Anti-homosexual language hordings

[greenfordgull]

I think this should be welcomed. Football has often reflected the prejudices of society; "fans" used to throw banannas at black players or male monkey noises (in some parts of eastern Europe such racism still happens), chants of "get you tits out for the lads" would be common at women in the terraces or around the ground both now seem moronic and prejudiced. Unsurprisingly not many people from ethnic minorities or women came to football. Female attendance at the premier league doubled in the decade after the premier league and the same can be said of ethnic minorites.

Football grounds are for watching football, not as "last bastion of prejudice". Recent history has indicated that making it difficult for people to be openly prejudiced over time leads to a society that is less prejudiced. Pubs famously usewd to have signs stating the Irish, black people and dogs where not welcome, the race relations act of 1976 made that illegal, and whilst many in those pubs did not instantly become more tolerant, it is hard to argue that Britain as a whole isn't now, in part because racist discrimination is illegal.

This small step towards dealing with this mindless prejudice will help, and I hope it is backed up with stewarding to match it. Yes Brighton has a larger LGBT population than most. Those people are entitled to watch their local team without being subject to taunts about who they are (is it ok for English fans who are balck to racially abused when they go to matches in parts of Europe?). So it's unsuprising we should be at the forefront of these moves, just as clubs like Arsenal and Palace where with the kick racism out campaign.

This Advert makes the point pretty neatly:

 

[Pavilionaire]

The thing is EVERY away set of fans sings the same "Does your boyfriend know you're here?" song. That's a lot of sexists, probably 50% of all away fans. Most of those will probably never make another homophobic remark for the rest of the month, it's only because it's Brighton that they bother.

It's only a bit of banter.

 

[Fungus]

This Advert makes the point pretty neatly:

Spot on.

 

[Fungus]

The thing is EVERY away set of fans sings the same "Does your boyfriend know you're here?" song. That's a lot of sexists, probably 50% of all away fans. Most of those will probably never make another homophobic remark for the rest of the month, it's only because it's Brighton that they bother.

It's only a bit of banter.

That's the least worrying end of the spectrum. I've come out of Withdean, and heard an away supporter tell his young son that we should all be shot for being gay.

 

[NMH]

That's the least worrying end of the spectrum. I've come out of Withdean, and heard an away supporter tell his young son that we should all be shot for being gay.

That supporter ought to be punished and thrown out.
We are not all gay.

 

[greenfordgull]

It's only a bit of banter.

The point is that it isn't though. In the same way that "get your tits out for the lads" would easily have been passed off as banter, the reality was that it would make a substantial proportion of women feel uncomfortable, and to repeat the point that sexist and racist comments made many women and ethnic minorities not want to come to football. A football ground is somewhere you go to watch football not somewhere where it is acceptable to be abused for who you are. Therefore an attempt to reason with fans who think it is acceptable to shout prejudiced abuse about other fans should be welcomed.

 

[Buzzer]

That supporter ought to be punished and thrown out.
We are not all gay.

Methinks the lady doth protest too much. Study Links Homophobia with Homosexual Arousal

 

[spring hall convert]

The thing is EVERY away set of fans sings the same "Does your boyfriend know you're here?" song. That's a lot of sexists, probably 50% of all away fans. Most of those will probably never make another homophobic remark for the rest of the month, it's only because it's Brighton that they bother.

It's only a bit of banter.

To be fair, that chant isn't homophobic is it? Potentially your reaction to it is. I think this surrounds the fruity homophobic language that you hear as a matter of course i.e gay (as a pejorative), fxxxxt, pxxf, etc.... all stuff that is tolerated on this here forum, which has always been an interesting double standard seeing as anything racially offensive is normally a banning offence.

 

[NMH]

Methinks the lady doth protest too much. Study Links Homophobia with Homosexual Arousal

"We can deride our sisters, or insult our mothers,
but just don't be upthetting our nancy-boy Buzzer"

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Steven Davies: England cricketer announces he is gay - Telegraph

English cricketer, Steven Davies, announces that he is gay. The first cricketer to come out?

 

[Triggaaar]

is ANYONE actually bothered by those chants

i know, i often sing 'town full of pakis' when we play Bradford and Burnley etc. all the fans are working class white blokes so what's the problem?

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

Difficult to tell if your being sarcastic or not through that reply, but in all honesty a chant of 'we can see you holding hands'...'boyfriend know your here'....etc has been flung at our support for so long now its lost all its meaning. To me it just shows a lack of originality, do they really think that we give a shit

Of course he's being sarcastic. He's trying to point out that it's not ok to shout homophobic abuse any more than it is to shout racist abuse.

You don't give a shit about the chants, but some people do. Perhaps if you were gay and you faced homophobia regularly, you wouldn't like to hear abuse when you went to watch football.

 

[Triggaaar]

The thing is EVERY away set of fans sings the same "Does your boyfriend know you're here?" song. That's a lot of sexists, probably 50% of all away fans. Most of those will probably never make another homophobic remark for the rest of the month, it's only because it's Brighton that they bother.

It's only a bit of banter.

The point is that it isn't though. In the same way that "get your tits out for the lads" would easily have been passed off as banter, the reality was that it would make a substantial proportion of women feel uncomfortable, and to repeat the point that sexist and racist comments made many women and ethnic minorities not want to come to football. A football ground is somewhere you go to watch football not somewhere where it is acceptable to be abused for who you are. Therefore an attempt to reason with fans who think it is acceptable to shout prejudiced abuse about other fans should be welcomed.

+1

To be fair, that chant isn't homophobic is it? Potentially your reaction to it is.

Of course it's homophobic. It's not like they're singing to the female Brighton fans wondering if their boyfriends are aware of their whereabouts. "Does your boyfriend know you're here?" is equivellant to "your gay, your gay your gay your gay" (but I suppose you think that's not homophobic either, it's just away fans saying how happy Brighton fans appear).

I think this surrounds the fruity homophobic language that you hear as a matter of course i.e gay (as a pejorative), fxxxxt, pxxf, etc.... all stuff that is tolerated on this here forum, which has always been an interesting double standard seeing as anything racially offensive is normally a banning offence.

I agree with you there, I find what's acceptable on this forum pretty surprising.

 

[Acker79]

Of course it's homophobic. It's not like they're singing to the female Brighton fans wondering if their boyfriends are aware of their whereabouts.

Maybe it's just sexist and they think women should have permission from their boyfriends before leaving the kitchen?

 

[Pavilionaire]

Women haven't started coming to football matches because there's less singing of "get your tits out for the lads". They're coming because, unlike the 80s, they're less likely to get crushed to death or chinned.

 

[NMH]

Women haven't started coming to football matches because there's less singing of "get your tits out for the lads". They're coming because, unlike the 80s, they're less likely to get crushed to death or chinned.

I believe women think about crowd behavior in a 'family' way - they're less likely to go to a function that wouldn't be safe for children. Your observation here would apply to most men too, as nobody wants either of those things happening to them.
Although I doubt chants about gays upset many people enough to make them stay away from the game, the general issue is to keep anti-secular aggression down. Racism is more likely to stop minorities from coming along to games I would think, than homophobia. Anti-religious chants would be worse, imo.
Face it, chanting about your sexual preference at a game isn't even aimed at gays at all - it's the heterosexual nature they are 'appealing' to! They're only aiming to peeve and affront straight males - that is the whole point.
The point of our fans' responses hasn't even been to deny or reveal some anger about the implication - it's been the opposite in fact; "you're too ugly to be gay", or "he's over there" for example - are they denials of the implications?
No. Those responses are even an acceptance, even if feigned acceptance.

In my opinion, the less people are bothered or show indignation, the less the chanting will occur.
If we have someone in a crowd using insults about your mother, it's unlikely he'd (or she'd) be ignored - it's the general aggression that would be picked up on. Imagine a jolly fellow shouting "your mother is a whore". Not one swear word, no homophobia. Is it reasonable to suggest that he (or she) are in their right to say they cannot be escorted out of the ground or even asked to desist?
Should we have signs put up to ask that no fans make suggestive comments about your mother, sister, brother or offspring?
What is wry about that sign made up for the photo, is that calling someone inbred for their geography even has perhaps a worse message than homophobia.

The whole point behind chanting is to say "we don't like you, we don't like who you support and we don't approve of the sporting professionals you stand for". Except that - if made into a chant - wouldn't be effective. Actually saying it would appear ineffectual and silly!
The best message to homophobes in my opinion, is not to put up signs - it's in the chanting given back as it has been by our crowd.
Are any gays discouraged from coming to matches because of homophobic chanting? I kinda doubt it.

 

[NMH]

Another thing;
Are gays that way inclined because it's so accepted, so normal?
Or...are many of them only getting a thrill out of that sexual behavior because it's perceived (by themselves) as wrong, or in some way at least slightly perverse?

 

[bhaexpress]

Unless you're gay it's hard to say whether homophobic chants are offensive or just banter. Personally whilst I don't find them offensive I do find them tedious and boring. Still do the fans of say Swindon or Cardiff find 'sheep shagging' chants offensive ? I would think that some fans would be encouraged by anti homophobic warnings though. This country is a lot more enlightened about homophobia and racism than many but it's hard to dislodge the ingrained mentality of some. I still hear racist remarks from time to time not to mention homophobic slurs and although I'm sure that these are on the decrease as attitudes change only time will tell.

 

[bhaexpress]

Another thing;
Are gays that way inclined because it's so accepted, so normal?
Or...are many of them only getting a thrill out of that sexual behavior because it's perceived (by themselves) as wrong, or in some way at least slightly perverse?

I can't see why anybody would 'become' homosexual unless they were naturally inclined that way. Why else would anybody go out of their way to have to deal with all the predudice and stigma they face ? I personally resent religious bias against gays as that's how God made them.

 

[The Merry Prankster]

Another thing;
Are gays that way inclined because it's so accepted, so normal?
Or...are many of them only getting a thrill out of that sexual behavior because it's perceived (by themselves) as wrong, or in some way at least slightly perverse?

I don't think I've ever been quite so shocked by the sheer dumbness of a post.

 

[Marshy]

When we score should we turn around like the City fans and all bend over.....