These words could not go unnoticed. For long minutes, at the end of the Classic between PSG and OM on Sunday evening (4-0), homophobic chants came down from the aisles of the Parc des Princes. “The Marseillais are p****, sons of p****, e******”, we could hear.
“It is unthinkable to remain deaf to such hateful and homophobic chants in our stands,” reacted Sports Minister Amélie-Oudéa Castéra on X (formerly Twitter) this Monday.
It is unthinkable to remain deaf to such hateful and homophobic chants in our stands. Whatever the rivalry and the stakes, they must be fought relentlessly by supporters, those involved in the competition, the authorities and the public authorities. Yesterday, these songs… https://t.co/31fLOvlz4C
— Amélie Oudéa-Castéra (@AOC1978) September 25, 2023
“Yesterday, these songs spoiled the party at the Park. It is urgent to eradicate them from our stadiums. I made sure last night that a firm response was provided. The LFP disciplinary committee has now been contacted. I invite PSG to file a complaint to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice, so that they are removed from the stadiums,” added the minister.
The interministerial delegate for the fight against racism, anti-Semitism and anti-LGBT hatred (DILCRAH) Olivier Klein said he was “shocked” by the homophobic chants sung during PSG-OM. “With DILCRAH, I will contact PSG and the professional football league so that sanctions can be taken. We will also study the possibilities of taking legal action,” he wrote on social networks.
“We are reaching a high point (of homophobia in stadiums)”
The Rouge Direct association, on the front line against homophobia in football, also reported the chants on its social networks. “Many people, regardless of their sexual orientation, are very shocked by this outburst of homophobic violence. We have reached a climax that we have seen coming for a long time. We can clearly see that it is getting worse and worse and that there is no sanction. We can see that the rainbow jerseys are useless,” Julien Pontes, spokesperson for the association, assures us.
According to an Ipsos survey published at the beginning of September and conducted with the LGBT+ Sports Federation, 46% of French people say they have already witnessed homophobic or transphobic behavior in the sporting environment.
Still according to this study, less than one in two French people have the feeling that “things are being done to combat LGBTphobia in sport” and more than three quarters (78%) want us to “go further” on that question.
