Homophobia and Discrimination on

issue of homophobia or the situation for LGBT people in their association. The majority
also answered that they did not have any openly LGBT people in their association <strong>and</strong>
did not have a policy or an action plan on the matter.
In the United Kingdom the LGBT NGO Stonewall suggested that efforts to combat
homophobia in sport settings have gained little attention <strong>and</strong> that combating racism in
football was given priority when targeting equality <strong>and</strong> discrimination in professional
football. 309
In 2003 the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly addressed the issue of
homophobia in sports: 'The Assembly believes that homophobia in sport, both among
participants <strong>and</strong> in their relations with spectators, should be combated on the same
grounds as racism <strong>and</strong> other forms of discrimination.' 310
Certain initiatives supported by the European Commission’s PROGRESS programme
could contribute significantly in changing attitudes in sport. Examples include the ‘Run
for Diversity’ campaign which allows runners in particular marathons to wear EU antidiscrimination
sports apparel to promote awareness of <strong>and</strong> express their feelings against
discrimination. 311
Good practice: Partnerships developing education programmes: From 2007 The
Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual <strong>and</strong> Transgender Rights (RFSL) <strong>and</strong>
HomO [the Ombudsman against <strong>Discrimination</strong> on grounds of Sexual Orientation
<strong>Discrimination</strong>] have worked on a project with the Riksidrottsförbundet [National Sporting
Federation] <strong>and</strong> SISU, an education organisation within sport. The project aims to
educate coaches on LGBT issues. RFSL <strong>and</strong> SISU plan to develop education
programmes <strong>and</strong> offer them to sports clubs. Meanwhile, Riksidrottsförbundet is
designing <strong>and</strong> conducting studies on LGBT issues in sports. 312
Good practice: Cooperation between sports clubs <strong>and</strong> human rights organisations: It
was discovered through interviews that in France, the football club Paris Saint Germain
is cooperating with the gay football club Paris Foot Gay <strong>and</strong> Ligue Internationale Contre
le Racisme et l'Antisémitisme [The International League against Racism <strong>and</strong> Anti-
Semitism] to develop a policy on preventing <strong>and</strong> combating discrimination, with a focus
on homophobia. 313
309 Fieldwork meeting with Stonewall (UK 31 March 2008)
310 Recommendation 1635 (2003), Lesbians <strong>and</strong> gays in sport, Text adopted by the St<strong>and</strong>ing
Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 25 November 2003
311 See http://www.stop-discrimination.info/56.0.html (12.01.2008)
312 Sweden, country report
313 Fieldwork meeting with Inter LGBT <strong>and</strong> L’Autre Cercle (France 10 March 2008)
Part II - The Social Situation
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