by Jeremy Wilson, Telegraph
Complainant says FA should prohibit the campaign because it amounts to political messaging in football
The Premier League has been accused of “promoting gender ideology” in a legal threat to this year’s Pride campaign.
The English top flight dropped its partnership with Stonewall and its Rainbow Laces campaign last year, but is accused of bringing politics into football again through the “Premier League with Pride” initiative.
Lindsey Smith, a Newcastle supporter, intends to bring a case against the Football Association, which she says should have disciplined the Premier League because the campaign contains political messaging.
Drawing on a High Court ruling which found that the 2024 Northern Pride event “strongly supports gender ideology”, and that Northumbria Police breached their duty of impartiality by participating in it, Smith is challenging the FA’s inaction.
A statement from Conrathe Gardner, Smith’s legal representatives, said: “The Premier League asserts on its website that Premier League with Pride is akin to its other initiatives such as ‘No Room for Racism’ and ‘More than a Game’. This is not the case, since neither of those initiatives is focused on social policy change.
“Neither of them is political. Pride itself has social policy objectives including, for example, enabling people to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate and the legal rights which go with it, simply by professing another gender identity. Pride also campaigns for access to female sports and female-only spaces by biological men who profess female gender identities. Fifa and Uefa rules, to which the FA is subject, prohibit political messaging.
“Our client is of the view that, just as it would be wrong for the LED messages beamed around the stadium to promote messages such as, ‘Vote Labour’ or ‘Vote Reform’, so it is also wrong for Premier League stadiums to be filled with symbolism.”