Seattle sticking with World Cup 'Pride Match', hoping it can change minds

SEATTLE, June 24 : Seattle's LGBTQ community members say they hope that this Friday's World Cup "Pride Match" between Egypt and Iran, two countries where homosexuality is criminalised, can be an opportunity to change minds.

Seattle revels in its reputation as a welcoming place and Pride flags are visible all over the city, all year round. Its June Pride weekend is one of the biggest in the United States.

So, ahead of December's World Cup draw, it was only natural that local organisers designated the June 26 match to be held in the city as a "Pride Match."

Then the draw happened — and the two teams scheduled to play the game were Egypt and Iran.

Egypt's Football Association urged global soccer governing body FIFA to prevent any Pride-related activities, arguing such events clashed with the Muslim-majority country's cultural and religious values. The governing body in Iran, where same-sex relations can carry the death penalty, filed an objection with FIFA.

But in Seattle, there is no question that the Pride Match will go ahead as planned.

"The World Cup is going to come and go in three weeks," Hedda McLendon, from Seattle's local World Cup organizing committee, told Reuters. "The Pride celebration ... has happened on this weekend for 50-plus years.

"It is going to happen this weekend, it is going to happen long after the World Cup."

Some in the city's LGBTQ community had mixed feelings given the participants, said Jon Cairns, 49, manager of local LGBTQ+ club Kremwerk.

Cairns, however, said his own view was that it provided a platform to promote acceptance that only the world's biggest sporting event could offer.

"My reaction is let's have them," he told Reuters. "International sports is one of the biggest brokers historically of