An exhibition and event series on homophobia and discrimination in football will take place in Vienna throughout October as part of the Football People action weeks.

The exhibition introduction says that "In comparison to other sports that have seen athletes who came out and were able to live their sexuality openly, in men’s football a coming out seems to be inconsistent with widely perceived images of masculinity.

“Female players on the other hand are often considered as lesbians – in a deprecatory sense – which expresses that being Lesbian is still often used as insult and stresses that football is none of women’s businesses. Women’s football is a very good example to show that and how homophobia and sexism are closely entwined."

All these are topics that are dealt within the exhibition and a series of events that take place between the 15 – 25 October 2012 in Vienna, at the Public Libraries Vienna (Bücherei Philadelphiabrücke).

Markus Pinter of Fairplay-VIDC looked forward to the exhibition, "Discrimination – the exclusion of and violence against humans because of their origin, colour, gender, religion or sexual orientation – still is the order of the day in sport. Homophobia, which means the discrimination of lesbian, gay and bisexual persons because of their sexuality, is a big issue especially in football – simply because homophobia is neglected and ignored."




The exhibition can be visited during the daily opening hours of the Library (Monday – Friday 11 – 19 hrs). The exhibition will also be shown from the 26 – 30 October 2012 in the Gugg (Coffee bar and HOSI-club room).



This project is the cooperation of FARE member organisation FairPlay-VIDC, the Public Libraries Vienna, branch Philadelphiabrücke (Bücherei Philadelphiabrücke), the LGBT-sports club Sportverein Aufschlag, the Homosexuelle Initiative (HOSI) Wien, the FreundInnen der Friedhofstribüne (fanclub of the WSK) and the bookshop Löwenherz.



Download the poster and flyer. 
See the the detailed programme of the exhibition “Against the Rules – Lesbians and Gays in Sport”.

This project is partly funded by the European Commission (DG Justice) under the Football For Equality programme.