Qatari ambassador faces LGBT-rights appeal before World Cup

By CIARÁN FAHEY
AP Sports Writer

BERLIN (AP) — Qatar’s ambassador to Germany has been urged to abolish his country’s death penalty for homosexuality at a human rights congress hosted by the German soccer federation two months before the Middle East country hosts the World Cup. Fan representative Dario Minden switched to English to directly address ambassador Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani at the congress in Frankfurt. Minden says “football is for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re lesbian, if you’re gay. It’s for everyone. For the boys. For the girls. And for everyone in between. So abolish the death penalty. Abolish all of the penalties regarding sexual and gender identity.”