Gay former East Germany footballer accuses UEFA of hypocrisy

Frankfurt (dpa) – The homosexual former East Germany youth international Marcus Urban has accused UEFA of hypocrisy in the rainbow debate.

In an interview with the Sunday edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the 50-year-old managing director of the Association for Diversity in Sport and Society and spokesman for the lobby group “Gay Players Unite” criticized the European football governing body’s ban on lighting up the Munich stadium in rainbow colours for the European Championship match between Germany and Hungary.

A controversial law that restricts young people’s access to information regarding homosexuality and transgender issues recently came into force in Hungary.

Urban said he was “shocked” by UEFA’s reaction and saddened: “I had secretly hoped that we as a society were already much further ahead,” he said.

“The fact that UEFA rejects the application from Munich and at the same time dips its logo in rainbow colours on its own Twitter channel on the day of the match between Germany and Hungary can hardly be surpassed in terms of hypocrisy for me. Personally, I find something like that shameful.”

Urban is the author of the biography “Versteckspieler” (Hidden Player), which deals with homophobia in football.

UEFA meanwhile greeted the fact that some sponsors were lighting their stadium advertising boards in rainbow colours, saying they were free “to convey a message of tolerance and equality.”

Munich’s bid to light the stadium in the colours had been rejected, UEFA said, because it was political in nature.

“We firmly believe in equal rights for everyone and that includes support for the LGBTQI+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer and Intersex) community,” said UEFA, who referenced their ‘Equal Game’ campaign.