The Argentine LGBT+ Federation issued a statement repudiating the statements of former President Mauricio Macri about the “extremely high homosexuality” in Qatar where, according to the current head of the FIFA Foundation, homosexuals “live in absolute tranquility” although “without showing off.”
“We are concerned that the ex-president of a country that is a vanguard in the world in terms of diversity minimizes the serious and cruel violation of human rights of LGBT+ people living in Qatar, where our orientations and identities are criminalized with up to jail sentences and physical assaults,” the organization said.
When asked about the strong questioning of the country organizing the World Cup for its violations of human rights, Macri minimized the homophobic and macho legal system in that validates this state of affairs, assuring that they are laws “that no longer govern”.
“There is very high homosexuality in Qatar, and they live there, I have been with several, and they have told me that they do not have any problem. There is no ostentation, no issue is made, but they live with absolute tranquility, nobody has any problem, nobody has any conflict,” the former president said in a recent television interview.
“There are many things written, historical, that have not changed them, but that no longer apply. That is the reality, they do not apply anymore. Technically they do not change them… there is a rule, I am wrong, they told me that still valid, that a father has the right to kill his daughter if he finds her losing her virginity. But he doesn’t rule anymoreThey are things that exist from history and they are evolving a lot,” he added.
A very different panorama from Macri
Consensual sex between adult men is a crime in Qatar and whoever practices it can receive a sentence of up to five years in prison. Consensual sexual relations between adult women are also illegal in this country.
Besides, the right to a self-perceived gender identity is not legally recognized in the country that hosted the last World Cup and marriage or civil union between people of the same sex is not recognized either.
On the other hand, Qatar’s discriminatory male guardianship system denies women the right to autonomously make fundamental decisions about their lives such as getting married, studying abroad with government scholarships, accessing many government jobs, traveling abroad until a certain age and receive some forms of reproductive health care.
This discriminatory system also denies women the ability to serve as primary guardians for their sons and daughters.
“In Argentina we have achieved legal recognition of our equality. Even with difficulties and violations of rights, many times we express ourselves freely, a freedom that we claim, that we celebrate and that luckily we show off. So it should be all over the world. No violence, no jail, no torture”, they said from the FALGBT+
“We hope that the former president apologizes for his statements. They express ignorance and discrimination, and can only shame a society that has decided to respect diversity,” they concluded.
