BBC news about the gay chants.

[Twinkle Toes]

If you've been singled out by Albion fans then that is a ****ing disgrace. Oppo...nothing is beneath them. Try and ignore it.

Nice one. Thankfully it only happens from time to time, but still. There's some 'orrible people at every club, but I'm thankful that The Albion support are generally a top bunch. Long may they continue to be.

 

[16 bit 44.1]

I am not gay and I dont have kids to take to the football. I am not offended by any homophobic chanting - I have happily sung your dirty northern *******s, sheep shaggers etc - i genuinely put it down to banter. For me at football anything goes other than racist abuse. Generally i think that racist abuse tends to be at individual players rather than a generic crowd environment which somehow makes it worse. It is a complex issue but my own moral compass tells me that racism is worse than homophobia. I wait to be crucified.

To me the key words here are "moral compass". Basically because I have one too and mine files songs like "we can see you holding hands" as banter and finds someone spitting venomously "hope you die of AIDS you queer ****" as offensive. I take my 12 year old daughter to almost every game now and she already loves the banter. I can categoricaly state that what I saw on Sky earlier did not represent me as a supporter. In fact I felt it made us look like idiots.

I know what is acceptable because I as brought up rather than thrown up and I have a brain. If other people feel the need to go running to the teacher because they don't have the commom sense to work out the difference bwtween playful banter and out and out venom then I wish them all the best with their ongoing moral education.

 

[Leighgull]

Nice one. Thankfully it only happens from time to time, but still. There's some 'orrible people at every club, but I'm thankful that The Albion support are generally a top bunch. Long may they continue to be.

There are two gay lads who I sit near. One of them is from Manchester but swapped to following Brighton from City because of our famous tolerance.

They really get involved with the " you're too ugly to be gay" riposte.

 

[vegster]

Reading the comments section under the piece on the BBC website, it seems there is little or no sympathy for those on the wrong end of Homophobic abuse. "Man up" and " it's only banter " seem to be the norm so it looks like we are stuck with it. Trouble is some opposition fans think that shouting that sort of stuff at kids and families is still " just banter " but, I bet if anyone said anything disgusting or foul to their kid they would explode.

 

[Bigtomfu]

Personally the generalised banter aspect doesn't bother me and never has. However if I were to be cornered by a small number of opposition fans who were attacking me with aids driven vitriolic bile then that would be different.

Also in all of this has anyone noticed that very surprisingly we're not one of the clubs who've officially backed the campaign? Strange eh?

Without banter football would be sadly very dull but there is definitely a moral line that exists somewhere in the middle.

 

[Twinkle Toes]

There are two gay lads who I sit near. One of them is from Manchester but swapped to following Brighton from City because of our famous tolerance.

They really get involved with the " you're too ugly to be gay" riposte.

Fair play to him & folk around him for making him feel welcome. I love the fact that our club's attitude & support it attracts is representative of the great city we live in or once came from. Variety is the spice of life & The Albion - as an in intrinsic part of Brighton & Hove - are all the better for it I reckon.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Here we go again on the Beeb, possibly the longest report of the day now.

 

[Sussax]

 

[banjo]

:safeway: I don't know what they mean.

 

[Northstandite]

Here we go again on the Beeb, possibly the longest report of the day now.

The most coverage the club has ever had. A full 4 minutes.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Totally one sided, biased reporting by the BBC, very poor standard of journalism.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Firstly, the point is that mock outrage and political correctness are actually counter productive to positive change.Brent Council and Bernie Grant didn't get the lyrics to 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' sheep changed but Rosa Park sitting in the white person's part of the bus, Nelson Mandela getting released from prison and, more relevantly, good English players with black skin (Cyril Regis and John Barnes spring to mind) exposing their experiences of racism from the terraces first hand have made sea changes in race relations. We should be putting the fathers who are asked if their kids are passed around and gay fans who feel too intimidated to go to games in front of the Argus and BBC, not some old lady in a bobble hat claiming to be outraged on behalf of Brighton fans about some 16 year old chavs singing 'we can see you holding hands'. Something concrete might get done then instead of a few boxes getting ticked and a quite embarrassing story appearing on a quiet news day that will be forgotten in a couple of days by every one except the away fans.

Secondly part of what attracted me to watching football - as opposed to playing - in the first place was precisely that it was male, edgy, that there was banter and a sense of belonging. I'm not ashamed of that. Sanitise football too much and you'll be left with just another game. Football never was that to me. I don't condone blatant homophobia any more that I condone blatant racism but these chants are pathetic and should just be laughed off. Where do I draw the line? At the attacking of individuals be it the aforementioned mouthing off to and about someone's kids or chucking a banana or making a monkey noise at a black player. Until today I thought anyone with half a brain cell could tell the difference instinctively but I guess I under estimated how peoples desire for a bit of small time local publicity can override their ability to think sanely.

 

[Shoreham Gull]

I hate it, anti-gay chanting is totally sick!!

Away fans gave me loads of gay chanting once, just because I carry a handbag and wear red lipstick..

What's the world coming too!

 

[Leighgull]

.

Also in all of this has anyone noticed that very surprisingly we're not one of the clubs who've officially backed the campaign? Strange eh?

.

Yes I had. Good. At least someone in marketing at the club has got a grain of sense.

 

[Beach Hut]

Rosa Park sitting in the white person's part of the bus

The problem was Rosa then started talking to the driver and she had no change for the fare

 

[genre b. good]

I give a shit, and it is completely different to what scousers are called.

Are you a parent, do you take your kids to the game?

How would you feel if a group of fans asked if you 'passed your son around'

How would you explain to your son or daughter that you are not 'aids ridden scum'

Do you just laugh it off when you're asked 'if you take it up the arse' in front of your children?

Think of it through the eyes and ears of a parent and tell me it's just harmless banter.

It is a lot more similar to what scousers are called than it is to racism, which is how people are trying to draw the battlelines.

If you're kids understand what is being said but can't understand that it is just banter then you need to educate them, children aren't as stupid as you seem to think yours are. Are you seriously saying that you struggle to explain that you are not 'aids ridden scum'? Do you even need to explain it?

Or if you can't handle it, find something else to do on a Saturday.

 

[soistes]

Reading the comments section under the piece on the BBC website, it seems there is little or no sympathy for those on the wrong end of Homophobic abuse. "Man up" and " it's only banter " seem to be the norm so it looks like we are stuck with it. Trouble is some opposition fans think that shouting that sort of stuff at kids and families is still " just banter " but, I bet if anyone said anything disgusting or foul to their kid they would explode.

More interesting debate on the Charlton fans site, however. Surprising number of them coming out (as it were) against homophobic abuse of Brighton fans
Addicks reported for abuse of bhafc (prior to last night's fixture) - Charlton Life

 

[pork pie]

There are two gay lads who I sit near. One of them is from Manchester but swapped to following Brighton from City because of our famous tolerance.

They really get involved with the " you're too ugly to be gay" riposte.

How sweet!

 

[Leighgull]

How sweet!

He's fecking nails as well mate...ex marine!

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

As I can't be arsed to go though the pages I'll just say, I DO hope someone has used the HORRENDOUS word 'banter' in this thread.