Homophobia/racism - whats the difference?

[Dawsey]

I was just thinking about this on the way home from the game today. Why is racism so unacceptable (and rightly so), whilst homophobic chanting seems to be part and parcel of the game? What makes it unacceptable to make remarks about someones race, whilst it is OK to taunt them about their sexuality?

Also, is there a possibility that the FA will try and stamp homophobia out of the game? Is it realistically possible that 20 years down the line, any mention of boyfriends will leave the offender facing simular charges that racists get now?

Discuss...

 

[Happy Seagull]

Interesting topic.

If football was to become PC it would certainly take away alot of football chants that are mostly sung in jest.

 

[Juan Albion]

Interesting topic.

If football was to become PC it would certainly take away alot of football chants that are mostly sung in jest.

But to follow Dawsey's point, you could just as easily make racist comments 'in jest' - and not long ago plenty of people did just that who wouldn't now.

Dawsey, you are spot on. There is no difference. Both make fun of something that marks someone out as different, something that they can do nothing to change.

 

[Bozza]

There are probably only 46 games a year when homophobia emerges and those are the games in which we play.

Can't see anything being done about it in the short term

Today, as ever, there were several hundred fans singing homophobic chants towards the Albion. It is a fact of footballing life that no action is ever going to be taken against that number of people all behaving similarly at the same time - there is simply not the manpower to deal with it. It would be an 'interesting' experiment to see what happened if 500 fans broke out into a simultaneous racist chant...

The best way to deal with it, as happened today is to completely play up to it:

"One nil to the nancy boys" confused them until they came out with the classic:

"Does your boyfriend know you're here?", to which:

"He's over there, over there" really caught them out, and when followed up with a:

"You're too ugly to be gay" they were well and truly beaten. Until they scored anyway.

 

[Juan Albion]

Marvellous scenes.

 

[eastlondonseagull]

The two blokes who walked up the aisle holding hands were class

On a serious matter though, I think a lot of it has become 'acceptable' precisely because we are NOT all gay. As it is, we rise above it and laugh it off. Now, if we were all gay, we might feel more victimised. It would be interesting to hear from Albion fans who are gay and see what they think, what their thoughts are about homophobia outside as well as inside the ground.

 

[Happy Seagull]

I guess it depends what individuals find offensive on both counts. There are chants that you can tell are sung in jest, and some are obviously not.

 

[Juan Albion]

I guess it depends what individuals find offensive on both counts. There are chants that you can tell are sung in jest, and some are obviously not.

Try singing humourous chants about coloured folks in jest in Harlem and see whether they find them funny...

 

[Happy Seagull]

Try singing humourous chants about coloured folks in jest in Harlem and see whether they find them funny...

When it comes to chants like that i think everyone would find it offensive. Therefore it shouldn't be ok to sing them.

 

[Juan Albion]

When it comes to chants like that i think everyone would find it offensive. Therefore it shouldn't be ok to sing them.

Try singing humorous chants about gay people in jest in a gay bar and see whether they find them funny...

 

[NMH]

Race is not a decision, it is a natural difference that should be celebrated.

Being a bender is a decision, and a dodgy one, so it should be ridiculed - and it should really be accepted by pansies as par for the course they chose to mince.


:dance: :safeway

 

[beorhthelm]

Try singing humorous chants about gay people in jest in a gay bar and see whether they find them funny...

A few prudes/PC brigade will choke on thier babychams, but most gays ive met are the first to send up being gay.

I for one hope we never see any sort of clamp down on the "homophobic" chants (which i dont see as particlurly homophobic anyway). What next, we cant sing about sheep shagging at Cardiff, cant abuse those from Bristol for being welsh, cant insinuate that those from the rural clubs are involved in incestous relationships, Gillingham cant be called pikies anymore, and no more discussion about the referee liking to mastubate.

Before you know it, we'll all be sitting down giving a little light applause when our team scores. And when they score, dont want to be seen to be prejudice towards their players now do we.

 

[dougdeep]

I started a thread like this on Millwalls site a couple of weeks ago, and they didn't agree with my thinking at all. Funny that.

 

[bhaexpress]

Race is not a decision, it is a natural difference that should be celebrated.

Being a bender is a decision, and a dodgy one, so it should be ridiculed - and it should really be accepted by pansies as par for the course they chose to mince.


:dance: :safeway

I trust you're being ironic NMH. Gays don't 'choose' to be gay that's just they way they are. Having said that I really don't think that homophobia is as bad as racism. We all know that that sort of abuse is aimed at us to wind us up. Most of us couldn't give a toss though.

 

[Soton Seagull]

The difference. You can always tell which race someone is, you can't always tell whether someone is gay.

The abuse of either is not acceptable, but he gay chants are still deemed to be by society. Makes for good banter though.

 

[Happy Seagull]

Try singing humorous chants about gay people in jest in a gay bar and see whether they find them funny...

Also if i go to a farm in wales and accuse the farmer of shagging sheep, he'll not be too impressed. But when in the middle of a football match it'll been seen by the majority as abit of a laugh.

 

[fatboy]

A few prudes/PC brigade will choke on thier babychams, but most gays ive met are the first to send up being gay.

I for one hope we never see any sort of clamp down on the "homophobic" chants (which i dont see as particlurly homophobic anyway). What next, we cant sing about sheep shagging at Cardiff, cant abuse those from Bristol for being welsh, cant insinuate that those from the rural clubs are involved in incestous relationships, Gillingham cant be called pikies anymore, and no more discussion about the referee liking to mastubate.

Before you know it, we'll all be sitting down giving a little light applause when our team scores. And when they score, dont want to be seen to be prejudice towards their players now do we.

 

[Hungry Joe]

It's a tricky one. I've bought this up before on here highlighting the apparent hypocrisy when it comes to bigotry but I do concede there is a real difference between the gay taunts and racist chanting. Racist chants are usually aimed at an individual or group of individuals and intended to cause real offence. The perpetrators of racist chanting usualy really mean what their saying and are not just doing it as a wind-up. The gay taunts we get subjected to are an obvious wind-up aimed at all Brighton fans and it is the obvious acceptance that we're not all gay that makes it such a wind-up. I think in most cases it helps the atmosphere at games as it gets us going and produces some of the more intelligent and amusing comebacks, as highlighted by Bozza. Often, those singing it end up looking prize twats. It's part of our local heritage and history that Brighton is known as a gay centre as is the case with say Ipswich's Tractor Boys (I can't read and I can't write etc) or Northern teams Industrial history and high levels of unemployment at times (sign on, sign on....). It's ridiculous to suggest that all Ipswich fans are farmers and all Liverpool supporters are unemployed but we still do it. The 'does your boyfriend know you're here' chant produced one of my favourite moments at Withdean when one of my gay friends who was at the match turned to me and said "Shit, I'm not sure he does!" (cue much laughter from all around). He didn't take offence and I doubt most gay men or women would. For the record he's from the Midlands and supports West Brom.