MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s legions of soccer fanatics, and sports leaders in particular, must stamp an anti-gay slur from men’s soccer, activists said Tuesday, drawing attention to a routine fan chant that has long marred the country’s top game.
While Mexico’s top football governing body is pursuing a “zero tolerance” policy on fans’ longstanding homophobic chanting by suspending ticket sales and forcing teams to play to empty stadiums — including for a World Cup qualifier earlier this year — many are fans stubbornly persist.
“As Mexicans, we’re even known to export that chant,” Andoni Bello, founder and head of LGBT national soccer team known as Tri Gay, said at a news conference on Tuesday. He lamented that it could now be heard at professional games in Brazil and the United States.
The specific chant consists of fans shouting “puto” – literally meaning “male prostitute” – when a player on the opposing team executes a goal kick.
While Mexico has long been known as a socially conservative country with a dominant macho culture, a growing movement is trying to get sports authorities to take stronger action. Some Mexican fans argue that the chant could also be interpreted as a more general insult.
Global sport leaders have also been pushing for an end to homophobic outbreaks in stadiums.
Ahead of the 2018 World Cup, world governing body FIFA fined 16 countries for fan homophobia in qualifiers, with Mexican football receiving more sanctions than any other.
Enrique Torre Molina, a prominent Mexican LGBT activist and advisor, said he was heartened that more attention than ever is being focused on efforts to eradicate singing, but there is still work to be done.
“The place I don’t see an authentic change,” he said, “is with the players and the authorities.”