Pressure builds on Qatar over LGBTQ+ rights as World Cup nears
As World Cup competition approaches in LGBT-phobic Qatar, supporters of the human rights of LGBTQ+ people are seeking to pressure the Middle Eastern state into reducing the repression it imposes on its LGBTQ+ citizens and others.
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The Guardian published the following this numeric summary of how Qatar mistreats LGBTQ+ people. Follow the link to see summaries of other Qatari human rights abuses.
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Years in prison that men and women who have sexual relations outside marriage can face under 281 article of the penal code. [Human Rights Watch (HRW)] say this disproportionately affects women, who have been prosecuted if they report rape. It says “police often do not believe women who report such violence, instead believing the men who claim it was consensual, and any evidence or suggestion that a woman knew the male offender has been enough to prosecute the woman”.
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Cases of ill-treatment in detention for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people between 2019 and 2022, according to a report by HRW in October 2022. It said that Qatar Preventive Security Department forces have arbitrarily arrested LGBT people and subjected them to ill-treatment in detention including six cases of “severe and repeated beatings and five cases of sexual harassment in police custody between 2019 and 2022”. As a requirement for their release, security forces mandated that transgender women detainees attend conversion therapy sessions at a government facility. According to the authorities, however, there are no gay “conversion” centres in Qatar.
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Possible number of years’ imprisonment under article 296 of Qatar’s penal code for “leading, instigating or seducing a male in any way to commit sodomy or dissipation” and “inducing or seducing a male in any way to commit illegal or immoral actions”.
WorldCrunch assembled this roundup of events related to LGBTQ rights in Qatar:
Pressure on Qatar over LGBTQ+ rights as World Cup nears
With just days left before the 2022 World Cup kicks off in Qatar, outcry is mounting against the Gulf state’s harsh LGBTQ+ laws and recent demonstrations of prejudice.
• UK star Beth Mead says Qatar “not the right place”
Openly gay Arsenal forward, Beth Mead, has spoken out against the World Cup, saying Qatar isn’t the “right place” for the event to be held, and that she won’t be “backing or promoting” the World Cup due to the country’s extreme anti-LGBTQ+ laws.
• Qatari World Cup official calls homosexuality “damage in the mind”
While interviewed for a documentary by German broadcaster ZDF, Khalid Salman, an ambassador for the World Cup in Qatar, described homosexuality as a “damage in the mind” and “a spiritual harm,” leading the interviewer to cut off the exchange.
• Head of Wales soccer voices support of LGBTQ+ initiative
The chief executive of the Football Association of Wales, Noel Mooney, said the organization will be supporting the LGBTQ+ OneLove initiative, a campaign was started by the Netherlands to promote diversity and inclusion, and fight discrimination during the World Cup in Qatar.
• Gay Qatari activist speaks against “sports washing”
Dr. Nas Mohamed, who became one of the few Qataris to come out on a public platform in May, has spoken out about the World Cup, saying he will do whatever he can to shine a light on the persecution of LGBTQ+ people in his country, determined to not let authorities succeed in “sports washing”.
• “Shockingly scandalous”: LGBTQ+ fans groups blast FIFA
In response to a letter sent by FIFA saying that teams should focus on the sport at the World Cup, LGBTQ+ groups and allies in England and Wales have issued a joint statement alongside Pride in Football, calling their hypocrisy “sickening, and their silence in light of Qatar’s prejudice against LGBTQ+ people “shockingly scandalous”. The statement from the football governing body says that attendees should “try to respect all opinions and beliefs without handing out moral lessons.”
