I was very pleased and proud that our motion regarding FIFA received overwhelming support at ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe) Council in Bratislava earlier this month.
As the author of this motion, I wasn’t absolutely sure how much this issue would resonate amongst our sister parties, for as a very passionate LGBTQI+ football fan, I had felt extremely let down by the staging of this World Cup, in all aspects of human rights, and to the extent, that the LGBTQ+ issue was the major factor.
However the treatment of migrants workers and women only added to the need for FIFA to review its World Cup bidding processes, to align with Global Human rights. I along with many other members of the LGBTQI+ community boycotted the event, which meant I watched the least amount of games since the my first World Cup in 1986, at age of seven. That’s how strongly I and many others felt that this was not the right place to hold a FIFA World Cup and I stand by that position.
However, I was more than delighted that ALDE party chose to lead with this motion as one of their communication emails to all ALDE party members – only further highlighting the work Liberal Democrats are doing to raise issues – specifically LGBTQ+ related issues – on the international stage. It was especially poignant in Bratislava, that following the murder of two young members of the Local LGBTQI+ community outside a gay bar in the city centre in October, we collaborated on a further motion, which was unanimously endorsed by all our sister parties, recognising and calling on them to enact legislation combatting LGBTQI+ hate crimes.
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