For some reason a person’s sexual orientation has been big
news in soccer lately with players coming out and admitting they’re gay etc.
Frankly, it shouldn’t make a difference and it really shouldn’t be news.
However, when people with alternative lifestyles are discriminated against then
the news deserve to make the headlines.
According to recent news reports, the Nigerian Football
Association has banned lesbians from playing soccer for the country’s national
team and FIFA has supposedly written to them to find out what’s going on.
However, a spokesperson for the world’s governing soccer body wanted to make it
clear that the letter that was sent to the African nation is just an inquiry
and nothing more at the moment.
Dilichukwu Onyedinma, who heads up Nigeria’s female soccer league,
has been quoted by local African media as stating that lesbians will no longer
be able to play. She has been quoted as stating, "Any player that we find
is associated with it will be disqualified. We will call the club chairmen to
control their players, and such players will not be able to play for the
national team."
Of course, this has a lot of activists and campaigners for
gay rights up in arms and some of these organizations said that they have
written to FIFA to complain about the ruling. These include groups such as the
European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation, the Federation of Gay Games, AllOut,
and Football v Homophobia.
Nobody has confirmed if this is true as of yet, since
Onyedinma’s comments may not be official. Of course, if the reports are
accurate then there’s definitely something wrong. The activists want FIFA to
take action regarding the situation, but it’s unclear just how much power they
have over it.