Coming Out Stronger: LGBTQ+ fans and support from their clubs 🏳️‍🌈 | OneFootball

To mark Pride Month – a global celebration of the LGBTQ+ community – OneFootball supports and pays tribute to the LGBTQ+ members in the world of football through a dedicated content series.

Football has the power to unite us. No matter who you are, where you’re from, or what you believe in, the game can connect us all.

It is more important than ever to remember that during Pride month.

Homophobia remains an issue in the game but the LGBTQ+ community are becoming increasingly visible, with fanclubs growing all over the glove.

The Queer Football Fanclub seeks to unite the fights of all fans.

Founded by gays and lesbians during the 2006 World Cup, the organisation has more than 25 fan clubs in Germany, England, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

According to data from the QFF itself, there are more than 1,200 registered members.

Premier League

The Gay Gooners Arsenal Fan Group are the UK’s first and the world’s largest LGBTQ+ supporters’ group with over 570 members.

The club have a banner constantly on show at the Emirates Stadium.

And they aren’t the only ones.

Following the lead of Gay Gooners, official LGBTQ+ supporters groups have been formed throughout the country and Tottenham Hotspur lit up their new stadium in 2019 in support of the Rainbow Laces campaign.

Germany

One of the most progressive clubs around is St Pauli in Hamburg, Germany.

The 2. Bundesliga outfit were the first club in the country to have an openly gay president. An inclusive culture is part of the club’s DNA, with fans frequently taking banners to games in support of topics such as same-sex marriage and in favour of gender equality.

Rayo Vallecano

The club’s fans are notoriously inclusive. In 2015, forward-thinking Spanish side Rayo Vallecano released a new shirt with a diagonal, rainbow-coloured sash across the front, with €7 from each shirt sale going to seven different causes.

There are countless similar stories throughout the world as fans from around the globe fight for equality and inclusivity.

Football without fans is nothing and the more diverse that fanbase, the better.