the five players from Nantes, Toulouse and Guingamp reinforces the conviction that it is better to hide your homosexuality to make a career in French football.