Euro 2020: 'Inclusion is bringing LGBT fans back to football'

'I just wanted to be myself and wanted to feel authentically me,' says Joe

On their way to the England v Germany match at Wembley this week, Joe White was feeling "massive anxiety".

It was their first match since before the Covid pandemic - and their first since coming out as non-binary.

They were wearing make-up to the football for the first time too.

"We all know the stereotypical England fan is not necessarily the most inclusive," they tell Radio 1 Newsbeat.

But they didn't encounter any "stereotypical England" fans while watching their team beat the German side 2-0 to clinch a massive victory in Euro 2020.

"It was an absolutely amazing day, I had some really lovely chats, absolutely no problems from any fans whatsoever."

'I stopped going to football'

On their way home, Joe tweeted a photo of themself to mark the day, which has since been liked more than 20,000 times - and retweeted by England player Jordan Henderson.

Joe says they only shared the pic so their friends could see they'd had "a really lovely day".

But they hadn't always had lovely days out among other football fans.

"When I was younger, I stopped going to football," they say.

"As I started realising I was LGBT, I didn't feel welcome. You would hear homophobic chanting quite regularly.

"Football wasn't an inclusive space for LGBT+ people, and I know I'm not the only queer person who stepped away from the game."

During Tuesday's match, England captain Harry Kane wore a Pride rainbow armband, to mark the end of Pride Month 2021 and to represent the England team's commitment to its LGBT+ fans.

Harry Kane's captain armband was the colours of the Pride flag during the match

Stonewall's annual Rainbow Laces campaign was created, and continues, because of homophobia among football fans.

"Inclusion is really helping to bring people who absolutely adore football back into the game," says Joe.

'It doesn't matter what you look like'

The last time they'd been to a match it was a Nation's League game where they'd been on the receiving end of a torrent of abuse from fans. That's what caused their anxiety before this week's big international match.

"This is nothing new for any queer person, or someone who's non-binary in just stepping out of the house, because you never know.

"You always have to be conscious that you might have someone who is deciding they don't like how you're presenting and is going to attack you for it. We are conscious of that."

Joe says that they decided to wear make up because it was such a huge match and because they wanted to feel "authentically me" at their first game back after such a long time away from the terraces.

"It was treated completely the way it should be," they say.

"One of the comments that I saw on Twitter was: 'it doesn't matter what you look like, it's the fact that you're wearing those Three Lions on your shirt that matters'.

"And I think that sums it up beautifully."

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