The US host city’s resolve in maintaining its ‘Pride Match’ should be commended as exactly the sort of thing this tournament is for
There are two World Cups. The product, marketed and monetized for all it will yield, and the experience.
Only one of those is the real thing. And in one case, it’s holding strong. In Seattle, the local organizing committee long ago designated the 26 June game slated for Lumen Field as the “Pride Match” to mark the city’s LGBTQ+ pride weekend celebration.
In a twist, the World Cup draw then assigned Egypt and Iran to that match, countries where the gay community is persecuted and where, in Iran’s case, homosexuality is even punishable by death. The two nations protested. Egypt, in a letter sent to Fifa, referred to a statute “which emphasizes neutrality in political and social matters during Fifa competitions” – a bold reference coming days after US president Donald Trump was handed Fifa’s inaugural peace prize for nakedly political reasons.
The local organizing committee essentially told the Egyptian and Iranian federations to get lost. There will be Pride events. There will be rainbow flags, inside the stadium and out of it. Fifa may have cornered itself by banning rainbow captain’s armbands in Qatar in 2022 on account of local customs. Well, the local custom of the Pacific Northwest is tolerance.
