When it was announced that Morocco, Portugal, and Spain would be joint hosts of the 2030 World Cup earlier this month, the reactions were incredibly mixed.
Moroccans were filled with patriotic pride at becoming just the second African nation to host a World Cup.
Many Western media outlets, however, were quick to brand it as a repeat of Qatar, with its reported poor and discriminatory treatment of LGBTQ+ people.
According to reports, at least six LGBTQ+ people have been arrested for their sexual orientation, and faced severe physical and sexual abuse at the hands of Qatari police forces from 2019-2022.
Zara*, a hijabi and openly gay footballer from Morocco, insists that this is far from the reality of her country.
Despite being raised by extremely religious Moroccan parents, with her father being a religious leader at a mosque, they were more than supportive when she came out.
She said: “My family are fine with it, because my family’s a religious family, and in religion your thoughts and feelings are never a sin, and you’ll never be punished for it.
“A lot of people assume that you’re gonna get killed, you’re gonna get kicked out of your house – yeah that happens, but that happens on both sides.
“An English family could have their gay son come out, and they’ll kick him out – it can happen anywhere, and acceptance can happen anywhere.”
With her lifelong love for football, which blossomed during her time coaching for a Premier League side’s outreach program, the criticism of Morocco being World Cup hosts felt particularly personal to Zara.
“You won’t hear about gay rights in Morocco until it comes to football, because the media wants to shame an African country for holding a world cup instead of accepting that it’s not a European country, it’s an African country, and it’s not a christian country, it’s a muslim country.
“And gay people have been travelling to Morocco for years – and have you ever heard anything about them being harmed? No.
“But because it’s the world cup, the Western media will use that to push their agenda and shame an African country.”
LGBTQ+ people still face discrimination and have few rights in the eyes of Moroccan law, but these laws are not actively enforced.
Despite the government’s stance, Zara is keen to correct the misconceptions that have emerged about Morocco and their actual treatment of LGBTQ+ people.
She said: “In Morocco, it’s more normal to see two guys holding hands, or even sitting on each others’ laps, than it is here. Affection is so normalised – at one point I was like ‘is everyone gay here?’
“I know a lot of people who are openly gay and openly have girlfriends, and their traditional, old, Moroccan grandmas will still cook dinner for them and their girlfriends.
“What isn’t normal is seeing a man and woman kissing on the lips. It’s a muslim country, so our private life is private and behind closed doors.
“So whether you’re two women, two men, or a man and a woman, it’s not okay. It’s not targeted just towards same-sex relationships, and that’s fine by everyone, and has continued generation after generation.”
*Name changed to protect Zara’s identity at her request