Some observers are upset that Mexican soccer fans have kept up their trademark “puto” (“whore”) chant at opposition goalkeepers at the soccer World Cup in Russia. While that chant might be viewed as offensive to homosexuals, it is not explicitly so. Considering that balance of offensiveness and the fact that Mexican fans have traveled a long way and incurred significant costs, FIFA shouldn’t penalize Mexican players. What’s more, it has no moral authority to do so.
Some Western Anglosphere commentators seem to believe the Mexican team should either play its next game in an empty stadium or see its participation in the tournament brought into question. At Slate, Nick Greene explores the chant’s meaning but laments that “FIFA could use its substantial power to deter Mexican fans from chanting puto. It just won’t, at least not on the sport’s biggest stage.”
I get the offense that some people feel here, but I think we need to keep some perspective. It would be one thing if Mexican fans were throwing bananas or engaging in other forms of racist conduct that often occurs at European soccer games, or shouting racial epithets at opposing players. Or if the fans were explicitly attacking a player for his homosexuality. Or if the fans were causing issues for other fans.
But that’s just not the case here. Most soccer fans would say that the Mexican delegation to Russia are, with the exception of the chant, behaving with especially good humor inside and outside of the stadiums. It’s also likely that the Mexican football association will continue pushing fans to use different chants.
Yet in the scheme of things, these chants aren’t that big of a deal for gay rights. Just consider where the present World Cup is being played: Russia, the land where homosexuals are relentlessly attacked, harassed, and even murdered without judicial support from the state. Indeed, President Vladimir Putin has adopted anti-gay attitudes and laws as a means of consolidating his influence with the Russian Orthodox Church.
And then, there’s the bigger question of FIFA’s entitlement to police morality. Its all-knowing corruptocrats chose Qatar for the next World Cup after taking bribes, resulting in thousands of deaths of maltreated foreign workers constructing stadiums there. And of course, Qatar is a Salafi state governed in accordance with Sharia law. Homosexual conduct is a criminal offense there, and gay Qataris are shunned and harassed.
The Mexican chant, calling the goalkeeper a “whore,” is somewhat offensive, but in the broader context, it just isn’t that big a deal.
