Fans from the Brazil and Mexico match at the FIFA World Cup in 2014 (Photo: Brazilian government, copa2014.gov.br, via Wikimedia Commons).
FIFA, the governing body for world soccer, on Wednesday announced it has imposed fines against the various football associations of Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Argentina for homophobic chants by fans.
FIFA says that the “insulting and discriminatory chants” were uttered by fans during qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup, reports The Guardian. The chant, in which fans scream “¡Puto!” during goal kicks by the opposing team’s goal keeper, is roughly translated as “fag,” “man whore” or “coward.”
Some who have used the phrase argue that it is not meant to be directed at gays, but is only used to ridicule opponents as weak and unmanly. But others say that the word clearly has homophobic roots and has historically been used to degrade gay men, according to OutSports.com. The chant originated with Mexican fans, but has been adopted by many other Latin American nations.
Chile has received the largest fine, at 70,000 Swiss francs, or about $70,082 in U.S, dollars, for cases where the chant was used during four different matches. The other four countries were fine 20,000 Swiss francs, or about $20,019 in U.S. dollars, for other instances where homophobic chants were used. Proceedings against Honduras for similar offenses remain ongoing.
“FIFA has been fighting discrimination in football for many years and one part of that has been through sanctions,” Claudio Sulser, chair of FIFA’s disciplinary committee, said in a statement. “But disciplinary proceedings alone cannot change behavior by certain groups of fans that unfortunately goes against the core values of our game. FIFA and the entire football community have to be proactive in educating and inspiring a message of equality and respect across all levels of the game.”
But the Mexican Football Federation announced it was appealing the fine and the warning from FIFA for fans’ actions during the Mexican national team’s 3-0 victory over El Salvador on Nov. 13.
“It’s an issue that requires more discussion, Guillermo Cantu, the federation’s general secretary, said in a statement to ESPN Deportes. “It is a chant that occurs in games, and not just recently.”
A Manhattan judge sentenced three men to decades in prison for their role in a scheme that led to the deaths of two gay men.
Jayqwan Hamilton, 37, Jacob Barroso, 32, and Robert DeMaio, 36, were found guilty of murder, robbery, and conspiracy in connection with the scheme. They used illicit substances to drug and incapacitate their victims, deploying facial recognition technology on victims' phones to access and drain their bank accounts.
The scheme, which ran from March 2021 to June 2022, resulted in the deaths of 25-year-old Julio Ramirez, a social worker, and John Umberger, a 33-year-old political consultant from Washington, D.C.
Life is a cabaret at the titular bolero bar in GALA Hispanic Theatre's Botiquín de Boleros de Columbia Heights. Of course, for this lively, immersive staging, directed and choreographed by Valeria Cossu, we, the audience, are the patrons at the Columbia Heights Bolero Bar.
Seated at cabaret tables onstage, at stage level, or in regular seats throughout the house, audience members may find themselves in the midst of the action for Rubén Léon's heartfelt backstage musical revue, adapted by GALA artistic director Gustavo Ott.
Formerly a mainstay of D.C.'s diverse Columbia Heights neighborhood, the fictional boîte was "one of the hottest cabarets" in town, we're told. But due to the pandemic, it has sat dormant for years, until now -- now being November 2024, just ahead of a presidential election that will prove particularly pivotal for immigrants like some of the performers who call the club home.
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