Martina Navratilova calls FIFA a "criminal organization" after suppression of LGBTQ+ awareness campaign comes to light
Martina Navratilova slammed FIFA after an article in the New York Times described how football's governing body banned a campaign for LGBTQ+ awareness for the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
The OneLove armband was a way of creating LGBT awareness and captains of the European nations wore it during a number of matches before the World Cup. There was a lot of talk about captains wearing it during the tournament but FIFA threatened to issue a yellow card to anyone who wore it.
Given that multiple yellow cards can lead to a suspension, no captain wore the OneLove armband during the World Cup. Instead, lesser controversial messages like "Save the Planet" and "No Discrimination" were donned by the captains.
FIFA's silencing of the OneLove armband campaign was explained in an article in the New York Times and Martina Navratilova shared it on Twitter, calling FIFA a criminal organization.
"FIFA is a criminal organization," Navratilova tweeted.
FIFA is a criminal organization nytimes.com/2022/12/17/spo…
Earlier during the World Cup, Germany were silently vocal about the ban of the OneLove armband, with players covering their mouths while posing for a pre-match photo before their group stage match against Japan. The country's footballing association 'DFB' backed the stand taken by the team.
"We wanted to use our captain’s armband to take a stand for values that we hold in the Germany national team: diversity and mutual respect. Together with other nations, we wanted our voice to be heard. It wasn’t about making a political statement – human rights are non-negotiable. That should be taken for granted, but it still isn’t the case. That’s why this message is so important to us. Denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice. We stand by our position," the DFB stated.
We wanted to use our captain’s armband to take a stand for values that we hold in the Germany national team: diversity and mutual respect. Together with other nations, we wanted our voice to be heard.
Martina Navratilova slams L.A. restaurant for treatment towards gay actor Drew Droedge
Martina Navratilova recently expressed her annoyance at the treatment of gay actor Drew Droedge at a Los Angeles restaurant called El Compadre. Droedge claimed that the manager of the restaurant prohibited him from kissing his date.
"Finishing up our second drinks, we had our arms around each other and kissed a few times. A manager approached our table and said something to the affect of, 'you guys can’t do that here.' We were confused at first, but then he very firmly stated, 'this is a family restaurant,'" the actor wrote in an Instagram post.
Martina Navratilova took to Twitter to express her displeasure towards the Mexican restaurant.
"Yikes," she tweeted.
Yikes twitter.com/GeorgeTakei/st…