EuroPrideHouse opened in the fanzone in Paris

Raising awareness on homophobia in football

Paris, 11. June 2016. One day after the opening of UEFA EURO 2016 the fight against homophobia was highlighted in the Paris Pavillon. The city of Paris hosted the launch of the Euro Pride House 2016 which will take place from 10th June to 10th July. In this period different activities will take place across France to tackle homophobia in football, make LGBTIQs visible and support the creation of an inclusive football and fan culture where respect is celebrated.

What is a Pride House?

The FSGL and EGLSF are proud to be hosting a mobile Euro Pride House in France during the 2016 UEFA European Football Championships this summer. “Homophobia, prejudices and violence against the LGBTIQ community is still one of the main untackled problems in European football. With the Queering Football project we want to raise awareness for wider recognition of homophobia as a problem.” John Ryan from the European Gay & Lesbian Federation, one of the speakers at the opening.

Euro Pride House will play host to a range of sports, cultural and arts events, which share as a common theme our vision of breaking down the social and personal barriers, that discourage LGBTIQ people across Europe from participating and supporting football. A Pride House is a venue to welcome LGBTIQ athletes, fans, and others and their allies during international sporting events. Akin to the various national houses at such events, they would be welcoming places to view the competitions, to enjoy the event and to learn about LGBTIQ sport and homophobia in sport.

The Euro Pride House-activities

The FSGL will be organizing events in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Nice to raise awareness for the fight against homophobia in sport, and particular football.” Cyril Millet, FSGL. The next Pride House activity will be a conference in Lyon University on June 15th and 16th, the closing of the Euro Pride House will take place on Sunday 10th July with guests from Russia who will host the next Pride House during Worldcup 2018.

Check out the whole program on www.facebook.com/EuroPrideHouse.

These events will be co-ordinated on the ground by the Fédération Sportive Gaie et Lesbienne (FSGL) with the help of its member clubs – Football Club Paris Arc-En-Ciel, Panamboyz United, Nice Front Runners, GAIS Nice, Centre LGBT Nice, MUST and Cargo.

Beneath this also a lot of anti-discriminatory fan activities will take place in the framework of the Respect Fanculture initiative of the network Football Supporters Europe (FSE). Watch out the activities on: www.facebook.com/FSE.AllColoursAreBeautiful.

About Queering Football

All these activities are part of the project “Queering Football TACKLING HOMOPHOBIA AND PROMOTING ANTI-DISCRIMINATION AROUND MAJOR SPORT EVENTS” co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Sports program and coordinated by fairplay-VIDC, an anti-discrimination initiative based in Vienna.

The project aims at using the UEFA EURO 2016 in France as a pan-European communication platform to tackle discrimination and hatred. The anti-homophobia measures in France will serve as an example for upcoming major sport events to ensure that questions of inclusion, equality and minority rights are on the agenda. Hence, anti-discrimination activities should be a precondition if a country/city is going to host a major sport event. One main output of Queering Football is a handbook on fundamental rights and anti-discrimination standards in the context of mega sport events.

Find out more about the project on www.queeringfootball.org and www.facebook.com/footballforequality.

FOTOS

Find fotos of the opening here on queeringfootball.org (all Copyrights @queeringfootball)

CONTACT

For general information on the project and content:

Nikola Staritz (fairplay-VIDC – project coordinator)

staritz@vidc.org | +43-713359496

For EuroPrideHouse programme and local information:

Mickaёl (FSGL – local organisers)

communication@fsgl.org | +33-661125995