Is waving the Pride flag compulsory now? The Idrissa Gueye scandal suggests it might be. Footballer Gueye did not play for his team, Paris Saint-Germain, on Saturday because he declined to wear a new top on which the players’ numbers are emblazoned with the Pride colours. How dare he. Reject Pride, get shamed.
Gueye is from Senegal and he clearly has quite traditional beliefs. It seems as though homosexuality is not something that he personally wants to celebrate. And for that, for holding true to his own moral convictions, he is being treated as a heretic.
The French Football Federation has demanded an explanation. He must either ‘issue an apology’ or come out and say that the reports about his reluctance to don the rainbows colours are ‘unfounded’, says the FFF. In short, renounce your beliefs. Bow down to Pride. Genuflect to the rainbow.
It is striking that this affair took place in the same week that Jake Daniels of Blackpool became the first British footballer in decades to come out as gay.
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