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Australian footballer , has shared his fears about playing at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, a country that punishes homosexuality with the death penalty.聽

Qatar is ranked 143 out of 150 nations on the , making it one of the most dangerous countries for 17c起草社区I people to visit.聽Qatar, which enforces strict Sharia laws, punishes homosexuality with imprisonment, flogging and the death penalty. In 2019, journalist Lyric Fergusson on her blog had聽ranked .

During an episode of The Guardian鈥檚 Today in Focus podcast, Cavallo said he 鈥渨ouldn鈥檛 really want to go to Qatar鈥� due to the discriminatory laws in the country.

Scares Me and Makes Me Re-Evaluate

https://twitter.com/JoshuaCavallo/status/1453240548404367370

鈥淚 read something along the lines of that [they] give the death penalty for gay people in Qatar,鈥� he said.聽鈥淎nd that saddens me. At the end of the day, the World Cup is in Qatar and one of the greatest achievements as a professional footballer is to play for your country, and to know that this is in a country that doesn鈥檛 support gay people and puts us at risk of our own life, that does scare me and makes me re-evaluate 鈥� is my life more important than doing something really good in my career?鈥�

Cavallo also revealed on the podcast that a few footballers who were still in the closet have been in touch with him since he came out.

https://twitter.com/JoshuaCavallo/status/1437277318804754433

鈥淭here are people who have reached out to me in confidentiality and said: 鈥業鈥檓 struggling with the same thing Josh,鈥� and they鈥檙e professional footballers too. And look, it鈥檚 something you can鈥檛 rush. [I say] you want to be yourself, and at the end of the day I wasn鈥檛 happy and now look at me, I鈥檓 honestly on top of the world.鈥�

鈥淭hey like the sound of that and they say: 鈥楯osh, I haven鈥檛 experienced that before and I want to,鈥� and I say: 鈥業t鈥檚 in your hands, it鈥檚 your journey and there鈥檚 a light at the end of the tunnel.鈥� I didn鈥檛 think there was but there definitely is.鈥�

Josh Tells Anti-Trans Group ‘LGBWithTheT’

This past week, Cavallo also schooled the transphobic group LGB Alliance.聽LGB Alliance in a post congratulated Cavallo for coming out.聽鈥淲e applaud the courage of @JoshuaCavallo and hope he inspires others. Here’s to a time when society as a whole can look back and wonder why anyone felt the need to hide who they love,鈥� the tweet said.

In response, Cavallo tweeted back ‘#lgbwiththet’, targeting the group’s anti-trans stance.

鉂わ笍馃��

— Josh Cavallo (@JoshuaCavallo)

LGB Alliance is known for their transphobic attitudes, with their twitter bio reading 鈥�We promote the rights of lesbians, bisexuals & gay men, as recognised by biological sex. #SexNotGender.鈥�

Recently, one of the group’s trustees, Professor Kathleen Stock, resigned from her role at Sussex University due to her promoting transphobic ideas that were at odds with most academics such as: 聽“gender identity is not more important than facts about biological sex 鈥減articularly when it comes to law and policy鈥�”.聽

The anti-trans group replied to Cavallo鈥檚 tweet saying 鈥渢his probably required slightly less courage to tweet than your brave coming out; 11 days ago.聽But that鈥檚 absolutely fine. We believe the defence of gay rights requires a specifically LGB organisation. But there鈥檚 nothing wrong with respectful disagreement. Much love,鈥� LGB Alliance tweeted.

The Adelaide United player has not replied to LGB Alliance鈥檚 follow up tweet, but hundreds of twitter users have called out the group for their insensitive and 鈥減assive aggressive鈥� tweet.

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