Qatar Responds To Question of Gay Fans at 2022 World Cup
An official in Qatar recently addressed the question of how homosexual soccer fans will be treated if they attend the 2022 World Cup in the country.
Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali, Qatar's sports minister, told the Associated Press in a recent interview that homosexual acts will be treated in the same way beer sales will be treated in the Middle Eastern country during the 2022 World Cup. Nasser al-Ali said in an answer to a previous question that the selling of alcohol will be extremely restricted during the games.
"It's exactly like the alcohol question," Nasser al-Ali replied to the Associated Press about welcoming homosexual fans to the event. "This impression, illusion that we don't care about our tradition and our ethical values […] We are studying all these issues. We can adapt, we can be creative to have people coming and enjoying the games without losing the essence of our culture and respecting the preference of the people coming here. I think there is a lot we can do."
When previously asked if beer will be allowed to be sold at the stadium during the 2022 World Cup, Nasser al-Ali said: "In the hotels and many areas we have alcohol but we have also our own system that people need to respect."
"As we bid for 2022, we will respect all the rules and regulations by FIFA. We can study this and minimize the impact on our people and tradition. I think we can be creative, finding solutions for all of this. But we respect all the rules and regulations."
The 2018 World Cup is set to take place in Russia, while the 2022 World Cup will take place in Qatar.
