Academic Mária Schmidt had released a social media post in which she reminded her followers that last year, when the Hungarian national football team traveled to Germany for a European Championship match, Munich and the Allianz Arena were dressed in rainbow colors. She continued by saying that you would think that the German or even the English football team would take a similar stand for LGBTQ rights at the World Cup in Qatar, but the reality is different.
Hungarian historian Mária Schmidt, Director General of the House of Terror Museum, pointed out the double standard in a Facebook post. As she wrote, the German stands at last year’s Hungary-Germany match were awash with rainbow flags, and German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, the team’s captain, wore a rainbow-colored armband. On top of that, a pitch invader waving an LGBTQ flag ran onto the grass during the Hungarian anthem, which was accompanied by whistles, wrote Schmidt.
The historian added that the Germans had politicized the whole match, overriding the thousand-year-old Bavarian-Hungarian relationship.
According to Schmidt, now is the time for Germans to express their commitment to the trans and gay community in the same way at the World Cup in Qatar. Their captain, and indeed their entire team, should wear a rainbow colored armband and a jersey that express solidarity with the persecuted gay community in Qatar.
They are all the more obliged to do so because they now intend to buy oil from the Qataris, who apparently run an impeccable democracy, in protest against the Russian dictatorship,”
said the historian.
Sarcastically, she added that since the Germans always stand on moral grounds, which they have been ostentatious about with the Hungarians, she has no doubt that this time they will stand up strongly for the rights of LGBTQ+ people who are truly persecuted in Qatar. If this does not happen, it will prove that the Germans’ demonstration last year was about nothing more than their intention to humiliate us, Hungarians, concluded Schmidt.
In Hungary, it was not only the German national team that tried to show its support for LGBTQ ideology and various sensitizing ideas. England’s captain Harry Kane wore a rainbow armband during two matches against Hungary. However, the English have also given up on LGBTQ rights apparently, as just hours before the England-Iran match, the English Football Association decided that Kane would not wear a rainbow armband. FIFA has already indicated that there will be a financial penalty and a yellow card for those who do so.
England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands have released a joint statement saying that their captains will not wear ‘one love’ armbands.
“We can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings.” pic.twitter.com/8dBzwajbrc
— DW Sports (@dw_sports) November 21, 2022
Reacting to the news, the English Football Association said that any country that does not accept LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights, or any other universal human right should be given the honor of hosting the tournament.
In all, nine national teams have prepared for the World Cup with the team captain wearing a rainbow “One Love” armband. Wales, Germany, England, Belgium, and Denmark have already backed out from this idea.
However, progressive people are trying to exploit the loopholes. German commentator Claudia Neumann appeared on television from Qatar on Monday wearing a T-shirt with a rainbow-colored heart. She said that she wore the T-shirt to “set an example for diversity and tolerance.”
This is what German commentator Claudia Neumann is wearing as she’s broadcasting the game between the USA and Wales from the World Cup in Qatar ️ #USAWAL pic.twitter.com/390D5yU4H5
— DW Sports (@dw_sports) November 21, 2022
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