Prior to the World Cup match between the United States and Wales (1-1), there were reported incidents where security agents wanted to ban rainbow-colored clothing from the stadium. CBS Football correspondent Grant Wahl said he was arrested Because he was wearing a rainbow shirt. His cell phone was ripped from his hands when he wanted to tweet about the incident. In the end he got an apology. “But what if I was an ordinary Qatari and the world wasn’t watching?”
Michael Van Dam
Grant Wahl says he was held for 25 minutes and told to remove his rainbow shirt. Wahl wanted the jersey to show support for the LGBTQ+ community after seven countries, under pressure from FIFA, abandoned their plan to have their captains wear a rainbow bracelet. Homosexuality is a criminal offense in Qatar.
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A security guard told Walal that his shirt contained a political message. “After 25 minutes someone came to let me through. He apologized and we shook hands. Another security officer explained that they wanted to protect me from supporters attacking me for wearing the shirt. A FIFA representative came to apologize,” Wahl said in a column.
“But the incident made me wonder what would happen if an ordinary Qatari wore such a shirt when the world wasn’t watching.”
© AFP
“Only the women’s hats were taken off.”
A number of Wales fans said their rainbow caps had been taken from them. “Not the men, they were just taken from the women,” she said on the Twitter account of The Rainbow Wall, a group of Welsh supporters who advocate for LGBT rights.
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This England fan came in the colors of the rainbow for the match against Iran. – ©AP
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