{"id":142455,"date":"2018-06-17T17:06:29","date_gmt":"2018-06-17T17:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/world-cup-2018-safe-space-for-russia-lgbt-football-fans-shut\/"},"modified":"2018-06-17T17:06:29","modified_gmt":"2018-06-17T17:06:29","slug":"world-cup-2018-safe-space-for-russia-lgbt-football-fans-shut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/world-cup-2018-safe-space-for-russia-lgbt-football-fans-shut\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2018: &#8216;Safe space&#8217; for Russia LGBT football fans shut"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure>                                  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gay rights activists march in Russia&#039;s second city of St Petersburg on 1 May 2013\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/F83C\/production\/_102084536_mediaitem102084532.jpg\"\/>Image copyright                  AFP<figcaption>Image caption                                      Homosexuality was decriminalised in Russia in 1993, but anti-gay prejudice is rife                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"caps\">An organisation providing a &quot;safe space&quot; for LGBT and ethnic-minority football fans in Russia says it was evicted from its premises in St Petersburg on the eve of the World Cup. <\/p>\n<p>Diversity House was supposed to open for the duration of the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>It aimed to provide a tolerant environment for gay and non-white football fans to watch matches.<\/p>\n<p>But at the last minute the building&#039;s owners locked the organisers out and terminated their contract.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;They asked us to leave the place very rudely, switched off the electricity and they explained nothing to us,&quot; a local organiser told the BBC.<\/p>\n<p>The international Football Against Racism in Europe (Fare) network, which was behind the initiative, said it could have been a politically motivated move.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Safety fears for gay fans heading to Russia<\/li>\n<li>I&#039;m going to Russia to show LGBT fans it&#039;s OK to be who you are<\/li>\n<li>World Cup 2018: Being black in Russia<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It was a &quot;political attack of the kind that shows how debates about human rights are curtailed by powerful conservative political forces in Russia&quot;, said Fare director Piara Powar in a statement on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>He pointed to a long history of rights groups being closed or pressured on legalistic pretexts in Russia, and particularly in St Petersburg.<\/p>\n<p>New premises in the city centre have since been found and opened on Saturday, organisers said.<\/p>\n<p>Homosexuality was decriminalised in Russia in 1993, but anti-gay prejudice is rife. <\/p>\n<p>Five years ago, the Russian Duma passed a law that made &quot;propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships&quot; among minors an offence.<\/p>\n<p>Football&#039;s ruling body Fifa, which works with Fare, said it had contacted St Petersburg authorities to try to find a solution and said it &quot;regretted&quot; what had happened.<\/p>\n<p>Another Diversity House in Moscow is open and has been running events.<\/p>\n<p>The spaces feature football exhibitions, World Cup match-viewings, discussions, and meetings with Russian supporters and residents, Fare says. <\/p>\n<p>They are open to Russians and visiting fans every day of the World Cup. <\/p>\n<h2>More on the World Cup<\/h2>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Getty Images                                                    <\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Your guide to Russian football insults<\/li>\n<li>Uruguay schoolchildren react to last-minute goal<\/li>\n<li>Fox apologises after Robbie Williams gives finger<\/li>\n<li>World Cup: A City Guide<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image copyright AFPImage caption Homosexuality was decriminalised in Russia in 1993, but anti-gay prejudice is rife An organisation providing a &quot;safe space&quot; for LGBT and ethnic-minority football fans in Russia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}