UK Sport and Equalities Minister who is gay defends Qatar visit for World Cup
Exclusive: In an interview with Attitude Stuart Andrew MP says it's been a "deeply personal journey" to decide to go to Qatar.
The UK Government minister, Stuart Andrew, has defended his decision to fly out to Qatar to attend the FIFA World Cup.
Andrew, who identifies as gay, works as a Minister for Sport, Tourism, Youth, and Civil Society. In October he added Minister for Equalities to his brief. He is also the Conservative MP for Pudsey.
It’s nothing out of the ordinary for ministers to attend international events to show support for the home teams and the event as a whole. However, this World Cup has come with no shortage of drama with a lot of coverage focusing on Qatar’s human and LGBTQ rights record.
Homosexuality is illegal in the Middle-Eastern country and can be punished with lengthy jail sentences and under Sharia Law, the death penalty.
“A unique position that I shouldn’t squander”
Stuart Andrew – Minister for Equalities
In an exclusive sit-down interview in Westminster with Attitude before flying out to attend the England-Wales game today (29 November) the minister explained how he had come to the decision to visit Qatar and the “deeply personal journey” he’d been on.
“As a gay man, and as Equalities Minister, that does give me a unique position that I shouldn’t squander, and ensure that the reassurances that I’ve been given that everyone is welcome are actually being delivered on the ground and seeing it firsthand is going to be very important to me.”
The majority of his visit, he stressed, will revolve around the experiences fans are having and engaging with fans. This comes in the wake of numerous reports in the first week of the tournament with fans having rainbow or Pride clothing and accessories taken off them or encountering issues with security because of them.
One such example saw the former Wales women’s football captain, Laura McAllister, being told she could not wear a rainbow bucket hat for Wales’ first game against the USA.
Asked what he would say to people criticising him for going at all, Andrew defended his decision, adding that it has not been made lightly.
“I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I have thought about the criticisms that might be levelled at me. However, I’ve been fighting for equality for myself as a gay man for nearly 35-40 years. My experience is that you achieve that by direct dialogue. That is what actually makes a difference,” he told Attitude.
He shared that he has had “frank discussions” (which he also says he’s not afraid to have if he does hear of issues while he’s in Qatar) with Qatari ambassadors and has been given “cast iron guarantees” that all fans are welcome. Andrew is also hoping to articulate to Qataris the hurt and upset this World Cup has caused LGBTQ fans, having spoken to fans here himself.
Andrew’s colleague, Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly said last week that Qatar had taken “real steps” to protect fans. He also said that he’d had “difficult conversations” with his Qatari counterparts about gay rights “over a number of years,” in preparation for the event.
Andrew said he accepts his experience as a UK government minister being hosted by a foreign country will be different from that of an average fan when it is put to him. But he insists, “I’m trying my best to have that experience. I have been very clear that the programme, I want as much engagement with the fans as possible, I want to see for myself the arrangements that have been put in place.”
And should the assurances he’s been given ahead of the tournament about fans’ safety not be in place, Andrew told us, “I will instantly be raising that with the Qataris and I’ll instantly raise that with football authorities,” and that he will be asking “very challenging questions.”
Moving on to FIFA’s handling of the event, Andrew admitted to being disappointed in how it has come together, referencing FIFA threatening to book players wearing a One Love armband in solidarity with the LGBTQ community.
“I think the way that they have, at the very last minute, told the English and Welsh teams and other teams that they cannot wear the [One Love] armband is outrageous,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fair to put those teams in that very difficult position. I pay tribute to those teams for wanting to do it. And I sympathise with the position that they’ve been put in at the 11th hour.”
“I would say to FIFA that they’ve been saying probably a week or two ago, concentrate on the football, don’t do the politics,” he continued, before referencing comments made by FIFA president Gianni Infantino. “Then they say: ‘Today I am gay, I’m Qatari today I’m a migrant worker’, but yet then dictate what sorts of bands those teams can wear, that doesn’t marry up. You’ve got to match your rhetoric with action.”
Asked if he thinks the teams should have worn the One Love armbands anyway as a marker of their stance on inclusivity, Andrew said he isn’t going to be critical of anyone for not doing that, instead pointing to the German team who were able to mark their support in alternative ways. “I think FIFA may have thought that this might make the issue go away. Do you know what? They’ve given it more attention.”
He also confirmed that he will be wearing a One Love armband at the England-Wales game.
Looking ahead to the next World Cup, set to take place in the United States, Canada, and Mexico in 2026, Andrew said he hopes to bring like-minded nations together to ensure the event is truly accepting of everyone.
“One of the things I will certainly be doing is encouraging my counterparts to meet with their country’s football associations, to see how they keep the pressure up as members of FIFA, to ensure that this sort of situation doesn’t happen again. That the World Cup, wherever it’s hosted, is one that’s open to everybody.
“That’s why I think the thing I take away from this is not letting that spotlight go out. I know that people might be unhappy with me going, but my view is when you see an opportunity like this, and we’ve got that spotlight shining on it, there’s a responsibility on all of us to make that continue to shine on these issues. And I hope that we can get ourselves into a much better position than this and never be in this position again.”