KHalid Salman is sitting with the ZDF journalist Jochen Breyer in a busy pedestrian zone in Doha, he smiles and says with gestures: “Let’s talk about gays, for example.” explains, largely confirms the loud criticism of numerous fan and human rights organizations before the major football tournament in the Persian Gulf. Being gay is “haram”, forbidden, says Salman, because it is a damage in the mind be, a mental damage. At this moment of the ZDF documentary “Geheimsache Qatar”, a spokesman breaks off the conversation.
The statements “about gays are disturbing and yet not a surprise,” said Alfonso Pantisano from the federal board of the Lesbian and Gay Association (LSVD) on Tuesday. “If the organizing committee (…) apparently wants to welcome queer fans and then a World Cup ambassador makes such a disturbing comment, it proves the regime’s threat to queer people.” The association expects a travel warning from the Federal Foreign Office and sends it to all fans the message: “Boycott this World Cup!”
Homosexuality banned in Qatar
Salman, 60 and a former international, is described as a ‘star’ of the 1981 World Youth Championship on the Organizing Committee’s official website. A hat-trick against Brazil in the quarterfinals. “I have represented Qatar for many years and it is a proud moment for me to become an ambassador,” Salman was quoted as saying. “I am very happy to be part of what promises to be the biggest moment.” The organizing committee did not respond to a request for the latest statements from the “local” World Cup ambassador on Tuesday morning – there are ten of them in total. The “global” include former world stars like the Brazilian Cafu.
According to the law, homosexuality in Qatar is illegal and punishable by up to seven years in prison. Officially, the World Cup organizer – supported by FIFA President Gianni Infantino – assures everyone is welcome. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said she brought a “security guarantee” from the Prime Minister that all fans could “move freely and without fear” during the tournament from November 20th to December 18th.
Faeser was now dismayed. “Such statements are terrible,” emphasized the SPD politician, who is also responsible for sport: “And that is also the reason why we are working to hopefully improve things in Qatar in the future.” But she continues to trust in the during her Inspection trip in the previous week submitted “safety guarantee”.
“When we talk about the rights of homosexuals, for example, that two men are not allowed to show their affection in public, we must not hide the fact that men and women are not allowed to do that either,” said former national player Thomas Hitzlsperger, with the German Football Association employed as an ambassador for diversity, in a “t-online.de” interview. “So it’s not just about homosexuality, it’s about couples in general. If this is consistently implemented, heterosexual couples will also have problems. According to current ideas, this is a problem.”
