Federation of Gay Games, IGLFA, and AllOut respond to FIFA on Nigerian lesbophobia

As we reported earlier, following the letter of protest of the FGG, IGLFA and AllOut, and AllOut's petition regarding reports of lesbophobia on the Nigerian women's football team, FIFA replied asking us to provide "evidence" of this behavior. We have chosen to take FIFA's request at face value, and have replied to FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke as follows: We have received your letter in which you asked us to provide you with evidence about the homophobic statements made by Ms. Uche. Ms. Uche has made such statements several times at Rédigerpress conferences and has been quoted by journalists from several renowned newspapers and press agencies. As you know, the article that prompted the intervention of Ms. Tatjana Haenni was the story appearing in the New York Times (http://gaymes.info/uchenyt). During a phone interview with the journalist, Coach Uche talked about homosexuality as a “dirty issue,” and “spiritually, morally very wrong.” The journalist also relates Ms. Uche's use of religion to “correct” players' homosexuality, combining homophobia with religious discrimination. “The issue of lesbianism is common“ she said to the journalist, “I came to realize it is not a physical battle; we need divine intervention in order to control and curb it. I tell you it worked for us. This is a thing of the past. It is never mentioned.” Should you have any difficulties reaching the reporter of this story, we would be happy to put you directly in contact with her. The New York Times' story refers to statements made by Ms. Uche in a seminar, as reported by Nigerian newpaper the Sun News last March (http://gaymes.info/uchesunnews), five months before Ms. Uche was interviewed by the New York Times. At this event, the 'First Seminar on Women's Football in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects', she said “It's a worrisome experience that some of our players indulge in lesbianism. Some of them go as far as renting rooms in hotels around the team's campsite where they go to satisfy their orgy:” At the very least, Ms. Uche, with the support of her equally homophobic national federation, seems proud to have made homophobia and hate speech part of the ordinary operation of her team. Because of this, we urge you to include the Nigerian Football Federation in your investigation: as a former technical assistant for the country’s soccer federation, James Peters, was also quoted in the Sun News article, saying that he had removed some players from Nigeria’s women’s team “not because they were not good players, but because they were lesbians.” We are repeating our willingness to continue our collaboration with the FIFA in investigating this case, and would like to know when a decision on holding a disciplinary procedure would take place.