Gay-friendly David Beckham was the subject of anti-gay slurs in Spain.
A Spanish soccer club has become the first to officially welcome a gay and lesbian supporters club to its ranks. The Barcelona club has hundreds of fan groups, a tradition in soccer. The gay group (or peña as its known in Spanish) had its plaque officially nailed to the club's wall.
The group found itself angered last month when homophobic chants were hurled against England's David Beckham during an England-Spain match in Seville. Beckham, while not gay, has been a proud gay icon for years.
“They spent more than a minute chanting ‘Beckham maricón’ (‘Beckham faggot’), said the peña’s spokesman, Josep Ribes. “We lodged a complaint about that.”
Gay-friendly David Beckham was the subject of anti-gay slurs in Spain.
A Spanish soccer club has become the first to officially welcome a gay and lesbian supporters club to its ranks. The Barcelona club has hundreds of fan groups, a tradition in soccer. The gay group (or peña as its known in Spanish) had its plaque officially nailed to the club’s wall.
The group found itself angered last month when homophobic chants were hurled against England’s David Beckham during an England-Spain match in Seville. Beckham, while not gay, has been a proud gay icon for years.
“They spent more than a minute chanting ‘Beckham maricón’ (‘Beckham faggot’), said the peña’s spokesman, Josep Ribes. “We lodged a complaint about that.”
It is a complaint that has since made its way to England’s Football Association, which also did not notice the abuse, and on to the sport’s global governing body, Fifa. …
“This [group] all started,” Ribes said, “because both I and a gay friend of mine were already socios, [subscribed members], of the club,” he said. “The idea, obviously, is to support the team but also to fight against homophobia in football.”
Ribes said the club has not seen any backlash since it has been formed, even though it knows the dream of an openly gay major soccer star seems far away. But it says homophobic taunts are a fixture at Spanish league games.
The “maricón” insult can be heard at almost any Spanish football ground, including Barcelona’s Camp Nou, when Real Madrid’s midfielder Guti is playing. “I hate the ‘Guti maricón’ chant,” said Ribes. “I just find it offensive.”
Spanish football was slow to react to racism and is only just waking up to homophobia, but the country has one of the world’s most progressive gay marriage laws.
The Barcelona peña’s dream, in fact, is to read one day of a player marrying a gay partner – but only as a brief mention on the society pages. In the meantime, members worry for the first footballer to make the step. “It would be healthy, but there is going to be a huge fuss,” said Ribes.
Fans hurl homophobic abuse at Real Madrid’s “Guti” in the wake of tabloid reports that reportedly showed him kissing a man (who actually might have been a woman with short hair).
