World Cup ambassador Khalid Salman had his interview with German broadcaster ZDF ended after he claimed that homosexuality is “damage in the mind.”
Khalid Salman via SBS News YouTube
The segment was picked up by Australia’s SBS News and shared to their YouTube channel where Salman can be seen explaining that homosexuals traveling to Qatar for the World Cup will have to accept the countries rules and laws.
Salman states, “They have to accept our rules here.”
https://youtu.be/Ey2qiEdf8ik
When asked, if homosexuality is against the law, Salman answers, “This haram. Do you know haram meaning?” For those unfamiliar with the definition of haram it means forbidden or proscribed by Islamic law.
Salman is then asked if he thinks gay is haram. He replies, “Yeah, it is haram. I’m not being a strict Muslim. But why is it haram? Because it is damage in the mind.”
ZDF reports that after Salman’s comments “the interview was immediately terminated by the spokesman for the World Cup Organizing Committee.”
World Cup Qatar 2022 Groups via FIFA
According to the U.S. Department of State’s 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Qatar, “Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender ueer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) persons faced discrimination under the law and in practice. The law prohibits consensual same-sex sexual conduct between men but does not explicitly prohibit same-sex sexual relations between women.”
“Under the law a man convicted of having sexual relations with a boy younger than age 16 is subject to a sentence of life in prison. A man convicted of having same-sex sexual relations with a male 16 years of age or older may receive a sentence of seven years in prison. Under sharia law homosexuality is punishable by death; there were no reports of any executions for this reason,” the report states.
It also notes, “In addition to banning sex outside marriage for all persons, the law provides penalties for any male, Muslim or not, who ‘instigates’ or ‘entices’ another male to commit an act of sodomy or immorality. Under the penal code, ‘leading, instigating, or seducing a male by any means for sodomy or dissipation’ and ‘inducing or seducing a male or a female by any means to commit illegal or immoral actions’ is punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment.”
FIFA World Cup via FIFA YouTube
Concerns about safety for homosexuals attending or participating in the tournament have been raised for over a year. Australian player Josh Cavallo told The Guardian last November, “I read something along the lines of that [they] give the death penalty for gay people in Qatar, so it’s something I’m very scared [of] and wouldn’t really want to go to Qatar for that.”
He added, “And that saddens me. At the end of the day the World Cup is in Qatar and one of the greatest achievements as a professional footballer is to play for your country, and to know that this is in a country that doesn’t support gay people and puts us at risk of our own life, that does scare me and makes me re-evaluate – is my life more important than doing something really good in my career?”
Josh Cavallo via Outsports.com YouTube
Nasser Al Khater, the CEO of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 responded to Cavallo’s concerns telling CNN, “On the contrary, we welcome him here in the state of Qatar, we welcome him to come and see even prior to the World Cup … Nobody feels threatened here, nobody feels unsafe.
“The notion that people don’t feel safe here is untrue. I’ve said this before and I say this to you again, everybody is welcome here. Everybody is welcome here and everybody will feel safe here. Qatar is a tolerant country. It’s a welcoming country. It’s a hospitable country.”
Al Khater also informed CNN, “Qatar and the region are a lot more modest, and Qatar and the region are a lot more conservative. And this is what we ask fans to respect. And we’re sure that fans will respect that … We respect different cultures and we expect other cultures to respect ours.”
Nasser Al Khater via Al Jazeera English YouTube
Homosexual acts are acts of grave depravity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained.
It continues, “Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church
“The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible,” it goes on. “This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.”
“Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition,” it instructs.
The Catechism concludes, “Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.”
FIFA World Cup via FIFA YouTube
What do you make of Salman’s comments? What about the fact the interview was shut down after he made his comments?