Gender ideology is intrinsically misogynistic and dangerous to children. It should go without saying that it has no place in soccer. Yet, despite having already cut ties with Stonewall and disbanded its Rainbow Laces campaign last year, England’s top soccer division still sought to launch “Premier League with Pride” back in February. Now, Linzi Smith, a 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 organizations are currently in prison for sexual offenses. 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 offenses, 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 soccer players 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.

The Premier League’s claim that hitching its wagon to Pride “demonstrates ongoing support for the LGBTQ+ community” is meaningless when no such community exists. The organization has no business supporting any contentious political movement: there is an important difference, for instance, between saying that racism will not be tolerated inside grounds and signing up to the aims and objectives of Black Lives Matter.

While the Premier League has previously participated in worthwhile campaigns focusing on racial discrimination, it was left to the female fans to launch “Her Game Too” in 2021. Promoting gender ideology is the very opposite of a commitment to rebranding soccer as female-friendly.

Perhaps it would be best if soccer stayed out of politics altogether and looked first at getting its own house in order. Not a single soccer player has felt able to come out as gay while playing for a Premier League club. There are currently no openly gay players in England’s top four divisions. When there is still so much blatant homophobia in the game, why choose to posture with rainbow laces?

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Julie Bindel is an investigative journalist, author, and feminist campaigner. Her latest book is Lesbians: Where are we now? She also writes on Substack.

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