Gay hockey rivals-to-lovers show Heated Rivalry is all anyone can talk about, and for fans of the series looking for a real life queer love story in the sport then they need look no further than the upcoming Winter Olympics.
Heated Rivalry is an adaption of Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novel series and follows two hockey players, Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams), who are rivals on the ice but lovers between the sheets.
“Shane and Ilya are two of the biggest stars in major league hockey, bound by ambition, rivalry and a magnetic pull neither of them fully understands,” the show’s synopsis reads, for those who have somehow missed the Heated Rivalrytrain.
“Their secret fling evolves into an eight-year journey of self-discovery and rivalry. Over time, they must learn how to chase their desires on and off the ice.
“Torn between the sport they live for and the love they can’t ignore, Shane and Ilya must decide if there is room in their fiercely competitive world for something as fragile and as powerful as real love.”
The show has been a smash-hit since it premiere in November, scoring 99 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes and becoming Crave’s most-watched original series to date, with a huge fandom emerged in just two months – if the 8,000 works on AO3 are anything to go by…
For those eager for some real life queer hockey romance, you only need to look to pro hockey stars Anna Kjellbin and Ronja Savolainen, who play on different teams in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) and will face off against each other at the Winter Olympics in northeastern Italy but are engaged to be married.
Swedish star Kjellbin defenceman for the Toronto Sceptres while Finnish player Savolainen is a defenceman for Ottawa Charge.
Back in 2024, Savolainen confirmed love does not get in the way of competition, saying of playing against Kjellbin: “I don’t care who’s in front of me … if it’s going to be her, I’m going to hit her. We can take it up after the game.”
She added: “When you play, you just play. You don’t really think about who’s there. You’re friends after. On the ice, she’s my enemy. That’s how it goes.”
As per Out Sports, the couple were dating for five years before announcing their engagement in 2024.
Alongside Kjellbin and Savolainen, Cosmopolitan has also featured a story about skeleton sliders Kim Meylemans and Nicole Silveira, who are married and previously faced off against each other during the 2022 Winter Olympics.
“It’s very special to be able to share [the] Olympic Games with your partner,” Meylemans said back in 2022.
“It’s an extremely stressful, high-pressure period, so to have my person there as a comfort and safe space is of immense value to me, and also my performance. It brings a sense of calmness and normality into the [craziest] weeks of our career.”
The couple tied the knot on 1 August 2025 in a small, pre-Olympics ceremony, with plans for a “big dream beach wedding” in 2026.
“With the Games being in Italy and the current Italian government making decisions/laws that hurt the LGBTQ+ community…it feels extra special to potentially compete as a married couple and shine a light on marriage equality while doing so,” the couple said in a joint Instagram post.
“We’re still having our big dream beach wedding next year… We really love heading into this huge season and possibly last Olympic Games as spouses…no matter what curve balls this year and the challenges ahead will throw at us, our love comes first.”
The official LGBTQ+ supporters group for the England football team has announced it will not have a “visible presence” at the 2026 Men’s World Cup due to what they describe as the United States’ “dangerous rollback of human rights”.
Three Lions Pride, which represents queer England fans, published a strongly worded statement on its website on Thursday (15 January), criticising the United States’ reversal and attacks on human rights, particularly LGBTQ+ rights.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is set to take place from 11 June to 19 July across the US, Canada and Mexico, with 16 cities hosting the tournament – 11 in the US, three in Mexico, and two in Canada.
The three countries were announced as joint hosts of the sporting competition back in 2018, news that – at the time – came as a relief to many LGBTQ+ football fans, as that year Russia was hosting, with Qatar was set to be in charge in 2022. Both Russia and Qatar have abysmal records on LGBTQ+ rights, with many queer fans choosing not to attend those tournaments in-person due to the restrictive laws and regressive attitudes.
However, in the years since that hosting decision, the United States’ reputation as a nation which is safe for LGBTQ+ travellers – indeed, same-sex marriage was legalised across the US in 2015 – has diminished under the Trump administration. According to the Spartacus Gay Travel Index, a widely shared global index that ranks countries on LGBTQ+ legal rights and safety conditions the United States dropped from 41st place in 2024 to 48th place in the 2025 edition.
In their statement, Three Lions Pride said the US, Canada and Mexico tournament has long been in the diaries of LGBTQ+ fans as they believed it would be an opportunity “for queer fans to enjoy a tournament focused more on the football rather than their personal safety”.
However, “that hope, that optimism, is well and truly shattered”, the organisation said.
“As a group that provides support and community for all the LGBT+ family, the rhetoric and dangerous rollback of human rights in the US has caused considerable concern to fans who were previously planning to attend the 2026 World Cup. There is a fear that our trans+ family would be at high risk of violence and discrimination, our butch lesbian family would be caught in the crosshairs of anti-trans legislation around bathrooms and our queer family generally would be a target for abuse.
“This is unsafe and unacceptable,” the statement reads.
Since returning to office in January 2025 for his second term, Donald Trump has enacted hundreds of executive orders that are reshaping the government and country in his image, with many of those attacking the LGBTQ+ community, trans people in particular.
“We cannot guarantee the safety and security of our members”
Three Lions Pride went on to say that a number of factors have contributed to this decision, including the US government’s travel bans on certain nations, US visas planning to require five years of social media history and the controversial deployment of ICE to various US cities – which at the start of the year lead to the death of a Renee Nicole Good, a mother and US citizen – alongside ticket prices.
“Three Lions Pride, in light of the issues around the tournament, will not be having a visible presence at the 2026 Men’s World Cup,” the group concludes.
“We cannot guarantee the safety and security of our members and cannot endorse the appalling decisions of FIFA around ticketing and safety by tacit acceptance through our visible attendance as a group.
“For any of our members, or queer fans generally, who are travelling or attending games at the World Cup – we will not abandon you. We will continue to provide advice and support remotely, including key contacts should any issues arise. Further details will be sent to members before the tournament, and will be available to non-members through our email and social media on request.
“This is a tournament that had so much promise. Less than six months out from the tournament it only promises to line FIFA’s corrupt pockets whilst TV viewers see empty seats and exclude loyal fans whilst creating a real risk of numerous human rights violations based on disability, race, gender and sexuality.
“Today, and every day, Gianni Infantino should feel ashamed.”
Trans athletes are back in the news again and, as such, so are the myths some use to try to justify their exclusion from sports.
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding two cases that could determine the legality of laws banning trans students from sporting events on Tuesday (13 January).
Several claims based on myths around physical ability in sport were used to justify bans in Idaho and West Virginia.
Here are some of the most common arguments used to ban trans women in sports, and why they’re nonsense.
‘Teams are sex-segregated because boys are better at sports than girls’
A woman playing tennis. (Getty)
This is untrue for multiple reasons, and is rooted in underlying misogynistic perceptions of women that date back to the 1830s.
While recorded depictions of sex-segregated sports date as far back as Ancient Greece, women were seldom allowed to play sports in the 19th century because of misogynistic perceptions of them as inherently weak and helpless, according to Goal Five.
Eventually, upper-class women were allowed to play tennis and golf at local country clubs and, by the turn of the century, women gradually fought for their right to compete. By the time of the early 1900s, many regulators introduced women’s-only categories over complaints that they were “intruding” on male spaces.
Thus, sex-segregation became the norm in the sporting world and has since persisted partly due to tradition, but also to allow opportunities for both female and male athletes. Not because of “biological” advantages, but because of issues such as the gender pay gap.
Sex-segregated categories are also not innate. Many argue the practice is increasingly untenable, according to The Society Pages, and leads to further misogyny over who can and can’t compete in the women’s category, such as the controversy over Caster Semenya, who is a cisgender woman.
‘Transgender women are taking away opportunities for cisgender women’
There are two fundamental problems with this argument. The first is that there are virtually no trans women competitors who are at the top of their respective sports. The second is that trans women are women and, as such, deserve to compete as much as their cisgender competitors.
According to WorldAtlas, the five biggest sports by number of fans are football (soccer), cricket, hockey, tennis, and volleyball. Of those sports’ respective annual rankings, none have ever featured a trans woman.
The only people taking opportunities away from women are the national and international sports bodies that have implemented bans on trans competitors, many of which still insist they believe that trans women are women.
Football legend Gary Lineker himself deplored the rising number of bans in May 2025, describing trans people as “some of the most persecuted on the planet”.
‘Excluding trans women from women’s sports isn’t transphobic, it’s just a game after all’
Protestor holds up a sign in support of trans people playing sports. (Getty)
Puzzlingly, excluding trans women from women’s sports is one of the most commonplace anti-trans beliefs among the general public.
A YouGov poll from February 2025 found that 74 per cent of the UK public think trans women should be excluded from women’s sports, while 60 per cent feel the same way about trans men in men’s sports.
This viewpoint is likely so common because of a perception that sports are nothing more than unserious games detached from real life. That, in turn, makes the transphobia easier to digest because it isn’t viewed as ‘real’ transphobia.
The issue here is that sports are not detached from reality. Sporting is a $417 billion industry that has real sway over people’s perceptions of reality. Its influence is why riots are so common following major sporting events.
Sports are so influential, in fact, existing tension between El Salvador and Honduras turned into a brief war, known as The Football War, in 1969 after riots over the results of a 1970 FIFA World Cup qualifier. While the roots of the conflict ran much deeper, it contributed to the build-up of the war, which took place between 14-18 July 1969, hence its other name, the 100 Hour War.
Whether you’re a fan or not, it’s undeniable that sports have a huge influence over the world, from its culture to its politics. When trans people are denied the right to play, they are denied the right to participate in a major part of global society.
‘Trans women are injuring cis women during sporting events and are dangerous’
This claim is common among more anti-trans pundits and groups, many of whom are trying to demonise trans people across all walks of life.
The most notorious example used is volleyball player-turned anti-trans pundit, Payton McNabb, who was injured playing high school volleyball against a trans competitor in 2022. McNabb has since become an ambassador for the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF). The IWF have been accused of aggressively lobbying for trans-exclusionary policies.
According to a 2023 study, 214,000 female volleyball players aged 14 to 23 have been injured since 2012. Nowhere in the study does it say trans people are vastly responsible for these injuries.
There is no evidence whatsoever that suggests trans women are inherently more dangerous or prone to injuring someone than cis competitors. None at all.
‘Sports bans are okay because there aren’t that many trans athletes’
Trans rights activists outside the Supreme Court during its oral hearing on sports bans. (Getty)
This argument was used by solicitor Hashim Mooppan while speaking to the US Supreme Court on behalf of the Trump administration.
Mooppan argued that laws banning trans women from competing in women’s sports should be permissible because trans athletes represent a tiny fraction of student athletes.
A report from the National Collegiate Athletic Association found that, in 2024, there were fewer than 10 of the 550,000 student athletes nationwide are out as trans.
The issue with this argument is that it could be, and is, just as easily used to justify why trans people should be allowed to compete.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has used that argument to justify overturning trans sports bans, arguing that the sheer public scrutiny against trans athletes far outweighs any possible damage they could cause, if any at all.
‘Trans women have an inherent, unchangeable advantage over cisgender women in sports’
This is the big one – virtually every single justification for banning trans women from women’s sports purports that, because they are assigned male at birth (AMAB), they have an inherent advantage.
One major logical problem with this is the state of women’s sports right now. If trans athletes, who have the same level of training as their cis counterparts, have an underlying advantage, surely every top-rated woman in sport would be trans?
A 2024 study backed by the International Olympic Committee found that, conversely, trans women could be in many ways disadvantaged in sporting competitions due to changes induced by feminising hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
Endocrinologist Dr Joshua D Safer told the ACLU in 2020 that a person’s genetic make-up, such as their sex chromosomes, are not good indicators of athletic performance.
“There is no inherent reason why [a trans woman’s] physiological characteristics related to athletic performance should be treated differently from the physiological characteristics of a non-transgender woman.”
This argument’s misogynistic foundations are best displayed when trans women are banned from non-physical sports such as chess or snooker. In 2022, British Open snooker champion Maria Catalano claimed trans women should be banned from competitions because cisgender women’s brains are “wired differently”.
Brazilian tennis player João Lucas Reis da Silva is set to make history again, this time at the Australian Open.
Silva, who arrived in Melbourne this week, made history in late 2024 when he came out as gay by sharing a sweet snap of his partner Gui Sampaio Ricardo to celebrate his birthday.
The 25-year-old then became the first out gay tennis pro to compete in a Grand Slam event.
He is now set to continue making history by competing in the qualifying rounds of this year’s Australian Open as the first gay man to do so.
At the time of his coming out, Silva was ranked outside the Top 400 in the world. Since then, he has climbed more than 200 spots to a career-high ranking of No. 187 in the world, and in June last year he won his first ATP Challenger title in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In order to qualify for the Australian Open, Silva must win three matches to make the main draw. Even if he loses in the first round of qualifying, he will be paid at least Aus$40,500 (£20.2k/$27k).
Silva’s impact is undeniable, with Tony Hagen from the Gay Tennis Podcast telling QNews in August last year: “It marks a significant step towards greater LGBTQIA+ representation and acceptance.
“In men’s tennis, openly gay athletes have been extremely rare. His participation helps break down stigma and pushes the sport toward greater inclusivity and diversity.”
His openness has helped pave the way for other players to come out.
In December last year, Switzerland’s Mika Brunold came out as gay in a heartwarming message posted to Instagram.
He shared that he decided to share his statement with the world “to take a step for myself, but also because I think it’s not talked about enough in sports”.
Brunold added that in an “ideal world” no one would need to “come out at all”.
Glenn has been on an epic run. She won the same competition the previous year, becoming the first openly queer woman to win, and took home her first career Grand Prix Finale title at the end of 2024, recording the highest-ever score for an American woman in the short program.
It has been 20 years since an American woman has won an Olympic figure skating medal, but this 26-year-old LGBTQ+ athlete has the opportunity to change that at the Milano Games next month.
Glenn is poised to score a spot on her first Olympic team, which would make her the oldest U.S. Olympic women’s singles skater in nearly a century, and the first openly queer woman to make the U.S. figure skating team.
Glenn came out in 2019 in an interview with the Dallas Voice after she watched American ice dancer Karina Manta announce she is bisexual.
“I did not expect it to blow up in the way that it did,” she said. “But I’m grateful because they got my message out there. I was able to represent a lot of people that are in skating, especially queer women.”
A far-right political action committee says it has collected enough signatures to potentially get a trans sports ban onto Washington state’s ballot in November, and that ban would require girls to undergo physical examinations to participate in school sports.
As the Washington State Standard reports, Let’s Go Washington collected 445,187 signatures in support of Initiative Measure No. IL26-638, exceeding the 386,000 needed to advance the measure. The initiative would ban transgender girls from competing in girls’ school sports statewide.
IL26-638 interprets existing state law as requiring students “to undergo a routine physical examination prior to participation in interscholastic sports, which includes documentation of the student’s sex assigned at birth.” It would require school districts and nonprofit entities to “prohibit biologically male students from competing with and against female students in athletic activities with separate classifications for male and female students.”
Under the proposed measure, students who want to participate in girls’ sports would be required to provide “a health examination and consent form or other statement signed by the student’s personal health care provider that verifies the student’s biological sex, relying only on one or more of the following: The student’s reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels.”
As journalist Erin Reed notes in her newsletter Erin in the Morning, trans sports bans with similar requirements have been highly controversial, as they could potentially result in minors being subjected to invasive physical exams simply to participate in school sports.
Reed cites the failure last March of the so-called Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would have amended Title IX — the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in government-funded schools and education programs — to prohibit schools from allowing trans female athletes to participate in athletic programs or activities “designated for women or girls.” The Congressional Equality Caucus noted that the bill could have forced “any student to answer invasive personal questions about their bodies & face humiliating physical inspections to ‘prove’ that they’re a girl.”
Along with the signatures in support of IL26-638, Let’s Go Washington also submitted 416,201 signatures in support of a measure repealing changes to another of the PAC’s recent initiatives. The Let’s Go Washington-backed Initiative 2081, approved in 2024, codified the rights of the parents of public school students into law. As Reed notes, however, state lawmakers watered down provisions that would have reportedly mandated that schools out trans students to their parents.
According to Reed, Let’s Go Washington’s IL26-001 would restore language to the 2024 parental rights law that would effectively require the forced outing of trans students to their parents.
As the Washington State Standard reports, Let’s Go Washington submitted signatures in support of both measures to the Washington Secretary of State’s office on Friday. The Secretary of State’s office told the outlet that it may take up to four weeks to verify the signatures for the initiatives. Once verified, the initiatives will go before the state legislature, which can either approve them or reject them. If the state legislature rejects them, they will either appear on the November ballot on their own or alongside alternatives proposed by lawmakers.
Brian Heywood, the millionaire hedge fund manager and Republican megadonor who leads Let’s Go Washington, claimed that roughly half of the signatures the PAC had collected in support of the initiatives were from independent voters and Democrats. “This is not a partisan issue, this is a common sense issue,” Heywood said, according to the Standard. “This has broad support.”
However, in a statement issued by WA Families for Freedom, Gender Justice League board member Sophia Lee accused Let’s Go Washington of “playing political games with the lives of vulnerable trans and queer kids.”
Reed, meanwhile, notes that the trans sports ban is likely to face constitutional challenges should it become law. But it’s unclear whether the measure would succeed on the ballot. Reed notes that anti-trans messaging from Republicans last year coincided with significant GOP losses across the country in November’s off-year elections.
Sex verification testing is increasingly being proposed in sports policies, including by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to determine eligibility for female athletes in the 2026 Winter Games.
Sex testing has a problematic history as unreliable, expensive, invasive, and discriminatory, yet could be used to enforce bans that baselessly exclude transgender and intersex people at all levels of sport.
Facts:
Policies to exclude transgender and intersex people, and testing measures to enforce the policies, threaten the privacy and safety of all women and girls who want to play sports, including in the Olympics.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOC) decision to require testing of female athletes follows an inaccurate, discriminatory, and nonbinding executive orderfrom President Donald Trump targeting transgender people. In contrast to USOC’s early compliance, some sports governing bodies decided against sex verification testing, choosing instead to gather input and data to draft policy and design any implementation.
“Sex verification” can include invasive screenings of anatomy, chromosomes, and hormone levels. Results are not always clear, or conclusive. Science and medicine recognize there is a range of diversity in human biology and gender identity, and that diversity does not confer an automatic advantage in sports.
Testing may result in women discovering they are intersex, with variations in sex chromosomes and other characteristics. Such tests may publicly “out” a woman as intersex.
Intersex women are women with variations in their sex traits, including chromosomes, hormones, or reproductive anatomy. These may also be called Differences of Sex Development (DSD). An estimated 2% of the population has a variation in their sex traits, but the true figure is likely higher.
U.S. Olympic hopefuls were subjected to the “SRY” genetic test, but there is no one test that can determine someone’s sex. Women do not always have XX chromosomes. Some women do not have ovaries or a uterus, or hormones consistently within a specific range.
The scientist who discovered the SRY gene, which typically lives on the Y chromosome and is used for sex testing, stated that it should not be used for sex testing.
Testing results may baselessly block transgender and intersex women from participating, despite a lack of evidence that differences in sex characteristics or sex assigned at birth offers inherent advantage in sport, as already determined by the International Olympic Committee and its panels of medical experts.
Testing to exclude athletes based on hormone levels is unreliable, as hormones are highly individualized, and vary widely based on ethnic background, age, body type, menstrual cycles, even time of day. Up to 10% of people assigned female at birth have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), which often presents with higher testosterone levels.
Compulsory “sex testing” discriminates against women. A blood test or cheek swab, testing required only for women, adds a barrier to participation in sports not required of men.
Forced genetic testing invades the privacy of all women and girls. Women are mandated to disclose their personal genetic and medical information to governing bodies to play the sport they love. In states with bans, female students and their families may be forced to decide between enduring these invasive measures, or giving up their sport.
Bans and efforts to enforce bans, at all levels of sport, do not remedy inequality and inequity in sports. There are far more impactful, widespread, and proven challenges for women and girls in sports including inequitable access to facilities, pay, and marketing; lack of quality coaching; and harassment and abuse from coaches and fans.
Photo by Augustin Authamayou/NordicFocus/Getty Images
Additional Facts about the Olympics, Transgender People, and Sex Testing:
Out of 200,000 Olympians who have qualified for the Games since transgender people were formally included in IOC policy starting in 2004, only one was an out transgender woman.
False allegations were made at the 2024 Paris Games by a discredited governing body against Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who is cisgender (not transgender) and has never said she is intersex. Sex testing policies encourage suspicion of women due to their appearance or competence in sport. This can result in gender speculation and harassment, primarily targeted at women of color.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) ended sex verification in 1999.
Sex testing in the Olympics dates back to the 1930s, and included genital inspections by male doctors in public groups through the 1960s. Sex testing continued through the 1990s, and now includes forced genetic testing and medical exams, invoked via widespread mandates or targeted based on speculation about a particular woman.
IOC guidelines released in 2021 and created in consultation with medical, athletic and human rights professionals, state there should be “NO PRESUMED ADVANTAGE BASED ON SEX ASSIGNED AT BIRTH OR SEX CHARACTERISTICS.”
The IOC’s 2021 guidelines also removed testosterone level requirements and mandates for medical intervention for intersex athletes, leaving eligibility decisions to each sport’s international governing body. In November 2025, the new IOC president indicated she intends to restrict participation in women’s sports for transgender and intersex women.
Sex verification testing now being required of U.S. Olympic hopefuls costs at least $250 per athlete and takes time away from training, adding more barriers to equity and success for women athletes.
Testing and evaluations to allow participation of younger athletes in states with bans against trans youth cost families, schools, and leagues anywhere from $1,000 to $15,000+ per athlete.
Additional History of Discriminatory and Racist Targeting
Historically, intersex women around the world have been targeted by sports bodies and governments under harmful and unscientific sex verification policies. Policies have been enforced via widespread mandates or targeted individual women based on speculation about her sex.
Under these policies, women with intersex traits—often Black and Brown women from the global South—have been subjected to invasive tests and examinations, public humiliation, and harassment.
Women in sports with known variations in their sex traits have been forced to alter their bodies to be allowed to play, such as Caster Semenya, who said she “went through hell” as her health declined when she was forced to alter her body’s hormones.
International Sports Federations have often established the prevailing worldwide eligibility standards for their respective sports. In September, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) and World Athletics (IAAF) both mandated chromosome testing—a discriminatory policy that targets all women, and can ban or “out” transgender and intersex women. Other federations, including World Aquatics, World Boxing, and World Rugby, have introduced similar discriminatory restrictions.
The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) implemented a new restrictive policy in July 2025, telling its national governing bodies to comply with the executive order from President Trump to prevent transgender and intersex women from competing in sports. It’s not yet clear how USOPC’s directive will be applied by many of the US governing bodies of sport—but USOPC’s haste to preemptively apply testing rules proposed by FISsuggests that exclusionary policies may be widely in place by the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Summary
All women and girls have the right to participate in athletics, including those born with variations in their sex traits. Blanket bans and exclusions are often based on unscientific and inaccurate bias about sex traits conferring advantage.
Rather than “protecting women,” policies that ban or discriminate against transgender people, and the testing to enforce the policies, threaten all women and girls with invasive and unsafe evaluations. These policies and testing requirements also spread discriminatory and oppressive beliefs about women and girls’ bodies and abilities.
Sex testing harms all women by violating their privacy and outing their private medical information. They give up their privacy while governing bodies dictate if they are “woman enough” to play women’s sports.
All women should be allowed to compete in the sport they love, free from invasive sex testing, restrictions, discrimination, and forced changes to their own bodies.
Success in sports, especially at elite levels, is a result of a multitude of factors well beyond the composition of an athlete’s body, genetic makeup, sex assigned at birth, or gender identity. Factors proven to contribute to success:
Exposure, access, and encouragement of sports without limits based on gender, sex, or ability;
Equitable access to programs and facilities;
Higher family income, and ability of family to be available and involved in a child’s athletic participation and development;
Access to quality coaches, teachers, and programs;
Community-supported participation, skills development, safe competition, and updated facilities to serve all;
Support for each athlete’s personal drive, discipline, and heart.
Egypt and Iran, two Middle East nations that target gays and lesbians, have complained to FIFA over a World Cup soccer match in Seattle that is planned to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride.
Leaders in the nation’s soccer federations publicly rebuked the idea of playing the match June 26 at Seattle Stadium, which local organizers say will include a “once-in-a-lifetime moment to showcase and celebrate LGBTQIA+ communities in Washington.”
In Egypt, the soccer federation issued a statement late Tuesday saying it sent a letter to FIFA “categorically rejecting any activities related to supporting homosexuality during the match.”
Seattle PrideFest has been organized in the city since 2007 by a nonprofit group that designated the June 26 game for celebration before FIFA made the World Cup draw Friday.
FIFA chose Saturday to allocate the Egypt-Iran game to Seattle instead of Vancouver, where the teams’ group rivals Belgium and New Zealand will play at the same time.
Already, organizers in Seattle have promoted an art contest for the game, including one entry of a rainbow-flagged sun rising over Mount Rainier as a crab goalie goes for a soccer ball while holding a cup of coffee in its pinchers.
“With matches on Juneteenth and pride, we get to show the world that in Seattle, everyone is welcome,” Seattle’s Mayor-elect Kate Wilson wrote on social media. “What an incredible honor!”
FIFA controls only stadiums and official fan zones in World Cup host cities and should have no formal authority over community events like Seattle PrideFest.
FIFA declined comment Tuesday to the Associated Press, and did not address a question if it would consider switching the Belgium-New Zealand game to Seattle.
Angry response in Iran, Egypt
In Iran, where gays and lesbians can face the death penalty, the president of Iran’s Football Federation, Mehdi Taj, criticized scheduling the match during an interview aired on state television late Monday.
Taj said Iran would bring up the issue during a FIFA Council meeting in Qatar next week. The longest-serving member of the 37-person council chaired by FIFA President Gianni Infantino is Egypt’s Hany Abo Rida.
“Both Egypt and we have objected, because this is an unreasonable and illogical move that essentially signals support for a particular group, and we must definitely address this point,” Taj said. State TV on Tuesday confirmed a complaint would be sent to FIFA.
The Egypt soccer federation led by Ado Rida said of the pride celebration it “completely rejects such activities, which directly contradict the cultural, religious and social values in the region, especially in Arab and Islamic societies.”
It urged FIFA to stop the celebration to “avoid activities that may trigger cultural and religious sensitivity between the presented spectators of both countries, Egypt and Iran, especially as such activities contradict the cultures and religions of the two countries.”
Iran had threatened to boycott the World Cup draw in Washington, D.C., over complaints about five of its nine-person delegation, including Taj, not getting visas to enter the United States.
Iranians are subject to a travel ban imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration and the U.S. in the past has denied visas for those with ties to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, like Taj. Iran ended up sending a smaller delegation including the team’s coach.
Tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington over Iran’s nuclear program, particularly after American warplanes bombed atomic sites in the country during Israel’s 12-day war with the Islamic Republic in June. Unlike the 2022 World Cup, however, Iran is not scheduled to play the United States in the World Cup’s opening matches.
Seattle’s response
Asked about the complaint Wednesday, Seattle’s organizing committee said it was “moving forward as planned with our community programming outside the stadium during Pride weekend and throughout the tournament.”
“The Pacific Northwest is home to one of the nation’s largest Iranian-American communities, a thriving Egyptian diaspora and rich communities representing all nations we’re hosting in Seattle,” spokesperson Hana Tadesse said in a statement. “We’re committed to ensuring all residents and visitors experience the warmth, respect and dignity that defines our region.”
Iran, Egypt target LGBTQ+ community
For years, Egyptian police have targeted gays and lesbians, sparking warnings even from the app Grindr in the past. Though Egypt technically does not outlaw homosexuality, authorities frequently prosecute members of the LGBTQ+ community on the grounds of “debauchery,” or “violating public decency.”
Iran also has targeted the LGBTQ community and its theocracy is believed to have executed thousands of people for their sexuality since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Hard-line former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once famously went as far as to claim during a 2007 visit to the United States: “We don’t have homosexuals like in your country.” A crowd at Columbia University responded by laughing and heckling the leader.
FIFA dilemma
FIFA risks being accused of a double standard if it sides with World Cup teams’ federations over the city of Seattle.
At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA fiercely defended the right of the host nation’s cultural norms to be respected in full by visiting teams.
A group of European federations wanted their team captains to wear a “One Love” armband with some rainbow colors that symbolized human rights and diversity, which FIFA and Qatari officials viewed in part as criticism of the emirate criminalizing same-sex relations. Some Wales fans had rainbow hats removedbefore entering the stadium.
Qatar also will play in Seattle at the World Cup on June 24 against a European opponent, which could be Italy or Wales.
The CEO of an anti-trans clothing company is trying to bribe professional women’s soccer players into speaking out against trans athletes – but none of them are taking her up on it.
Jennifer Sey, a retired artistic gymnast who won the 1986 National Gymnastics Championship, runs the anti-trans clothing company XX-XY Athletics, which donates money from each purchase to organizations fighting against trans inclusion in sports.
Sey regularly spouts anti-trans rhetoric on social media and recently wrote that she’d give $10,000 to the next player in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) “to stand up in defense of keeping women’s soccer female.”
“A full-throated defense,” she emphasized. “A press conference. Nothing mealy-mouthed.”
Her offer aimed to build on an anti-trans New York Postessay by NWSL player Elizabeth Eddy in the wake of her team, the Angel City Football Club, signing an intersex player. Eddy claimed to be fighting for the “integrity of women’s sports.” In other words, she was arguing to exclude trans and intersex players from women’s leagues.
After Sey’s post, others offered to add money to the pot. Two anonymous people added $5,000, and Clay Travis – founder of the anti-LGBTQ+ sports site Outkick – offered $15,000, bringing the total to $35,000.
But according to Out, not a single player has taken Sey up on her offer. What’s more, there are reportedly no trans players currently in the league.
In fact, after Eddy published her essay, Angel City captain Sarah Gorden and vice captain Angelina Anderson spoke out in support of trans athletes.
“That article does not speak for this team and this locker room,” Gorden said during an October 30 press conference.
She said her teammates were “hurt,” “harmed,” and “disgusted” by Eddy’s words.
“We don’t agree with the things written, for a plethora of reasons, but mostly the undertones come across as transphobic and racist as well.” (The essay used a photo of cisgender woman player Barbra Banda, who is from Zambia.)
Anderson added that Angel City “is a place for everyone” and that Los Angeles is “a place that was founded upon inclusivity and love for all people.”
Sey, on the other hand, appeared on Fox News after Eddy published her essay to claim that there are “several males” in the NWSL. She then claimed Banda, who plays for the Orlando Pride, is a man.
The NWSL does not have a formal policy when it comes to gender eligibility, which has earned the league criticism from folks on all sides of the debate.
“You have to take a stance,” sports writer Julie Kliegman told The Athletic. “It has to be clear, it has to be transparent, and it has to be inclusive. Otherwise, this neutral ground isn’t really so neutral, because it’s leaving room for players like Eddy to steer the conversation.”
Perth has won the 2030 Gay Games, an event that is set to bring thousands of people to city to participate in sport, cultural and community events. The announcement was made in Valencia Spain, the city that will host the 2026 games.
The final choice was between Denver, Colorado and Perth, but the process began with 25 cities across five continents bidding for the event. Unlike the Olympics, there is no qualifying round, those who are willing to make the trip to the host city and take part are welcomed, and there is no requirement to disclose your sexuality.
Since its initial set up in San Franciso, which hosted the inaugural event in 1982 and the follow up in 1986, the event has been held in many cities. The 2026 Gay Games will be held in Valencia, Spain from 27th June until 4th July.
