by Julie Bindel, UnHerd
Gender ideology is intrinsically misogynistic and dangerous to children. It should go without saying that it has no place in football. Yet, despite having already cut ties with Stonewall and disbanded its Rainbow Laces campaign last year, England’s top football division still sought to launch “Premier League with Pride” back in February. Now, Linzi Smith, a football supporter who brought a case against Northumbria Police over its participation in Newcastle Pride in 2024, is planning legal action over the scheme.
Smith is right to highlight that “Premier League with Pride” constitutes political messaging from an association which claims to be impartial. But the problem with Pride goes much deeper. Several men who have been closely linked to Pride organisations are currently in prison for sexual offences. The most notorious is Stephen Ireland, who, along with his co-defendant David Sutton, was sent to prison in June 2025 for multiple child sexual offences, including the rape of a 12-year-old boy. I have uncovered evidence that Pride often serves as a smokescreen for these men, and has protected them just as the Catholic Church and other institutions notoriously concealed child abusers in their midst.
It would be one thing if Pride were still a liberation movement calling for an end to inequality and discrimination against lesbians and gay men, though it would still have to be judged on its merits. Does Pride discriminate, for example, against Premier League footballers wishing to exercise their right to hold a religious view which opposes same-sex marriage? Either way, it would be nowhere near as contentious as it has become today, with Pride actively supporting and promoting puberty blockers for children, self-identification for men who claim to be women (and vice versa), and an increasingly aggressive stance on gender ideology.