Imagine if FIFA finally grew a backbone!
Over the past few days, Egypt and Iran have filed complaints to FIFA because Seattle plans to include long-scheduled LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations at the same time as a World Cup match. Seattle organizers have already confirme that the programming will proceed, and FIFA has responded with silence. Silence is not neutrality but an active choice to avoid leadership.
There is a vast difference between asking participants to respect the norms of a host nation and participants demanding that host nations pander to their exotically homicidal discriminatory or autocratic views.
In Iran, LGBTQ people live under some of the harshest legal penalties in the world. Same-sex intimacy is criminalized under the Islamic penal code and can result in imprisonment, flogging, or even the death penalty. There are no anti-discrimination protections, no recognition of gender diversity, and no meaningful safeguards against harassment or state violence. LGBTQ Iranians live under constant threat, and many are targeted simply for existing.
Egypt relies on broad “morality” and “debauchery” laws to persecute LGBTQ people, using surveillance, arrests, and entrapment to police identity and behaviour. People are imprisoned for suspected same-sex relationships, for online activity, or for expressing gender in ways that defy rigid norms. There are no protections in housing, employment, or public life, and transgender Egyptians face barriers to medical care and legal recognition. Both Iran and Egypt treat LGBTQ people as criminals instead of human beings deserving dignity and safety.
These are the countries whining that it is possible that the LGBTQ community might exist within their gaze.
My answer to them is short: Who asked you for your opinion?
No country should be expected to adopt the “exotic” practices of states that persecute identities, restrict basic freedoms, or excuse oppression and political repression under the guise of archaic values.
Respecting local norms is reasonable and wise, and demanding that democratic societies compromise our own human rights standards because the bigots are visiting is not.
FIFA claims to champion values such as respect, unity, and fair play. Yet we have seen again and again, that these commitments evaporate when governments with repressive laws complain. We saw it in Qatar in 2022 when even symbolic shows of support for inclusion were suppressed. Now, in 2025, we are watching the same pattern as regimes that persecute LGBTQ+ people try to dictate what a host city is allowed to celebrate.
It seems worth remembering that athletes from Iran, Egypt, and similar countries will be safe when they play in Seattle or Vancouver, but LGBTQ+ people in these countries do not enjoy that same safety. That contrast alone explains why visibility matters.
Pride celebrations are not a provocation, and the Pride calendar is well established. They are a recognition of real people whose rights are routinely undermined or denied.
If FIFA can not withstand the withering gaze of angry homophobes or transphobes, they might consider holding their sports games in their own facilities or moving their game to a date that suites all stakeholders.
Host cities like Seattle and Vancouver invest heavily to welcome the world, and that includes numerous events, planned years in advance, that matter significantly more to residents than $1000-a-seat qualifying round soccer games.
Our cities do all this as pluralistic communities that protect freedom of expression, faith, culture, and queerness.
These values do not and should never disappear simply because some visiting sports team represents a country whose government clings to outdated perceptions to hold on to power.
This is why it is long overdue for FIFA to show at least a modest approximation of best practice.
It is also time for participant nations to get a grip and stop complaining that the rest of the world refuses to hate the people they have chosen to oppress.
The world is watching. So are the people whose safety depends on institutions that claim to uphold fairness and dignity. It would be such a disappointment for Seattle or Vancouver to back down, or for FIFA not to finally grow a backbone.
Morgane Oger 
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