Leicester City Host Football v Homophobia Month Of Action Launch Event
- Football v Homophobia’s Month of Action launched at King Power Stadium this week
- The initiative aims to challenge discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression at all levels in football
- Leicester City and Foxes Pride were victorious at last year’s Football v Homophobia awards
The celebration, which brought together more than 40 guests from the LGBTQI+ community, acted as the launch for February’s Month of Action, which calls on clubs, fans, players and footballing authorities to focus their efforts on LGBTQI+ inclusion.
Hosted by Leicester City legend Matt Elliott, two panel discussions took place between Jon Holmes (Football v Homophobia), Graeme Smith (Foxes Pride), Callum Prince (Leicester Wildecats), Gurpri Bains (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Jahmal Howlett-Mundle (bisexual footballer) and Parker Dunn (footballer and TikTok star).
The conversations focused on The Need to Take Action - Tackling LGBTQI+-phobia in men’s football: What actually works? and Out on the Pitch - The experiences of out LGBTQI+ footballers: What are we learning?.
A year-round campaign, Football v Homophobia exists to challenge discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression at all levels in football.
The initiative campaigns, educates and gives guidance to make existing football structures safe, welcoming and inclusive to LGBTQI+ people, while improving the representation and visibility of the LGBTQI+ community throughout football and realising the potential of the game in society as a tool to create positive change.
Jon Holmes, Football v Homophobia, said: “In recent years, we haven’t been able to hold in-person events for the Month of Action because we’ve been under Covid restrictions, so it was so uplifting to be able to welcome people to King Power Stadium to celebrate LGBTQI+ communities in football.
“The ongoing importance of the campaign has been brought into sharp focus recently with incidents of discriminatory language and behaviour across the men’s game, while far too many of us sadly see online abuse regularly on social media.
“Throughout the year, the FvH team is doing important education work which underpins all of this and having the support of clubs – whether at the elite like Leicester City all the way down to grassroots – plus county FAs and other stakeholders takes the message to so many more people.”
Leicester City have supported Football v Homophobia for several seasons and will dedicate their Premier League fixture at home to Arsenal on Saturday 25 February to the initiative.
The Club, alongside its LGBTQI+ supporter group, Foxes Pride, were successful at last year’s Football v Homophobia awards, winning the Professional Club and Supporter Group awards for their efforts to combat homophobia and to make King Power Stadium a welcoming place for all.
A number of First Team players have also worked closely with Foxes Pride in recent seasons to learn more about the work of the group and to understand the importance of allyship and how to support the LGBTQI+ community.
The group’s efforts were recognised by the Club in September 2022 as it nominated Foxes Pride to be its Premier League Community Captain, with First Team manager Brendan Rodgers and captain Jonny Evans presenting members with their awards at a celebration event at LCFC Training Ground.
Graeme Smith said: “It was wonderful to represent Foxes Pride at the launch, and the fact Leicester City were hosting this prestigious event shows the importance they place on tackling LGBTQI+-phobia.
“I was able to share details of the work we’ve done together and the progress we’ve made, while it was also fantastic to hear from other LGBTQI+ voices as we seek to make further progress in ensuring that football is a safe space for all.”
Should you experience any form of discrimination in a Leicester City setting, please contact help@lcfc.co.uk or call 0344 815 5000 (option 4). Furthermore, you can also report any form of discrimination or hate crime by texting the word ‘FOXES’ to 60066.
For further details about Football v Homophobia, please click HERE. Please click HERE for more information about Foxes Pride.