LIs French football more embarrassed than interested in the fight against racism and homophobia? The question remains relevant, while the Professional Football League (LFP) deployed on the weekend of March 29, 30 and 31 the first part of a campaign against discrimination which separates the mobilization dates.
Thus, the fight against homophobia retains its own moment, distinct from that which exclusively concerned racism, this weekend, during the twenty-seventh day of Ligue 1 and the thirtieth of Ligue 2. A request from the players during awareness workshops organized in clubs by the LFP, it said.
The body is justified in listening to the players, but perhaps it has heard a little too much from those who refused, in previous seasons, to wear jerseys with numbers in the colors of the rainbow. LGBT+, on the occasion of World Day Against Homophobia, in May. They saw it, probably less out of homophobia than out of ignorance, as a promotion of homosexuality.
Giving the impression of agreeing with them, the LFP chose to reserve the rainbow for the badge bearing its logo which appears on the sleeves of the jerseys, and no longer for the numbers or the captains’ armbands, the 17 and 18 May during the last days of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2.
A troubling “conscience clause”
“A way of saying that the fight is no longer centered on the player, but supported by the competition and by all the players in the world of football”, according to the League. However, by dissociating the players from this group, it grants some a disturbing “conscience clause”. This decline evokes that of the International Football Federation (FIFA) during the 2022 World Cup, in Qatar, when it rejected the harmless “One Love” armband promoted by several European selections, to favor a “No Discrimination” pass. -everywhere.
LGBT+ associations are divided between those who see it as a renunciation and others who support a more skillful approach, having noted resistance in the workshops that does not stem from intentional homophobia. According to them, more time and education are needed to convince people that it is a question of fighting against all discrimination, including this one.
This is precisely the discourse of the LFP, which is now reflected during the workshops: racism and anti-Semitism are addressed before moving on to homophobia, with the aim of demonstrating that there must be no hierarchy between discriminations, that equal rights must be achieved for all.
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