Bollen är rund. Just därför bör FIFA bojkotta Qatar och andra homofientliga länder.

Jag skrev här på bloggen i fredags om att Riksidrottsförbundet återigen sviker HBT-personer genom att inget av de "mångfaldsprojekt" som man gett pengar till i år har HBT-tema.

Nu förs ju den här debatten inte bara i Sverige. Utan även i bl.a. Kroatien där ordföranden för landets fotbollsförening har gjort bort sig genom homofoba kommentarer i början av november i år.

Från brittiska HBT-siten Pinknews.

The president of the Croatian Football Federation, Vlatko Markovic, has said that there is no place for gay players on the country’s national team.

Croatian gay and lesbian groups have said they will sue him and report him to UEFA for the outburst.

In an interview with Croatian newspaper Vecernji List, Mr Markovic said: “While I’m a president of the Croatian Football Federation, there will be no homosexuals playing in the national team.”

When asked whether he had ever met a gay footballer, he said: “Luckily, only normal people play football.”

Intressant hur han kan vara så okunnig om vad han snackar om och tydligen fått för sig att han kan se på någon om vederbörande är homo, bi eller hetero. Några dagar senare sa han sig ångra sin kommentar.

The president of the Croatian Football Federation, Vlatko Markovic, has apologised for offending gay people after he said that there was no place for homosexuality on the country’s national team.

According to AFP, he wrote in a statement on the federation’s website: “I apologise to all those who were hurt by parts of my interview.”....

In his apology today, he said he was “sorry that my comments have been in any way misinterpreted”.

“My intention was in no way to insult or offend anyone,” he added. “I have absolutely nothing against members of any minority, especially not against those of homosexual orientation.”

Nej, givetvis inte. Hur har folk kunnat missförstå dig så Vlatko Markovic att de trodde du är negativ till homosexuella efter dina första kommantar?

Senare beslutade UEFA (ansvarigt för fotboll i Europa) att vidta åtgärder.

UEFA is to investigate the president of the Croatian Football Federation after he said he would not allow gay players on the national team.

Inte nog med det här. Det har sedan blivit ännu en konflikt eftersom det beslutats att World Cup 2022 ska hållas i Qatar där homosexuella relationer är totalförbjudna.

The Gay Football Supporters’ Network says it will boycott all activities related to the 2022 World Cup because host country Qatar is homophobic.

Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar and gay sex can be punished with up to five years in prison. The tiny Gulf state won the right to host the games last week.

The GFSN said: “We strongly condemn FIFA’s decision and will be leading a LGBT boycott of all activities associated with World Cup 2022.

“We do not feel the World Cup should be held in any country that abuses and disregards the basic human rights of LGBT people....

He added: “With FIFA’s failure to condemn the recent homophobic remarks of the Croatian manager followed swiftly by their decision to award Qatar the World Cup, it is clear that there is still much progress to be made before football really is for all.”

Inte blev situationen bättre när ordföranden i FIFA, Sepp Blatter, vid en presskonferens försökte "skämta" om det här och raljerade.

The FIFA president was speaking in Johannesburg at a post-2010 World Cup legacy project launch.

When asked about gay football fans visiting Qatar, he is said to have joked: “I would say they should refrain from any sexual activities.”

But he added: “We are definitely living in a world of freedom and I’m sure when the World Cup will be in Qatar in 2022, there will be no problems.

“You see in the Middle East the opening of this culture, it’s another culture because it’s another religion, but in football we have no boundaries.”

Antingen är Sepp Blatter naiv och vet inte något om situationen för bögar och lesbiska i de flesta länder i Mellanöstern. Eller, vilket är mer troligt, försöker han cyniskt låtsas som att det inte är något problem. Att snacka om att fotbollen "inte har några gränser" är absurt när vi vet att människor blir förföljda i många länder bara för att de är homosexuella och bisexuella. Det oavsett om det arrangeras någon fotbollsturnering eller inte i landet.

Den öppet homosexuelle f.d. basketbollspelaren John Amaechi (på bilden till den här bloggposten) kritiserade för några dagar sedan Sepp Blatter .

Amaechi, who came out in 2007, said he was “enraged” at the comments and had made a complain to FIFA.

He said: “The statements and the position adopted by Sepp Blatter and FIFA regarding LGBT fans who would pay the enormous ticket and travel prices to attend the World Cup in 2022 should have been wholly unacceptable a decade ago.

“Instead, with little more than an afterthought, FIFA has endorsed the marginalisation of LGBT people around the world.

“Anything less than a full reversal of [Blatter's] position is unacceptable and if the FA and football and sporting associations around the world fail to acknowledge this insult, they too will be complicit.”

Amaechi added: “Blatt’s [sic] words aren’t really about sex. . . Rather, what Blatt is really saying is ‘don’t be camp… don’t hold hands… don’t look into each others eyes… don’t book rooms with one bed… don’t have candle-lit dinners in the restaurant…’ and so on.”

Meanwhile, the Gay Football Supporters’ Network said Blatter should resign.

Chris Basiurski, chair of the GFSN, said: “Many LGBT people live in countries where they would face execution or imprisonment if discovered, these people deserve our help, our respect and our support. They, like the rest of us, do not deserve to be laughed at.

“Mr Blatter should retract his remarks and apologise immediately. Otherwise, he should reconsider his position and resign.”

Som man brukar säga. Bollen är rund och allt är möjligt. Just därför borde ansvariga kunnat placera viktiga fotbollsturneringar i länder som respekterar centrala mänskliga rättigheter, inklusive HBT-rättigheter.