FIFA World Cup: Rainbow-coloured clothing not allowed in Qatar stadiums

Sports journalist Grant Wahl and former Wales captain Laura McAllister on two separate occasions are told that they were not allowed to enter stadiums in Qatar because they had on a piece of rainbow-coloured clothing.

US journalist Grant Wahl was briefly detained on Monday after trying to enter a World Cup stadium in Qatar wearing a rainbow-coloured t-shirt.

Wahl took to Twitter to share his experience calling it an “unnecessary ordeal”

I’m OK, but that was an unnecessary ordeal. Am in the media center, still wearing my shirt. Was detained for nearly half an hour. Go gays 🌈 https://t.co/S3INBoCz89

— Subscribe to GrantWahl.com (@GrantWahl) November 21, 2022

He says that he has received an apology from a representative of FIFA and the security commander.

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ONE LOVE ARMBANDS

This incident comes shortly after soccer teams issued statements saying they will no longer be wearing the rainbow-coloured OneLove armband, the armbands were a collective effort by various European nations to protest against Qatar’s Human Rights issues concerning the LGBTQIA+ community, women’s rights, and rights of migrant workers.

The OneLove campaign which included England and Germany said the purpose was:

To “send a message against discrimination of all types” and speak out against the treatment of the LGBTQI+ community in Qatar.

Teams who wore the armbands faced possible sanctions including yellow cards or a one-match ban.

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RAINBOW-COLOURED BUCKET HATS

Laura McAllister, a gay woman, and former Wales captain had a similar experience with other female soccer fans when they went to watch a soccer match.

McAllister said in an interview that:

“As we were queuing to go into the stadium we’d heard that there’d been issues with some people in front of us who’d been asked to take off their hats to go into the stadium“

Furthermore, she says that they were told that “regulation” didn’t allow her to wear the hat in the stadium, she describes the incident as “heavy-handed” as seen in this video.

Some Welsh fans were refused entry into the stadium tonight until they gave up their rainbow coloured bucket hat. 🏳️‍🌈 pic.twitter.com/vgxQMyhFmb

— World Cup Updates (@wc22updates) November 21, 2022

The nation of Qatar forbids same-sex relations under Islamic Sharia law.

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