Football v Homophobia Month of Action 2021 CONTENTS 1. FARE AND FOOTBALL V HOMOPHOBIA 3 2. FOOTBALL V HOMOPHOBIA MONTH OF ACTION 2021 4 3. FOOTBALL V HOMOPHOBIA 9 WHAT’S NEXT FOR LGBTIQ+ RIGHTS AND FOOTBALL? 4. FOOTBALL V HOMOPHOBIA MONTH OF ACTION DATA 11 2 Football v Homophobia Month of Action 2021 1. FARE AND FOOTBALL V HOMOPHOBIA Each February, the Fare network teams up with Football v Homophobia to run an international campaign tackling LGBTIQ+ exclusion within sport and wider society. Established in 2010, Football v Homophobia (FvH) challenges discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, providing support, education and training to promote an inclusive environment in football. Since 2011, Fare and FvH have been joining forces to work across different levels of football and help bring about positive change for LGBTIQ+ communities. Each year in February, groups across Europe and beyond are supported by Fare and FvH by receiving grants to run football-related activities to promote LGTBIQ+ rights during the Football v Homophobia Month of Action. Activities range from educational workshops, roundtables, conferences and football tournaments. 3 Football v Homophobia Month of Action 2021 2. FOOTBALL V HOMOPHOBIA MONTH OF ACTION 2021 n February 2021, Fare provided grants to 13 groups across the globe, with Episode one looks at LGBTIQ+ fans and homophobia in stadiums, with Onã a focus on creative and impactful action to promote inclusion, through Rudá from LGBTricolor in Bahia talking about the experiences and challenges In 2020 Fare awarded 26 international cooperation, education, or lobbying. facing queer fans in the virtual and physical stands. They ask whether in the I country that kills the most LGBTIQ+ people in the world, these fan groups In 2020 Fare awarded 26 organisations in Europe grants of up to €500; in can act as a form of resistance? Listen here. organisations in Europe grants 2021, 13 organisations were awarded grants of up to €1000. For the first time, Fare extended the programme of grants beyond Europe, with groups in Latin The second podcast addresses the topic of ‘Women in football and the America and Africa joining the FvH month of action with funds of 1000 USD counter-attack to machismo, misogyny and lesbophobia’. This episode of up to €500; in 2021 13 for groups available. Projects in Mexico, Brazil and Uganda, as well as across features Joane Ribeiro, a Black lesbian football and futsal player, who Europe, highlighted an exciting global growth in the Football v Homophobia discusses her struggle against racism and lesbophobia throughout her organisations were awarded month of action. career and the financial barriers to pursuing a career abroad. Listen here. With continuing global restrictions on playing and watching sport due to The third episode entitled: ‘Trans people in football: what’s at stake?’ focuses grants of up to €1000 Covid19 and in response to growing political movements that seek to limit on the experiences and stories Bernardo Gonzales, a transmasculine the rights of LGBTIQ+ people, this season Fare put a priority on exceptional teacher and amateur football player. Bernardo talks of the gender issues activities that offset some of the pandemic’s adverse effects and supported impacting football and his reconnection with the sport, despite it still being a positive rights in the face of repressive ideas. hostile environment for trans people. Listen here. In Brazil two renowned organisations, Ludopedio and Revista Gambiarra - In the final podcast, ‘Against homophobia: the case of gay players in Jornalismo, Cultura e Ativismo, joined forces to produce a series of podcasts. amateur football’, Alexandre Antoniazzi Franco de Souza is interviewed. Alexandre is a gay man, Italian teacher and an enthusiastic amateur football “It is really important to use our voices in such a conservative country as player with NATUS FC, based in São Paulo. He speaks about his passion for Brazil. It is important to raise awareness on the issues of LGBTIQ+ people in and connection with football played by people who defy machismo and football. As a LGBTIQ+ woman myself, I was really happy to be able to lift our homophobic standards. Listen here. community and reach out to those who are often forgotten in the sporting world.” – Julia Belas, podcast presenter 4 Football v Homophobia Month of Action 2021 In Mexico we also had two organisations joining the Football v Homophobia month of action: DIDESEX and the NGO Versus founded by renowned sports journalist Marion Reimers. Versus focused on producing a concise and practical guide for sports journalists and reporters on how to approach subjects related to the LGBTIQ+ community. After research and collaboration with LGBTIQ+ activists, Versus officially launched their media guide for journalists during the FvH month. The guide (in Spanish) is to be used by journalists, so that they can approach and write about issues related to the LGBTIQ+ community without perpetuating homophobic attitudes or gendered stereotypes. The guide can be found here: http://versus. mx/guia.pdf In the build-up to the guide’s launch, Versus teamed up with several players from the Mexican League to tell and share their story through videos and a social media campaign. In one video, Janelly Farias, Mariana Cadena, Fabiola Ibarra and Stephany Mayor discussed being LGBTIQ+ in sports. A second campaign video featuring Bianca Sierra and Bárbara Sandoval centred around the need for more and better representation of the LGBTIQ+ community in sports media, while the final video featuring Ana Gaby Lozada was a direct invitation to reporters to download, use, and share the guide. “We can help to reduce homophobic violence if we dare to tell new stories.” – Ana Gaby Lozada (professional player in Mexico) Meanwhile, DIDESEX focused on reporting homophobia in football. Homophobic abuse in Mexican football is widespread and persistent through the use of the “puto” chant. DIDESEX used the FvH action month as an opportunity to develop a functioning reporting mechanism. As a start, DIDESEX trained volunteers in how to take on a reporting role at matches and they also built a website tailor-made for reporting homophobia in football. A webinar was organised to launch the website and discuss homophobia in football, DIDESEX are committed to continue promote the website and follow up on reported incidents. The website is here. 5 Football v Homophobia Month of Action 2021 In Uganda the ground-breaking Tomorrow Women in Sports organised a campaign to address homophobia, specifically homophobic chants and abuse in football. As well as creating an online campaign, the group organised workshops to address the topic. The Football v Homophobia month of action also saw important work in Europe. In Ukraine, the Klitschko Foundation’s “Football for Everyone” campaign seeks to combat homophobia, transphobia and discrimination by working with physical education teachers in sport and football. The group ran both practical and virtual sessions led by experts in the LGBTIQ+ community, including women football coaches from the Amateur Women’s Football Club NRG, a practicing psychologist from Kyiv Pride NGO, and a sports journalist from the magazine ‘Gender in detail’. The sessions looked at discrimination against the LGBTIQ+ community in football from different perspectives. The participating coaches were tasked with Tomorrow Women in Sports, Uganda. Klitschko Foundation, Ukraine. organising similar sessions for their pupils. Over 400 pupils in different regions of Ukraine have benefited from the tools their teachers received during these training sessions. More information on the campaign and the key outcomes from their sessions here. Over 400 pupils in different Mykola Niga (participant): “I was lucky to become a participant in the Football regions of Ukraine have for Everyone project. In the project, thanks to lectures and practical classes, I changed my view of people of different genders and sexual orientations: I learned to understand people, despite their differences, whereas I previously had benefited from the tools their a different opinion. For myself, I drew the following conclusion from the project: we do not have the right to judge people for how nature created them, but we must all live in harmony and fight against discrimination in society. I want to teachers received during these discuss this topic with my students. I believe that my local project of “Football for everyone” will be the starting point for this.” training sessions. Klitschko Foundation, Ukraine. 6 Football v Homophobia Month of Action 2021 In Poland, a newly created grassroots women’s walking football club joined the FvH month for the first time. Poland has seen growing levels of discrimination against the LGBTIQ+ community in recent years, with some cities introducing LGBTIQ+ free zones. The players of Stars Lodz used their walking football club to make the sport accessible to all and provide a safe place to play. During the FvH month of action they organised open training sessions and actively promoted their club. They reached almost 100 participants with their open sessions. 2021 marks exactly 100 years since the FA banned women’s football in England. To mark this centenary Goal Diggers FC, a London-based grassroots club, created a protest kit to mark this event and celebrate the intersectional stories of the women and non-binary people who pioneered the women’s game. The group hosted an online virtual session ‘For the Love of the Game’ to reveal their kit and a panel discussion with players and campaigners (including goalkeeper Chloe Morgan and Sammy Walker of Soho FC). “The significance of FvH month of action is twofold: Representation and celebration. I think FvH is fabulous for representation on the bigger scale of women’s and men’s football. For example, seeing the pride flag and captains’ pride armbands at the Lionesses match against Northern Ireland carried a strong message that the game is for everyone.