PARIS (LifeSiteNews) — A player for the prestigious French soccer team Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) has been making headlines around the world following his decision not to participate in a game where players were asked to wear LGBT-colored jerseys.
Senegalese midfielder for PSG Idrissa Gana Gueye missed a May 14 game against Montpellier during which his teammates were asked to wear jerseys with rainbow-colored numbers to show their support for the LGBT movement on the so-called International Day Against Homophobia.
Mauricio Pochettino, PSG’s coach cited “personal reasons” for the player’s absence, but the French media have since then been widely reporting that Gueye, a devout Muslim, did not want to wear the rainbow-colored shirt.
Gueye was already absent on that same occasion last year and at the time cited a case of gastro-enteritis.
This year, the Senegalese player is now facing major backlash for his decision not to play in the game.
“He was already absent last year. That leaves no doubt as to his intentions,” commented Bertrand Lambert, President of French soccer club Panam Boyz and Girlz.
“Homophobia is not an opinion but a crime,” tweeted Rouge Direct, a French advocacy group for proponents of LGBT ideology in sport. The group asked Gueye to explain himself and suggested that he be sanctioned by the PSG and the French professional football league (LPF) for his absence.
The controversy took an even bigger political turn when French politician and recent presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse took to Twitter to condemn Gueye, and also demanded that the Senegalese player be sanctioned for boycotting the game.
“The players of a football club, and those of PSG in particular, are role models for our young people. They have a duty to set an example,” she wrote.
“A refusal by Idrissa Gana Gueye to join the fight against homophobia could not remain without sanction!”
Les joueurs d’un club de football, et ceux du PSG en particulier, sont des figures d’identification pour nos jeunes. Ils ont un devoir d’exemplarité. Un refus d’Idrissa Gana Gueye de s’associer à la lutte contre l’homophobie ne pourrait rester sans sanction! @PSG_inside https://t.co/LtAR2O3gy9
— Valérie Pécresse (@vpecresse) May 16, 2022
Amidst the backlash, the board of ethics of the French Football Federation (FFF) summoned the 32-year-old soccer player to ask him to explain why he would not participate in the game.
“This absence … is very widely interpreted as a refusal to participate,” wrote the FFF’s ethics board in a letter to Gueye.
“One of two things, either the hypotheses are unfounded, and we invite you to immediately express yourself in order to silence these rumours,” the letter continued. “Or the rumours are true. In this case we ask you to be aware of the impact of your actions and the very serious error committed.”
“In refusing to take part in this collective initiative you are validating discriminatory behaviour… and not only against the LGBTQI+ community,” the FFF added.
Despite the backlash in France, Gueye has received the support of his home country Senegal, where 95% of citizens are devout Muslims.
The Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) accused the FFF of hypocrisy and of “institutionalized harassment.”
“How can a body that claims to promote ethics in Football be based on assumptions to address a person to enjoin him to express himself and even worse to display himself with the jersey in LGBTQI + colors to put an end to the so-called speculations?,” the federation wrote.
Gueye also received affirmation from the president of Senegal, Macky Sall, who took to Twitter to signal his support for Gueye in a tweet last week.
“I support Idrissa Gana Gueye. His religious convictions must be respected,” Sall wrote.
Je soutiens Idrissa Gana Gueye. Ses convictions religieuses doivent être respectées.
— Macky Sall (@Macky_Sall) May 17, 2022