Two stories out of Mexico’s World Cup, both reported by Outsports, capture the two faces of football culture right now. In one, Mexico fans chanted a gay slur at their round of 32 match, right in front of FIFA’s president. In the other, a photo of two boyfriends kissing at a Mexico City watch party went viral for all the right reasons.
The chant FIFA can’t stop
Fans chanted “puto” within the first five minutes of Mexico’s win over Ecuador in Mexico City on Tuesday, timed as always to the opposing goalkeeper’s goal kick. Puto means male prostitute and is considered a gay slur. FIFA president Gianni Infantino was in the stands.
It was the second consecutive Mexico match to feature the slur, after the group game against Czechia, and the chant has followed El Tri through every World Cup since 2014 despite fines, match stoppages and even stadium closures.
In June, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld US$178,000 in fines against Mexico’s football federation over the chant. Fans keep insisting the word isn’t homophobic. Mexico’s own anti-discrimination commission, CONAPRED, says it is.
The kiss that answered it
While the chant made headlines again, another image from the same fanbase was doing the opposite. Issac Flores, 28, kissed his boyfriend, Edson Gonzalez, 27, at a Paseo de la Reforma watch party on 11 June after Mexico’s opening win over South Africa. The photo was taken by Flores’ best friend, photographer Karen Gutierrez.
“I asked her to take it because there was a family waving a Mexican flag, and I felt it was the perfect moment for a picture with my boyfriend,” Flores told Outsports.
The shot sat quietly on his Instagram for a week until someone reshared it after Mexico beat South Korea. It has since passed 20,000 likes, and plenty of people noticed how closely it echoes the famous V-J Day kiss in Times Square. Flores, a model, and Gonzalez, a professional dancer, aren’t even big football fans. Flores hopes the attention proves gay couples belong at the party too.
One fan culture produced both stories. It’s obvious which one deserves the last word.
