Manchester United receives more than 43,000 homophobic comments after supporting Rainbow Laces campaign
Other Premier League clubs such as Arsenal and Chelsea also received comments
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
Manchester United received more than 43,000 homophobic comments after supporting Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign.
The campaign sees sports teams don rainbow laces, armbands or rainbow attire to raises inclusivity for the LGBT community in sports.
Although the majority of people have supported various team’s decision to support the LGBT campaign, Premier League football teams have faced backlash on social media.
The Guardian reported Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United have received homophobic comments on social media.
On the Manchester United official Facebook page, many wrote ‘Says No to LGBT’, ‘God created Adam and Eve not Adam and Lukaku’, ‘Gaychester United’, and ‘football is a healthy sport. lgbt lifestyle will make the situation unhealthy’.
Kirsty Clarke, Stonewall’s director of sport, said: “This year’s campaign is about giving people confidence to be active allies and show their visible support for LGBT people, either on or off the pitch.
“It’s been heartening to see that allyship in action, particularly on social media, where we’ve seen countless messages from people who aren’t LGBT calling out abuse from fellow fans and highlighting why their attitudes have no place in sport.”
A spokesperson for Arsenal added: “We are very proud to be supporting the Rainbow Laces campaign and do a great deal of work to promote equality across all levels of the game.
“As Facebook is the platform where these views are being shared, we are ensuring that all of our Arsenal for Everyone initiatives and messages, plus ways to report anti-LGBT language on a match day, are posted via this platform.”