A Qatar World Cup ambassador has told German television broadcaster ZDF that homosexuality was “damage in the mind”, as the Gulf state prepares to host the global tournament in less than two weeks.
In an interview filmed in Doha and to be screened later on Tuesday, former Qatari international Khalid Salman addressed the issue of homosexuality, which is illegal in the conservative Muslim country.
Some soccer players have raised concerns over the rights of fans travelling to the event, especially LGBT+ individuals and women, whom rights groups say Qatari laws discriminate against. The country expects more than one million visitors for the World Cup.
“They have to accept our rules here,” Salman said, in an excerpt of the interview. “(Homosexuality) is haram. You know what haram (forbidden) means?,” he said. When asked why it was haram, Salman said: “I am not a strict Muslim but why is it haram? Because it is damage in the mind.”
The interview was then immediately stopped by an accompanying official. Qatar’s World Cup organisers, when contacted by Reuters, declined to comment. World soccer’s ruling body FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.
Organisers have repeatedly said everyone was welcome in Qatar during the World Cup. Qatar is the first Middle Eastern country to host the World Cup but the small nation has come under intense pressure in recent years for its treatment of foreign workers and restrictive social laws. The country’s human rights record has led to calls for teams and officials to boycott the Nov. 20-Dec. 18 tournament.
Ugandan officials have banned a prominent LGBT rights group in a major setback for the community there.
Sexual Minorities Uganda (Smug) has been ordered to shut down with “immediate effect” for not registering properly with authorities.
The campaign group decried the order as a “clear witch hunt” by the government against LGBT Ugandans.
Sexual minorities face widespread persecution in Uganda, where anti-gay and transphobic views are common.
Gay relationships are illegal in Uganda, where they can be punished by up to life in prison for committing “unnatural offences.”
Official police data shows that 194 people were charged with the offence between 2017 and 2020, including 25 who went on to be convicted.
“This is a clear witch hunt rooted in systematic homophobia, fuelled by anti-gay and anti-gender movements,” said Smug’s director Frank Mugisha, who is a gay Ugandan activist.
He accused authorities of treating members of Uganda’s LGBT minority as second-class citizens and trying to erase their existence completely.
On Friday Ugandan officials announced they were halting Smug’s operations because the campaign group, founded in 2004, had failed to register its name with the National Bureau for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) properly.
It is the same reason given last year when dozens of civil society groups – including pro-democracy organisations – were also banned by Ugandan authorities.
This time officials say that the issue stems from Smug’s name itself – Sexual Minorities Uganda.
In a statement, the NGO Bureau acknowledged that Smug had attempted to register with authorities in 2012, but that the application had been rejected because Smug’s full name was considered “undesirable.”
President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in office since 1986, has made homophobic comments in the past – including in a 2016 CNN interview when he called gay people “disgusting.”
Although there are no laws specifically criminalising being transgender in Uganda, trans people are regularly prosecuted for other offences including “personation” (false representation), according to reports compiled by rights organisations.
Since its establishment almost two decades ago, Smug has campaigned for the rights of LGBT people in Uganda by promoting access to health services and supporting members of the LGBT community to live openly.
It has also taken legal action to protect gay people from hostility, including in 2010 when it successfully petitioned a Ugandan judge to order a newspaper to stop publishing the names and photographs of gay Ugandan men under the headline “hang them”.
The group said several of its members had been attacked or harassed as a result of the article – including one woman who was almost killed when her neighbours began throwing stones at her house.
At the time, Ugandan politicians were preparing to debate whether or not to introduce the death penalty for same-sex relationships – a legislative amendment that attracted widespread international condemnation before eventually being dropped.
More recently, Smug has vocally criticised anti-gay speeches delivered by Ugandan politicians – including in the run-up to national elections in 2021.
“The politicians are using the LGBT community as a scapegoat to gain support and win votes and it is fuelling homophobia,” Smug’s director Frank Mugisha told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Our campaign ''Pride - Embrancing diversity-LGBTQ in Angola'' came to an end!
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the latest webisode of our show!
This analysis focused on whether people around Angola think that homosexuality should be accepted by society or not. The full question wording was, “Angola has decriminalized homosexuality. What's your opinion?
Today we have a very special guest, she/he belongs to the LGBTQ community in Angola.
My name is Euclides Manuel, I belong to the LGBTQ community.
Can you tell us what your daily life has been like? How do people view you in society?
Thank God my days has been more or less, some people accept me and others don't. But I try to appease so there are no quarrels.
In this way, I ask that people respect me, that people have more love and more empathy for the LGBTQ community.
We are also human and we are people just like you and our right is also the same as yours.
So have more love and more passion for us.
It's all we want.
Thanks!
We interviewed several people of different genders and ages, and carefully analyzed each one's point of view. Very few people say that society should accept homosexuality; specifically 98% of them categorically do not accept homosexuality, other 2% who support the inclusion of the LGBTQ community in society are people who apparently are not rigorous practitioners of religion.
For example, this woman who preferred to speak anonymously was very satisfied with the decision of the Angolan government, for having decriminalized homosexuality in our society.
Hi!
What did Angola do?
Angola has decriminalized homosexuality. What is your point of view?
Well, for me this is even better, it's good.
So, do you agree with the government's decision?
Yeah, if they decided like that, who are we to say no?
This research was enough to realize that there are no significant differences between the opinion of men and women in the capital of Angola. However, of the 6 people interviewed (except the LGBTQ representative), there was a significant difference, women were more likely to approve of homosexuality than men.
We spoke with 6 ordinary citizens 3 female and 3 male, the study shows the largest divide, with 90% of 2 females saying homosexuality should be accepted by society against 10% of a female who does not accept homosexuality. In the case of boys, 100% of them categorically do not accept homosexuality and they are based on very strict biblical principles.
Religion, both as it relates to the relative importance in people’s lives and actual religious affiliation, also plays a large role in perceptions of the acceptability of homosexuality in many societies across the globe.
In our case study, those who say religion is “somewhat,” “not too” or “not at all” important in their lives are more likely to say that homosexuality should be accepted than those who say religion is “very” important.
Despite major changes in laws and norms surrounding the issue of same-sex marriage and the rights of LGBT people around the world, public opinion on the acceptance of homosexuality in society remains sharply divided by country, region and economic development.
Our campaign came to an end, collecting very important interviews. The end of the program is not the end of the movement, thanks to all who believes and supports our initiative.
Please click the links below to watch all the webisodes.
We stand for inclusivity. We believe that everyone has the right to a safe and welcoming environment in our society.
Harassment includes but is not limited to offensive verbal or written comments related to gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, social class, economic status, veteran status, sexual images, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.
Summary: Be respectful. Harassment and abuse are never tolerated.
The SDGs have a guiding principle that “no one will be left behind” and a commitment to prioritizing the poorest and most marginalized. The African Union’s Agenda 2063 has similar commitments to including and prioritizing the poorest and most marginalized in development efforts. There is wide-spread evidence that sexual and gender minorities are often among the most socially, politically and economically marginalized populations and thus require specific consideration and targeted inclusion to realize the vision of the SDGs.
We have zero-tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.
Welcome to the penultimate webisode of this edition!
Despite the fact that people in the LGBT community are fighting for equal rights and acceptance and, looking at all the interviews we have already done, it is possible to perceive that Christians categorically do not accept the existence of LGBTQ people in our society.
Angola has decriminalized homosexuality. What's your opinion?
Discrimination is still present in Angola, where LGBT+ people often face rejection from their families and forced opposite-sex marriages. LGBT continues to be a contentious matter for several major religions of the world. Many members of the LGBT+ community have been discriminated against directly by the Church.
The original teachings of all churches prohibit sodomy. They condemn homosexual activity as sinful.
We have zero-tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.
Despite major changes in laws and norms surrounding the issue of same-sex marriage and the rights of LGBT people around the world, public opinion on the acceptance of homosexuality in society remains sharply divided by country, region and economic development.
Angola has decriminalized homosexuality. What's your opinion?
Good morning ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome everyone to the third day of our program. Today’s debate is a very interesting one, we have a man who not only rejects the LGBT community but also opposes the new government law that decriminalizes homosexuality.
According to the interview, we can conclude that religion, both as it relates to relative importance in people’s lives and actual religious affiliation, also plays a large role in perceptions of the acceptability of homosexuality in many societies across the globe.
We have zero-tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.
Angola has decriminalized homosexuality. What's your opinion?
Good evening ladies and gentlemen,
You're welcome to the second day of our program!
Today we have a lady who categorically does not agree with the inclusion of LGBT people in Angola.
We have zero-tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.
The webisodes are being released on this platform:
Angola has decriminalized homosexuality. What's your opinion?
Ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to our new campaign "Embrancing Diversity - LGBTQ in Angola"!
We are happy to launch this program, alluding to the LGBT Pride Month celebrated in June.
The main heroes of our program are the most ordinary citizens of different ages and regions. These people will share with us how they view the LGBTQ community in the country.
Angola has decriminalized homosexuality — 133 years after the passage banning same-sex relations was included in the country's penal code when the southwest African nation was still a Portuguese colony. The so-called "vices against nature" provision in its law could send same-sex couples to prison.
Angola is a religious country, Christianity in Angola has existed since 1491. Today 80% of Angolans practice some form of Christianity. Christians have the Holy Bible as their guide to eternal life. Those Christians who oppose same-sex marriage saying it goes against the biblical conception of marriage and sexuality, they base themselves on the book of Leviticus as one of the books that speaks against homosexuality in the bible: “Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin. Leviticus 18:22 — The New King James Version (NKJV).
Interviews. What is the public's opinion? Agree or disagree?
Today we have two guests of completely different age, sex and opinion.
What is the opinion of this 67 year old man?
Good afternoon!
Good afternoon.
Please, can you tell us your age?
I am 67 years old.
Angola has decriminalized homosexuality. Do you agree or disagree?
I do not agree.
Why?
Because it's always nice to have a girlfriend.
Why exactly?
Because man with man doesn't work. It has to be just a woman with a man.
This 15-year-old girl thinks completely different
Good afternoon girl!
Good afternoon.
What is your name?
My name is Edvania.
How old are you?
I'm 15 years old.
What do you think of homosexuality in Angola?
Honestly speaking I think this is normal. A man liking another man like him... I can't explain.
But for me it's something basic that can happen from one day to the next (overnight).
So, do you agree with the new government law?
Yes I agree.
We promote equal rights for all. It doesn't matter who you are or who you love. Through our #EmbrancingDiversity program, we work for the inclusion and non-discrimination of LGBTIQ+ people in Angola.
We have zero-tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.
The next webisodes will be released on this platform:
Hey I am an inspiring, influential person raising global awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals and the need for accelerated action. I use my unique global platforms to raise ambition around the SDGs and reach the most vulnerable first.
We celebrate next generation leader Sofonie Dala from Angola, for starting raising awareness about issues around consumerism and over-consumption and the sustainability of lifestyles. Her work built on a culture of smart strategic thinking and creative innovation, inspires and guides youth action for both individual and systems change that enables sustainable lifestyles.
She intends to create a community cooperative with a sustainable activity model that empowers women living below the poverty line.
Sofonie Dala has a big passion for women and girls education in Africa. She wants to ensure all girls have access to a quality and safe education by dismantling the barriers imposed by Covid-19, poverty, teen-pregnancy, child marriage, discrimination, racism and gender inequality.
Moreover, since 2020 she became an inspiring, influential person raising global awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals and the need for accelerated action. She uses her unique global platforms to raise ambition around the SDGs and reach the most vulnerable first.
Dala is starting to come around to the idea that we need to become more sustainable to protect the Earth for future generations.
What makes her unique? She knows her target 🎯 market and speaks their language.
Sofonie Dala is not only the founder of the Startup Multi Talents, she is also a multi-skilled expert that has mastered and developed a large series of projects and campaigns covering about 10 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, with successful assignments in Angola.
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