'We love football as much as anyone else' - How the Gay Gooners and Arsenal are tacklg homophobia | Atralia

Contents:

• ARSENAL’S GAY GOONERS AMONG ENGLISH LGBT SOCCER FAN GROUPS PHG FOR CLN
• <DIV>✊ ARSENAL FOR EVERYONE | GAY GOONERS</DIV>
• GAY GOONERS
• 'WE LOVE FOOTBALL AS MUCH AS ANYONE ELSE' - HOW THE GAY GOONERS AND ARSENAL ARE TACKLG HOMOPHOBIA
• RABOW LAC: GAY GOONERS -CHAIR GRATEFUL FOR CLUB'S YEAR-ROUND SUPPORT AHEAD OF ARSENAL VS NEWSTLE MATCH

ARSENAL’S GAY GOONERS AMONG ENGLISH LGBT SOCCER FAN GROUPS PHG FOR CLN

Gay Gooners exists to provi a social group for LGBT+ Arsenal fans, alli and their iends to meet up, provi a safe and welg space, and mpaign to kick homophobia, biphobia and transphobia out of football. Gay Gooners holds meet-ups near Emirat Stadium before home fixtur, group trips to away gam and anis regular social events.

Gay Gooners’ patron and lifelong Arsenal supporter, edian Matt Lus says he is “immensely proud of and grateful to the club” for s support for the group and how “young gay fans now feel clud by the club a way my generatn never uld”. The club works directly wh members of the Gay Gooners to tackle anti-LGBT+ discrimatn football by vg members to take part cln trag for staff.

<DIV>✊ ARSENAL FOR EVERYONE | GAY GOONERS</DIV>

Last weekend, the club alongsi our LGBTQ+ supporters’ group, GayGooners, celebrated Pri by participatg a seri of events, culmatg the Pri In London Para, wh the highlights available to view above. After their open-top, double-cker float received a special send off om Mikel Arteta and some of our men’s first-team squad, the GayGooners partied alongsi club lleagu and Arsenal Women’s players Jen Beattie, Jordan Nobbs and Cal Foord, as they ma their way through the packed, lourful streets to soak up the ftivi.

Speakg about their weekend, the GayGooners add: “We are credibly proud of the work we have done wh Arsenal over the years. As Gaygooners celebrat s tenth anniversary this month, we journey back to the begng to see how the first LGBTQ+ supporters’ group UK football me to be.

For Stewart Selby, founr of Gaygooners, the dispary the matchday experienc for some supporters pared to others was startlg.

GAY GOONERS

Stewart grew up the UK only a few years after homosexualy had been crimalised and was nstantly remd that achievg that much 1967 mt have been a tremendo battle. He set to work wh then-CEO Ivan Gazidis and Communitns Director Mark Gonnella, explorg how to beg the mammoth task of kickg homophobia, biphobia and transphobia out of our game. From those ial foundatns, Gaygooners grew throughout 2013, as their supporters’ banner took up s home at Emirat Stadium and our pta Thomas Vermaelen and vice-pta Mikel Arteta wore rabow lac the first awarens mpaign of s kd football.

'WE LOVE FOOTBALL AS MUCH AS ANYONE ELSE' - HOW THE GAY GOONERS AND ARSENAL ARE TACKLG HOMOPHOBIA

Lookg ahead to the next ten years and beyond, Stewart pays tribute to the achievements of the past whilst regnisg the huge role football still has to play eraditg not jt homophobia, but all forms of racism and discrimatn.

Our CEO Vai Venkatham has paid tribute to Gaygooners as te trailblazers, sayg: “Gaygooners has worked tirelsly to spread the msage that everybody should feel wele at Arsenal. To celebrate, we ved members of GayGooners to share their experienc of Pri month, tellg what means to have been the first football club reprented at a Pri march. When a handful of found the GayGooners 2013, Arsenal was the first Premier League club to have an official LGBT supporters group.

When we started, homophobic and transphobic abe was still monplace at grounds and on social media, and sometim we uld feel like we were alone.

RABOW LAC: GAY GOONERS -CHAIR GRATEFUL FOR CLUB'S YEAR-ROUND SUPPORT AHEAD OF ARSENAL VS NEWSTLE MATCH

In 2022 I will be attendg my first ever Pri London, and I am so proud to be a part of the GayGooners ntgent for this important event. Wh football fandom is often still taboo to be out and a same-sex relatnship, and recent months members of GayGooners have been abed and asslted for a simple thg as wearg rabow lac to a game, or holdg their partner’s hand. It’s up to fan groups like ours to show the world that ’s ok to be Gay, Trans, Non-Bary, Pansexual, Queer, anywhere on the LGBTQI+ spectm and love the game.

The support of the Arsenal fay - om the club, fellow fans and the iends who make up the GayGooners - at Pri n never be unrstated. We are makg Arsenal for Everyone, every day - through allyship, through visibily and through thoands of GayGooners beg their thentic selv whether Gay, Lbian, Bi, Trans, Ace or Queer. To mark LGBTQ+ History Month, which also cis wh the 10th anniversary of our GayGooners Supporters’ Club, we sat down wh superfan Selena Snodg to hear all about her experienc supportg Arsenal.

Selena went on to tell why ’s so important for to ntue to mark LGBTQ+ History Month and how groups like GayGooners n ntue to promote visibily football. “Groups like GayGooners, and the way some clubs have been proactive seekg advice and feedback om the groups, have helped a lot. “The arth of openly gay and bisexual men football monstrat how difficult is for them to ‘e out’ the current environment.

Our ctomised double-cker float took to the streets of the pal to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pri month wh staff, supporters and our GayGooners supporters group a para that was attend by over 30, 000 people. GayGooners celebrated their tenth anniversary this Febary and first marched the pal's Pri para 2013 - the first LGBTQ+ supporters group UK football to do so. For Lisa, adorned an LGBTQ+ Pri pe whilst wavg an Arsenal flag, marchg wh the GayGooners was an unfettable experience: "From beg a Junr Gunner when I was a ltle kid to g out, my fay acceptg me and knowg that there was a group out there that still loved me, that I uld still be a part of - that meant everythg.

Once the para had e to a close on Saturday afternoon, Hannah Stanisls gave an impassned performance of a poem they had wrten ont of a sea of fellow GayGooners.