Mexico fans can’t stop screaming anti-gay slurs at soccer games

Not for the first time and likely not the last, Mexico futbol fans were put on notice in Arizona recently when they shouted an oft-used anti-gay slur during a Copa America match against Ecuador — the homophobic chanting continued despite three separate announcements warning them to stop.

They were eliminated from the tournament.

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Soccer match halted as fans hurl homophobic chants at American player

It’s not the first time Mexican fans have yelled slurs as they neared a loss against Team USA.

62,565 fans watched as Mexico failed to score in the must-win Group B game. The match at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona ended 0-0.

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Mexico lost despite their fans’ best effort to distract Ecuador with the infamous chant, which officials tried repeatedly to halt.

One warning displayed in Spanish read, “The referee has indicated that the match could be suspended due to discriminatory behavior among spectators. Discrimination in football stadiums is not tolerated. If this continues, the match will be suspended, and eventually canceled.”  

And still, they chanted.

Mexico, the United States, and Canada, known as “El Tri” for the occasion, will jointly host the FIFA World Cup in two years.

Among the Mexico fans in the stadium on Sunday was Jorge Maynez, a candidate for president in the country’s recent election.

Maynez, 38, condemned the popular chant.

“The same joy you feel when you are with thousands of Mexicans watching your team turns into shame when you hear this discriminatory cry in Pride month,” Maynez posted to X. “It is a pride to have this flag, it is a pride to have this shield; but please, let this be the last time that something in favor of discrimination is heard.”

Siento orgullo de ser mexicano. Y de estar con México 🇲🇽 en las buenas, en las malas y en las peores.

Pero la discriminación es una vergüenza. Ya estuvo bueno. Por favor, ¡es tiempo de parar! pic.twitter.com/SouYUateCA

— Jorge Álvarez Máynez (@AlvarezMaynez) July 1, 2024

In March, U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner was a victim of the chant.

With the U.S. leading 2-0 in the final minutes of a match in Arlington, Texas, Turner ran forward for goal kicks and heard fans’ rising yell punctuated with “puto” on the kick.

The same match-up was interrupted last year when Mexico met the U.S. in the Nations League semi-finals at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. That game ground to a halt in the eighth minute of stoppage time, with the U.S. leading 3-0, as fans screamed the slur.

In 2021, FIFA sanctioned Mexico by banning fans from two World Cup qualifying home games because of ongoing use of the anti-gay chant — teams played in an empty stadium — while the Mexican Football Federation is challenging penalties totaling $114,000 imposed by the governing body for incidents at two games at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

FIFA has tried to stop anti-gay chants before

In 2019, FIFA launched a new simplified “disciplinary code” that highlights referees’ ability to end matches if fans utter homophobic or racist chants.

The ability to do so has existed since May 2017, but few referees actually use it.

The new code — which officially went into effect Monday, July 15, 2019 — states, “A match is automatically forfeited if the referee decides to suspend it after having applied the three-step procedure.”

The three-step procedure is as follows: “Referees would first stop the match and request a public announcement to insist that the discriminatory behavior cease. If this has no effect, he or she can then suspend play again and, if the racist, behavior persists, abandon the match.”

The new code further explained that if a football team’s spectators use homophobic chants, then the club can be fined at least $20,312 for a first offense. FIFA has mostly used this tactic to no great effect as the fines represent a tiny fraction of each team’s massive overall revenue.

In 2014, the Mexico World Cup coach Miguel Herrera defended such chants as a “not that bad” tactic to throw goalies off their game, even though numerous Mexican journalists say the slur harms LGBTQ+ fans and players alike.

In April 2016, the Mexico football team declared the slur discriminatory and even created a campaign to fight it. But six months later, Mexico reverted to saying the chant wasn’t homophobicand the Mexican Football Federation even appealed FIFA’s fines for the chants.

And they continued. Mexican fans chanted “puto” at Chile the day after the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, during a 2017 stadium game and at their country’s 2018 World Cup final against Germany.

In 2017, Mexico asked fans not to repeat the slurs, stating, “If they suspend the game or if they expel you from the stadium; we lose, you lose, we all lose.” It worked. During the country’s June 2017 match against New Zealand, “puto” was nowhere to be heard.

In June 2014, FIFA claimed “puto” isn’t a gay slur even though it’s widely used in Spanish-speaking countries to mean “f**got.” In response, over 20 LGBTQ and allied organizations wrote a letter to FIFA explaining how the chants also undermine the inclusive values of broadcasters, viewers, venues, sponsors and advertisers alike.

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