France’s Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera wore a sweater with rainbow-colored sleeves to France’s quarter-final game in Qatar on Saturday in an apparent message of support for gay rights.
Oudea-Castera, a former professional tennis player, watched the game from the VIP enclosure as France beat England 2-1 to book a place in the semifinals.
The rights of the LGBTQ+ community and the use of the rainbow symbol have been a recurrent point of discussion at the World Cup in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal.
Before the tournament, Paris and several other French cities said they would not show matches from Qatar on big public screens amid calls for a boycott of the competition.
President Emmanuel Macron, who argued that “we must not politicize sport,” is set to travel to Qatar on Wednesday to watch France play Morocco in the semifinal.
He had promised to support the reigning world champions in person if they made it to the semifinal.
“I will come back with the president on Wednesday,” Oudea-Castera told Franceinfo radio. “We’re working the details out.
“He (Macron) made this commitment, and he will honor it with pleasure.”
