Surely this cant be the best name for a campaign against homophobia in football!! Dont get me wrong, I am against victimisation in whatever form, but surely it has all gone way too far. I have been a season ticket holder for 20yrs and this sort of thing has always gone on. With the world/country in the mess it is I feel this to be a total waste of time and resource!!! I'd rather the police were left to tackle proper crime than arresting a guy for chanting about "hand holding"!!! Give us a break!!! Please feel free to comment!!
Hi Watto. Welcome aboard. These campaigns often seem a little OTT and unnecessary but I think that they appear that way to those for whom the issue seems irrelevant. If you are not homophobic or racist, you hardly need to be reminded that that sort of behaviour is unacceptable. Look at it from a different perspective though. We've had one footballer come out. One! That footballer committed suicide. Now do you think there's a need to raise the issue?
The FA have opened a big can of worms, trying to deem who has been racist/homophobic/sexist will prove almost impossible unless it is something out of the ordinary, which would hopefully be dealt with anyway. Can you see someone calling someone else a pansy and getting arrested for sexism which you could argue is just as rife, if not more so, than homophobia.
I think you hit the nail on the head, HB. There are people who treat their fellows with respect, whatever their social/life choices, and there are those that will [almost] take pleasure in goading and/or even abusing those who they see are significantly different from themselves. People are people, and if a campaign, to help make the goaders and abusers think again, works then I'm all for it. Some people don't need to be told, as they have the good sense to know. Some don't, and campaigns are for these people. I'm sure there will be campaigns in the future to show [more] respect for the elderly, the disabled, etc... and other minorities. Hot on the heels of anti-racism campaigns, I've no doubt there will be anti-xenophobia campaigns. People should know better, but some don't, or don't want to until they are told they must, or suffer the consequences.
So this thing has always gone on, so it should remain that way? Because it's some sort of tradition? Are the police not capable of remembering more than one crime at a time? I hate to berate you on your first post, but that's ridiculous. If there is an evident problem, then you do everything you can do fix it. Homophobia is a serious problem, and it really irritates me when people act like it's just a bit of a laugh. Your first sentence suggests to me that you are one of those people.
That is the problem when you "label" individuals, give them an identity and someone is bound to pick on them for various reasons, human nature isn't always positive.
